So...my buddy Christophe called by and said that since we'd be heading off to Maroc soon why not go 'Factory Testing' in Spain for a couple of days. Of course I said 'Give me 14 good reasons why not?'

So he booked two hotels,came back to me and give me a date leave.

Of course in true donkey-head fashion when the time came I thought it was a week later than it was. Two nights before we were due to leave he asked if I was ready. "Ready for what?"... "Factory Testing:day after tomorrow"

Yip..no problem.

So I gathered some stuff together,prepped the moto by dipping the oil and oiling the chain..(I already had a full tank with only about 20kms on it) My tyres are nearly shot but I think I'll have enough to get me there and back.

At 0830hrs another XTZ (of Juliens) arrived along with Christophe on the XTZ Super Ten.

We headed off with good weather from Asson to Col du Pourtalet Spain and on to Huesca where we stopped at McDoes for munchies at about 1100hrs.

After that off to Zaragoza to find the start of the off road route that would take us to Belchite. (As we'd arrived PM we'd have to cut short the off road stuff by riding halfway and cutting off to find tarmac close to Belchite then by road to Zaragoza.)

So as we ride to Zaragoza from the North East we pass a sign in ....erm.... Spanish?....which points to 'Trenches" ie a gun emplacement left over from the Spanish Civil War. So off we rode on the usual dusty trail and take a few snaps.

A small rectangular shape on the hill top is the pill box contructed from dry stones.








You'll find it here

N 41 49 077'
W 000 30 571'











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After the snaps we ride back to the tarmac and on to find the start of that off road route to Belchite.


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We get to through Zaragoza and stop for fuel which is just before the start of the trail which couldn't have worked out better.

I put in 15.55L after 352.3kms,costing €21.49 and with fuel at €1.382/Ltr working out at 64mpg or 4.4L/100kms


We ride a short distance and find the start at N 41 31 580 and W 001 00 555 space out and off we ride. After the first wrong turn (that'll be the start of it!)and a U turn we stop and take in the view ahead and see what the trails will be like...


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If anyone wants to see the first section of the route have a peep here....(of course you can see the first wrong turn and the U turn thereafter....lol)

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do














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__________________
The Suit:What would you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Me: Honesty.
The Suit: Honesty? I don't think honesty could be construed as a weakness.
Me: I don't give a f**k what you think.

.[IMG] [/IMG]

Looking forward to hearing more about this one!

This was my last trip down to Spain

"I think France hates me!"

Great post and photos I have a connection to Spain and the Civil war is still a taboo subject.

Come on Ohlins ...................;where's part 2 ?

__________________
"I'm here for a good time, not a long time"

So …now that I have some of the pics from the other two to include....

We head off along the dry dust trails en route for Belchite. Julien had never been before so he took a few snaps,first from within the church and then of a couple of other buildings…..or what's left of them after the war. We parked the moto's and sauntered around the place.


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After this we head off back to Zaragoza where we had an hotel booked and one which conveniently had a bar on the ground floor which sold ice cold beer,where we proceeded to behave in a juvenile,nay childish manner.....funny how no matter what age we all are we still act goofy in front of a camera...you'd think the novelty would've worn off by now at our age....ho hum...

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So..after a beer we set our GPS to 'Pedestrian Mode' log a pizzeria and take a dander to find same.....This needed to be a suitable place to keep our cholesterol at a high level. We find a clean cut modern styled place that was just opening up and with a staff of one wearing a weird hair net. This was going to be surreal I thought.

The girl took our order placed with our finest sign language after about 10 minutes and whilst waiting we get tore into some beer,after we had to ask her for a drinks menu. She'd forgotten to crank the air con on so this was duly done...soon the unit was leaking just to the rear of Julien...so rather that move us to another table she produced a wine cooler to catch the drips along with a table cloth which she proceeded to put on the floor.........we knew this was going to be a weird pizza night...


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We had to flag her down and order a bottle of red which arrived with an insulated bottle cooler(??) wrapped around it....which of course made a good telescope...

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.....which was then able to be used as a teleporter control armband to transport to the Mothership before finally being used for it's intended purpose.............................a hat.




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We had an greasy,oily pizza which was actually delicious,see previous comment ref. cholesterol and after knocking over the obligatory glass of wine we left to get back to a street bar for ice cold beer,shots and then the hotel.


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Just before we bed down for the night I twang my wee toe on the leg of the bed thus providing a great photo opportunity to record my pain.......I'd expect nothing less I must say....


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__________________
The Suit:What would you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Me: Honesty.
The Suit: Honesty? I don't think honesty could be construed as a weakness.
Me: I don't give a f**k what you think.

.[IMG] [/IMG]

So.....next morning we crew up and get sorted out. The bill was only something like €35 per head but that didn't include breakfast...that came to €11 for us all.

We get our pruk mounted,dip oil and glance over the motos and off we ride bound for the next stage of trails with a somewhat woolly brain and that which would be a long ride.


After noting the start point of the trail just outside Zaragoza we of course ride off in the wrong direction and have to stop ( after a good few klicks )to park up at a roundabout to think what's going wrong.

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After a confused conversation it suddenly dawns on us to change from the 'Pedestrian' routing back to the Moto routing.....ho hum....so off we ride to that elusive start point.



We ride out of the city centre and off towards a Military Base that is just outside Zaragoza. We end up after navigating through an industrial zone,taking a tarmac road which ends at the entrance of the base. We stop short and have a chat. We are then able to see that the trail starts and runs parallel with the perimeter fence of the base hence the confusion of thinking it started within the actual base. So off we ride pleased to be off road again.

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The going is flat open trails with the odd stretch of very loose shale/stone following the base fence until we deviate and continue to where we see a radar base on the skyline. Just at the deviation we see an army pick up that had been dispatched to keep an eye on us.

We head for the radar station and just short of arriving at the entrance to that we take a right turn and now follow the radar base fence line.

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A big plane....

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We ride along trails that pass through forest and with the odd military post dotted through out. Some distance after the forest going we see that we are heading for open high ground .

Soon we arrive at the white coloured gravel trail that starts to climb and to where we can see wind farm turbines. We eventually arrive at the highest point and stop and take a few snaps.

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You can see signposts in the background to place the pics if need be.


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My tyre is holding out OK for being so worn.....


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On we ride to where the trail starts to drop down the other side of the mountain and to meander with lots of switchbacks through forest.....direction the Bardenas Desert.


We drop back down to normal level going....

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You can see the line of the trail in the background


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The landscape starts to change as we ride...We stop to take a few waypoints along the way to assist others if they decide to download the trail later. Slap bang in the middle of now where this deserted bungalow cannot be missed I'd say.


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Starting to drop down to the plains and to where the Bardenas will be.....


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__________________
The Suit:What would you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Me: Honesty.
The Suit: Honesty? I don't think honesty could be construed as a weakness.
Me: I don't give a f**k what you think.

.[IMG] [/IMG]

Part of the trail turns into single track for a short distance before opening out again and crossing beside a town where we stopped for a coke/coffee break. From here we ride the trail to join the road that'll take us to our next hotel in Alfaro.

We arrive into Alfaro after about 185kms of trails (minus a few klicks of tarmac to get to the hotel and in the rain of all things)to find it having a kind of grubby exterior but with our hotel being described as excellent..clean and modern. N 42 10 833 W 001 44 918


We get sorted and take a dander into the town,whilst taking in the sites consisting of churches and old buildings,for a cold beer of course.

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The next morning we crew up,check the motos and warm them up. We decide to get some snaps at the famous pointy rock thing (Castildetierra Rock)that everybody gets pictures of when they go to the Bardenas. The hotel which included breakfast was about €35 per head. We ate a meal there the previous night and it was about €12 per head including wine.

I notice the XTZ has a water leak from below the radiator and in behind a plastic cowl. It was the same side that Christophe had dropped it on yesterday(resulting in a bent gear lever)

We need fuel so we ride to the nearest fuel station,fill up and make repairs.

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It turned out to only be a hose that was 'jelly' where it joins a steel tube. The jelly bit was cut off and repositioned.



I put in 16.28L after 340kms costing €23.75 (€1.459/L) working out at 4.8L/100kms or 59mpg

After a short trail ride to where it is a few snaps are taken...

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The old girl's going well for having nearly 21,000kms....

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After this we ride off bound for France. The going will be all tarmac and with the first section being annoyingly windy.

By chance only we pull over for a coke/coffee break at a town called Olite which has an excellent example of a castle which is coupled with quaint side streets and shops. We find a parking space at the castle and dander into the adjacent square.


http://www.spain.info/fr/que-quieres...nos/olite.html



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We head off and on towards France along a great flowing and fluid road,stopping for lunch en route (€11 per head for a 4 course lunch) and to arrive home having covered approx 800kms.


For the trail form Zaragoza to Alfaro click here

http://fr.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=5062140

..and for a great 300kms road route from Alfaro to France (to include the big pointy rock,Olite,the great value lunch food and a high point of 1563m)


http://fr.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=5062216


Within the GPS routes there'll be various extra waypoints marked to show landmarks along with the fuel stations and the hotels/caf�s but also to include some information like where the trails stop abruptly and have to cross tarmac. There's a couple of these that could result in you arriving at tarmac,not knowing until the last minute and cutting across a vehicle.










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__________________
The Suit:What would you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Me: Honesty.
The Suit: Honesty? I don't think honesty could be construed as a weakness.
Me: I don't give a f**k what you think.

.[IMG] [/IMG]

Great post really enjoyed it, we will go and have a look at Belchite next month as we are riding down there via Le-Mans for the 24 hour and Aragon for the GP.

Cracking ride report.

Thanks for the kind words...you'll see my other report here on Belchite where you'll find more pics so you'll know what's what.




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__________________
The Suit:What would you consider to be your greatest weakness?
Me: Honesty.
The Suit: Honesty? I don't think honesty could be construed as a weakness.
Me: I don't give a f**k what you think.

.[IMG] [/IMG]