Fair Weather Bikers

8 HOURS! That's how long the massive thunderstorm lasted - 8 sodding hours! A few minutes after we got in our tents the rain turned into a torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightning directly overhead which carried on all night. I only managed to sleep for 10 minutes at a time before a particularly loud thunderclap woke me up again - then it was a struggle to get back to sleep with the constant hammering of the rain, thunder rumbling and crashing, and lightning illuminating the tent like a search light.

At around 6am I staggered out of bed to go to the loo - as an indication as to how zombiefied I was I found out later I used the ladies, though I was convinced at the time I hadn't! Although the storm was still raging - it did look a lot brighter on the horizon. By around 7am it eased off enough for me to grab a solid hour and a half of sleep.

We got up at some time between 8:30 and 9am, the sun was shining, it was very warm, and the clouds were rapidly disappearing. Luckily both our tents had stayed water proof - it was certainly the ultimate test for them! Unfortunately Nig had not put a cover over his luggage, and being soft luggage they had got soaked and all his clothes were damp.

Before setting off in England, I had connected a cigarette lighter directly to the battery to power the GPS and then routed the power cable for the GPS from under the seat up to the bars. I'd left this connected and dangling over the bars and I was worried the rain may have shorted it out, but luckily after I left it to dry for a bit it was fine.

Whist packing up I got talking to a Dutch couple who were camped up behind us. I asked them if they had got any sleep. They said they had as they had got used to it - they had been at this site for the last four nights and it had done it every night! I'd have moved to somewhere else if I was them! I had been looking at a map of the site the previous night and wondered why there were so many lightning conductors mentioned on the map - now we know!

Packing was again very hard work as Nig and I were both quite tired. We set off at around 10:30. We were given a bottle of wine when we checked out, but we had nowhere to carry it so we left it at the Dutch couple's tent.

We had a few miles to go on the road south from the camp-site - so I let Nig lead for a bit. He upped the pace a little to blow the cobwebs out before waving me by. The road, as usual, was stunning, working it's way around the lake with the greenest water I've ever seen.

Turning east, the road got quite rural, then more rural and then the GPS said to turn down a dirt track. I pulled over to ask Nig if he wanted to continue. I also wanted to remove my textile trousers and put my jeans on as I was burning up! After a short discussion we both agreed to do the road - the GPS said it was only 2.2 miles and this was meant to be an adventure after all!

We set off - passing a barn in which two farmers were watching us with shocked looks on their faces. We soon discovered why. Around the next corner the road sloped down steeply and any hint of road surface disappeared. The 'road' was basically rocks and stones of varying sizes on dirt. It also snaked it's way down the mountain we hadn't realised we were on. It was first gear all the way, gently touching the rear brake when needed. The hairpin turns had no barriers of any kind meaning a HUGE drop-off if you got it wrong - it was certainly excellent motivation to keep your concentration up!

After what seemed like an age we reached the bottom, so we pulled over for a rest. We were both buzzing, filled with a euphoric sense of achievement - we had made it!

Luckily the road we joined was up to our expected standard for Spanish roads and we followed it for a good few miles. We pulled over at a petrol station to fill the bikes and for a bite to eat. This being a Sunday, the petrol stations were about the only places open for food. The place was very busy, obviously a lot of locals used it as a meeting place or something. A lot of folk were driving up and then getting tanked up on wine. I don't know if they intended to drive afterwards as we left before we found out.

We continued on a lovely fast sweeping road - hooking up with a large group of Spanish riders on sport bikes for a while before the GPS indicated to turn off the road. We did so and it lead us through a small village - I thought the GPS had made a mistake as surely we'd have been better to stay on the road we were on - but then the road climbed out of the village and into the mountains.

It turned into the most amazing road in the world! It had a surface like a race track and snaked it's way around the mountains, flowing up and down and round and round. We saw perhaps 4 or 5 other vehicles over it's entire length. We did manage to stop for some pictures, but it was hard to do so as it was such a joy to ride. I think it was the L-511.

We then headed north towards Andorra. As we approached Andorra we saw lightning in the distance - a storm was definitely brewing, and my heart sunk at the through of another night like the previous one. We skirted the edge of the storm as we entered Andorra, luckily getting nothing more than showers.

Andorra is a weird and wonderful country. It seems the whole country is spread over one long road which snakes it's way through the mountains. It is very built-up and lively on this main road - but go a short distance off it and there will be nothing but mountains and trees.

We were around 1 mile from our camp-site when we passed a hotel which was advertising a room for two people for 28 euros. This was less than we had paid for the previous camp-site so we turned round and checked in. The hotel, Hotel Roc de Sant Miquel, was excellent. We had a nice twin room with a balcony overlooking stunning views and an on-suite bathroom. Breakfast was included.

As we unpacked it started to rain - we were two very happy people! Nig hung all his clothes up to dry them and we settled in.

Unfortunately because it was very quiet in the Hotel (their busy period is winter with the skiing crowd) they were not serving food in the evening unless you pre-booked so we jumped on the bikes to look for something to eat. Everything was closed! We had to head a good few miles back down the road back into the more built up areas before we finally found a somewhere open, which turned out to be a burger place. We got a burger each and a huge stack of chips and took them back to the hotel. This was the only food we'd had all day other than the sandwich in the petrol station - so much for making an effort to eat better!

We finished off the night with a few beers and a few games of chess in the nice warm bar. Outside it was raining on and off and quite chilly. We were very happy with our lot!