Aragon

Leaving for Aragon tomorrow morning! 3 days on track starting Friday and plenty of time to get there with fun in the Pyrenees on the way. Booked with No Limits and in a 4* hotel for 4 nights. I just hope this rain over west Europe stops for the next 10 days.

Here's the planned route http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=2 ... 3,7.064209 ... yellow = motorway, blue lines on the way, red on the way back

Mate that looks fantastic, I do however think you're missing out by not visiting Andorra, check out the early stages of this blog and watch the movie 'motoronin following Jean Luc or Jean Marc, skip the first 5 mins as that's just getting to the twisties, epic bloody road though and Andorra's lovely. Have fun an best of luck to you chap..

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=557041

Nice, very nice.

I know that area pretty well on 2 wheels, although the last time I rode properly out there was 06.
You are actually going past one of my favourite stretches of road on your way back, and come to think of it, shortly after that another of my all time favourites.

Just checking the map now!

On your red route, it takes you North on the C14 - the road that goes up to Andorra.

Just north on the map of the text Bassella there is a turn on on right (to the East), the road is marked as the C-26.

Note - on the way up the C-14 before that turn there is some crazy fast sweeping bends - I've had knee down at 130+ on them! There is a big petrol station after them on the right - after the petrol station the road goes steep down hill - the C-26 turn is at the bottom of the hill marked Solsones (Solsona).

That road goes to Solsones (no shit!) over the Castellar De Ribera. It takes about 30 minutes (or so) to Solsona if you are on it. The road starts flat with some nice sweepers and few straights. The it starts to climb. The road is always pretty wide - up the steep stuff it's 2 lanes up 1 lane down. Nothing too tight really. It then has a bit of flat stuff with a really nice set of corners that flow into each other. Downhill then, some great corners into Solsona.

cont......

In case you want to do a little circuit...

When you enter Solsona you do a left, I think it's over a little bridge. Then another left. You are now looking for your route North.
2 options.

The first IS shown on that Map: The LV-4241. This goes North and ends at a viewing point. The road starts flat but climbs up to the viewing point. The upper section has some hairpins and a lot of mid speed corners. It's pretty challenging to ride, not too narrow though.

When you get to the top the L401 will take you back down to the C14, HOWEVER it's a really tricky road. We called it the go-kart track. You can just about fit 2 cars in the width, it's fairly steep downhill (going west) and there are A LOT of blind corners. It's really tiring to ride and TBH a lot better going up!

Option 2 going North from Solsona is not shown on that map. It will be marked Saint Llorenc De Mornys and it runs to that village along the side of the river and goes across a dam. It's faster and easier to ride than the LV-4241. If go into Saint Llorenc you can then take a quick nip up the LV-4241 up to the viewing point and the L401.

cont....

Another little Jem in that area:

Again on the red route C14 - where that L401 joins the C14 it syas Coll De Nargo on the map. Just south of there there is a road heading west L-511. That goes up to the top of the Coll and is insane. Loads of turns, hairpins and some of the corners have a massive amount of camber on them. It goes up and then down the other side to Isona which is a nice blast.

That may be a good one to have a look up for a few miles and see how your group likes it. Maybe got up to the top and then turn round and come down. Last time I went up there in 06 the surface was like a race track - not Mallory, a good one. HOWEVER, and this goes for a lot of roads in that area, they can go from good to poor surface in one winter - and vice a versa the next summer as they seem to love resurfacing even the smallest roads.

cont (with one more suggestion!)

The mention of Isona reminded me of this.....

Further SOUTH on the C14 (before the above.)

PONTS. Just as you exit Ponts going north there is a left (west) turn, C142B which goes up to Isona. That road is great and has a bit of everything. Always has a good width and there's no really tight stuff - it does have some classic hairpins though.

As you can see, that can be combines with the post above to take you back to the C14 (which has had 3 different designations and numbers in the last 20 years!) There are many awesome roads in that area, and they have far less car traffic than Andorra. We would often stay in that area for a week and a half - Sunday down to Montmello for the GP - the rest of the time riding the great roads in the area.

I notice on your red route you plan to turn off the C14 onto the N260 and head through SORT and up to Llavorsi. Great road. You can white water rafting from Llavorsi too!

I hope that helps - most of those you could have a nosey up and if you no likey after 15minutes turn around. I am actualy really jealous right now, I don't ride on the road now but that area is the one place I would ride in again.

Take care mate - some of those roads can really bite and I've had the unpleasent experience of seeing the air ambulance pick up mates on 4 or 5 occasions.

One the spanish's annoying habits - making straights out of fun roads!

The C14 south of the marking Coll De Nargo on that map used to go in and out of the mountainside - and if you caught it at the right time (it's one of the busier roads in the area) was a mega blast. They blew tunnels through the rock and straightened the fooker out!

Your blue route down passes through Tremp - there's a lot of good stuff around Tremp.

Awesome, that should keep the two of us busy! Just me and an SP2.

I forgot to mention I've sort of been that way before. 2 years ago we left Berga on the LV4241 and at some point around Guixers or Sant Llorenc we took an accidental right, got disgustingly lost and eventually ended up in a national park. We had to take it in turns to go at the front and spot for rocks. Definitely a route for the Adv. We planned to go along the L401 like you mention, then up the C14.

Eventually we found Seu d'Urgell and then joined the N260 still heading West to Sort. At Sort turning left onto the C13 there's another fast bunch of sweepers, maybe not 130mph, perharps 120mph and that road eventually becomes the C28 after this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozfVGkdR5To

I'll definitely try to add in your loop, cheers.

EDIT, just realised you mentioned the road North from Sort. its early...

Just 2? That's better than a big group then, you'll fly.

The first few times I did that stretch of the Berga road it was horrible, really badly rutted, not fun on a 916 - then they resurfaced and it became heaven. I think I have a idea of what road your wrong turn led you to, supermoto stuff.

It's a shame we didn't have gopros in the late 90's.

Yeah. I got my brothers GoPro and 3 cards so will record a few roads on the way down.

We're in Niort now. Surprisingly buggered after only 3.5 hours.

Pretty sure we're not judging from the fashion sense!

Good day today, in the Pyrenees but off of my planned route due to closed passes but we'll retrace our steps and attack from another direction. Got sodding soaked on the way to Bordeaux this morning and I unpacked my bag about an hour ago to find every item of clothing minus a pair of socks wet through. Don't care though as.we have done nearly 100 miles of decent dry roads with barely any traffic.

Are you using those Interacts for this trip?

No mate they'd be melted by now! On Dunlop Sportsmarts and will save the Metz for Val de Vienne in July.

Blew apart a Leo Vince can in the mountains today. There's always something when I go away on an SD.

Well that was a waste of re packing! Apart from that glad to hear its going ok.

News? Video? Pics?