Writings page

Photos from the trip - through text

OK, so I dropped the bike.
Day one, in the ferry port, before I'd got out of the country ...
Now that that's over with.

Out of the house before 8 in the cold of an English spring morning. Blast down to Plymouth for the ferry.

Quotes :-
Stuart - "I'm glad we went the boring way otherwise I wouldn't have seen the testicle."

Mac - "I knew you were cheap but Jesus"
Tanya - "I'm yours for a tea bag".

(Note - more detailed routes linked from maps)

Day 1.
To Pamplona.

Woke up with a sore throat. The doctor on the ferry gave some majic pills.
Off the ferry at lunchtime to T-shirt weather.
A couple of miles on the dual carriage way to get out Santander then up & over one of the roads that the tour of Spain uses. Steep hills, regular hairpins and appalling road surface. How do the cyclists do it ?
Even with good suspension & distinctly larger tyres the first section was remarkably uncomfortable.

Stopped at Puerto de Alisas for the view - and to check that everything was OK with everybody. After Arredondo the road surface picked up - as did the speed.
I'd forgotten how slippy the overbanding is on Spanish roads. As we got used to the roads, and the road surface improved, the grins grew.
Coming off the ferry I flicked the speedometer to kph but all that that meant was that the clock was showing uncomfortably big numbers, and I had no idea how fast I was going so at the first petrol stop I put it back to mph.
After we filled up & were getting it together to leave the petrol station a couple of motorcycle police went past. The petrol station attendant looked at us and pointed the opposite direction. It's nice when folks understand.
Who needs to speak a common language !
After a couple of hours of windy roads we picked up the motorway for the last few miles to get to Pamplona for the night.

Quotes :- "Who made that corner so tight"
Tanya - "Who wants to go to bed"

Day 2.
Pamplona to Teruel.

A number of times this morning I looked in my mirrors and saw 6 bikes following me.
Why ?
Why are they following me ?
Yea - I know - coz I'm leading.
But why am I leading.
Why me ?
I'm nothing special, and nothing I've done in organizing his has been difficult or complicated.
Even leading isn't complicated...
or so I thought.

The bike that was supposed to be at the back overtook everyone and the two trucks in front of me, then slowed down about 30 feet in front the front truck. When the rest of us got past (without crossing a solid white line) we were all squeezed in-between the new leader and the truck. This new leader waved me past on the inside, and, as I accelerated, swerved across in front of me and braked.
I hit the anchors and the bike behind me swerved to avoid hitting me and passed us both.
The truck by this time was inches off the back bike and leaning on his horn.

This provoked a row that was to last the whole trip.

Maybe there is a trick to leading lark.

The day ?
Up and out by 9 and heading for the lakes. Bit chill all day but we're heading south now. Towards the sun.
Quite a few of the roads we're on today we ran last year, the lakes then down to Huesca. Motorway down to Zaragoza (and right past the Honda shop that rebuilt the blade last year) The road we took south from there we'd been warned last year that there were quite a few trucks on it - and there still are - but we sat at 90 most of the way behind an Audi that obviously knew the road - and I was happy enough to run at 90. We revisited the scene of last years accident - the marks are still on the armco - and filled up in Utrillas. A couple of bike cops who saw us ride through Utrillas mounted up & gave chase. Unfortunately we stopped a couple of k later to fill up. Knowing that they would be waiting for us down the road, we ran the last 40 miles at (or very near) the speed limit. It turned out to be a very restful way to end the day. Some good twisties. Some lovely fast sweepers, some dull busy main roads and a couple sections of motorway.

This was before we started looking for a hotel. Last night we stayed at a fairly expensive hotel that I spotted and tonight it was Paul, Leigh & me again that found the hotel.

Some strange ideas surfaced during the trip. One that came up was the idea of using snails to train bull fighters. Snails have horns, they don't move too quickly and if they did manage to spear someone then the horn would contract. The animal rights people would probably be OK about it too. Other snail problems could occur. Were you to 'grab the snail' by the horns then when the horns retracted you'd end up headbutting the shell and that would hurt. On the upside, a snail in a china shop would do less damage but would necessitate a lot more cleaning.

My notes at this point say "flying Jesus supported by the Klu-Klux-Klan being chased through town by his mom at less than 1 mph surrounded by drummers"
I believe that this was some sort of 'Holy Week' ceremony - we were to see them in a number of places and failed to understand any of them.

Quote - Leigh "What's this bungee thing I have between my legs ?"

Day 3

To Grenada.

Last night got weirder the longer it went on. Thankfully last night finished and this morning dawned crisp & cold. Loads of strange noises from the street overnight ended up with one bar end missing & one screw from a luggage rack gone. All of us headed out of Teruel for 40 odd miles before stopping for breakfast (Only mentioning ALL because until all the bikes turned right out of the town I wasn't sure how many people would be staying & how many going. Last night got seriously weird!!) The riding & personality of one member of the group was causing some bad feeling.

Chocolate, pastries and coffee. The taste of morning in Spain.
Stuart remodel his key with a disk lock (but it wouldn't have been a problem - he had a spare one).
Down to Requena for coffee where Tanya's fan club managed to get their photo taken on her bike.
Continuing down the N330 to Almansa for more fuel & lunch. We keep riding through some stunning scenery, past incredible views, and all we're looking at is the road in front of us. Perhaps we should stop and take in the view occasionally.
One valley from this morning comes to mind. Vibrant red cliffs (beautifully smooth curvy road down into the valley floor). There was a view point at the top of the hill where we could have stopped & had the most stunning view.
OK - It would have been a view of a nuclear power station - but it would have been a stunning view none the less. I guess the roads are too good.

Across country down the N330. The third fuel stop of the day was at Barranda just coming to Andulicia.

I don't understand Spanish road classification. Some C roads are 10 foot wide & full of pot holes. Dangerous above 40 mph. One we went on today was effectively a motorway.
On the map they're both yellow lines.

We crossed a complete map today.
We started on Michelin 443 across 445 and onto 446.

Approaching Baza I had to stop to wake up.
After 300 miles today & not a lot of sleep things are getting scary. Concentration is getting difficult.
A final stop on the motorway (4th fuel stop of the day) and into Granada. (My scary corner of the trip - I ended up braking all the way round the hairpin down hill into Granada) Coming into down Granada I spotted a sign for a hostel & lead us straight to a reserved parking space outside a hostel with space for tonight (Hostel called 'lost yer arseholes' or something - note - actually Los Girasoles).

The day off tomorrow is well timed. I'll happily not get on the bike for a day.

We saw some signs today in Spanish that some people took to mean "Bandy legged women ahead" and others "No using your horn".
We weren't sure if these instructions were mutually exclusive.

Day 4.
Day off in Granada.
My feet hurt. It might have been a day off but it certainly wasn't a day of rest.
Some of us headed for Alhambra to queue for tickets. Some sorted out a hotel for tonight.
This wasn't planned - just how it worked out.

The personal highlight of the Alhambra was the accidental discovery that if you stand exactly in the center of the Charles V palace there is an almost perfect echo. I also started to get some idea how an innocent statement can lead to an all day running joke. I slept well last night for the first time & could really do with another good one.
It's a shorter day tomorrow - only 200 compared to the 250 odd we've been doing - there are some serious twisties on tomorrow's menu & I don't fancy tackling them when I'm tired.

Day 5.
To Ronda.
Someone must have washed my maps last night coz I couldn't do anything with them today.
Seven bum steers today (as far as I recall, but I think I managed to get away with one of them).

Out of Grenada, finally, and cross country to Malaga.
The first section of road was seriously slippy.
I wasn't sure if it was me or the road surface until my rear wheel let loose on a left hander. I backed off after that and when I pulled off at the first open cafe for breakfast everyone immediately started talking about slipping on corners.
Old smooth tarmac and dust.
Dangerous mix !

Before we left home I'd spotted some loops on the map.
Two 360 degree turns with bridge & tunnel, just short of Malaga.
What a let down.
If I hadn't marked them on the GPS I might have missed them altogether.

I hate the Spanish coast.
Beaches are OK if you like that sort of thing. I don't object to the sea, but masses of hi-rise hotels, fast food joints and British tourists (denim miniskirts, pink skin & bad tattoos) fill me with horror. Why anyone would wish to holiday there is beyond me. At least it means that they're not where I want to holiday.

When we finally manage to escape the clutches of Torremolinos we picked up the road to Ronda (As promised - Tanya lying across her bike, pouting). 30 miles of continuous twisties. The confidence was still suffering a bit from the slipping about this morning so I didn't attack the corners too hard. Mind you, with so many busses & lorries to overtake there were only so many corners that could be attacked anyway. We had pre-booked a hotel in Ronda (the only one of the trip - Many thanks to Jase for doing this) and we're here for 3 nights. The ill feeling from earlier is still there to a certain extent and one member of the party is still managing to bug the shit out of everyone else. I'm in a bit of an awkward position. As I said I'd organize this trip I can't really tell him to bugger off (much as I'd like to).

Funniest moment of the trip - discussing animal luggage in a restaurant.

You really had to be there !

6 bikers on one hotel room. Do you have any idea what that sounds like ? Like this actually

Day 6.
Day playing, and apparently the Queen Mum's died. Not that the 2 are connected...

I'm tired.
Didn't do many miles today and the feeling / confidence isn't there.
Another day off tomorrow with everyone going their own way. Some are off to Gib, some off to the coast, don't know what I'll do...
Maybe 2 weeks is too long.
Maybe 2 weeks with a group who don't know each other is too long.
Maybe having days off is what the problem is - no direction.

Whatever ... another day in Ronda then start heading north.

Dropped off 6 bags of dirty (worn under leathers) clothes in a launderette this morning. They seemed rather taken aback when we said that we'd like it back the same day, but when they finally agreed they said they'd drop it off at the hotel this afternoon. Quite civilized really.
They did, of course, choose my bag of underwear to spread over the counter to check what kind of clothing we wanted cleaned !

We played today on the roads at the back of Ronda that Kar Lee talked about in an issue of Ride mag.
That was the reason we came to Spain last year - so you know who to blame ...
Tight twisties up the sides of mountains with clouds coming over the top of the pass like smoke. The road surfaces were dodgy in places and a lot of the corners were blind round the sides of cliffs with oncoming cars taking 3/4 of the road.

Paul playing

At one point a dog ran across the road about 40 foot in front of me and I just had a feeling ... Sure enough, as I got to the spot it had appeared from, it's friend ran out. I was almost stopped by that point ...

The trip is starting to feel like some sort of endurance test and my objective is to survive it.
I really don't want a lack of concentration to cause a crash, so I'm looking forward to being on the road through the countryside with a destination rather than trying to fill in time...

Day 7.
Day off.

I did pretty much bugger all today.
I had two breakfasts, two lunches & loads of coffees and water.
I sat for a while in the bull ring & imagined the fun that would be had by closing the doors & letting a bull loose while the arena was full of tourists in ill fitting shorts with pink legs. I don't like tourists.
Everyone buggered off their own way today & I'll try to get individual writeups (See colours below).
I live by myself & usually ride by myself so after a week of company I was glad of the space.
Bikers are like fish - after 7 days they're no longer fresh.

I'm feeling a lot better today & am looking forward to the run north.

Quote "Stuart swallows - Tanya spits" (Most, if not all, quotes here are deliberately taken out of context for comedic purposes but, trust me on this one. You really don't want to know what T & S were talking about there).

Paul & Leigh's Sunday lunch in blightey!
Well Gibraltar actually. It's about 95kms from Ronda, the majority of which is on the A369. Tyres didn't have a chance to get warm before you're confronted by some seriously twisty roads.

To our surprise, they went on for ever! A mix of fast sweepers and slow, technical hairpins, and the majority on well surfaced roads.

We stopped for fuel at a little village called G******, a little before 10am. Cars were parked along the roadside for around a mile as people arrived for some form of celebration - even more cars were there when we passed by on the return journey at 4pm.

Towards the end of the A369, the road became a lot bumpier, but the final 20km, whilst not a smooth road, straightened out and allowed for some very fast blasts between corners.

Gibraltar is not a place to drive around if you don't like hill starts, or get flustered by not knowing where exactly you are or where you are heading!! Lunch had, and the Upper Rock explored - make sure you pay the £8.50 to visit and see St. Michael's cave and the Siege Tunnels - we headed back to Ronda.

First came the fast stretch! Dilemma number one. It's easy to get up above 120 on these stretches, but the road is seriously more bumpy on this side, and as Paul said "It's difficult to brake or turn in when both wheels are off the ground!"

Needless to say we slowed down for a while!

The road eventually smoothed out and the pace increased.

There wasn't too much traffic on the road, but at one point Paul got caught behind a car and a van. The van seemed determined to overtake, but the road was too twisty. On making his move, Paul was shocked to find the van also going for it! Ending up on the shoulder of the road, he was glad when the van noticed he was there and moved out of his way. Was it close? The van had knocked his wing mirror forward!

My favourite piece? Around 45km from Ronda is a series of 30-40mph hair pins. But the whole 90km of road will be in my 'Must Ride Again' list.

Tom :-
A day to play in the sun, oh what fun. Well, following the maxim that it's best not to play alone when so far from home, just incase the worst happens and you need help, two of us headed of down the road to Gibraltar. Why that road? Well it looked the thirstiest on the map so it had to be good. And it certainly didn't let us down, mile after mile of lovely sweeping bends, some long, some tight but mostly constant radius. Had to ignore the big drop just the other side of the large concrete blocks that formed the barrier but at least there was a nice big gap between them so you wouldn't damage the bike on the way through!

Could have followed this road all the way to Gib but we had our cozies on and where heading for the beach so turned of about half way down, stopping to check it was the right turning at the junction. About a mile along this road I thought something was not right. Hard to get the bike to turn in and then requiring loads of counter steering to keep it from falling over once in the bend. Stopped once, no obvious signs of anything wrong so carry on. Stopped again, checked all nuts and screws on suspension and all OK, kicked tyres and gave them a press and declared them OK as well. Pressed onto the cost with me hanging of the side of the bike to steer a straight line against the strong cross wind, must have looked well daft to the motorists coming the other way.

So we hit the beach road and start looking for a cafe and by now I know the back tyre is not right as it is shifting all over the place. Find a suitable place to stop and out with the repair kit. It didn't help that it was a temporary road surface and blowing a gale so anything you put down was immediately covered in sand. Locate the hole in the tyre, which is always two inches in the other direction from where you start looking, and clean it out with the spike. Lots of glue on the spike and into the whole to prep it, then bung a plug into it. The pressure was now down to a pound or so, so no danger of it popping back out again.

To give the glue a goodly period to set, as we had no idea what it should be, we headed into the café for a coffee. Strange place these costal towns and with the wind we decided it was not worth hanging around here so it was a case of inflating the tyre and of somewhere else. First gas cylinder got it to about 5 psi, next to about 9 and the last to 11.5. The trusty Leatherman came in handy to trim the plug down to slightly protruding as a sharp implement to do this is sadly lacking from what is otherwise an excellent repair kit. (Thank you MPS)

Well the tyre looked round anyway so of to the nearest petrol station for a top up and boy these things take a lot of air. Some gentle running back and forth along the cost followed in search of lunch. Then the real test up the main twisty road to Ronda we'd done the other day. Not so much traffic today so the bends where more fun. Starting easy, and slowly increasing revs and speed as the tyre held together. Eventually the tyre was taken to 200kph on the way back so looks like it's going to hold till I can sort out a new one. Slightly worn Michelin Pilot Sport anyone?

Day 8.
Ronda to Cáceres
About 250 miles (note to self - get daily mileage details from someone who was recording such things)

A lot more on form today.
The day to myself seems to have done the trick.

The roads weren't great - too many cars - but this is the main route north up western Spain avoiding Madrid.
The day was really split up by the food stops. Second breakfast in Utrera (Small cobbled square, cafe with Irish coffee on the menu). First lunch just off the Seville ring road. (Navigated Seville with no U turns - I'm glad the map's working again)
Second lunch in Torrmegia (dump just short of Merida by motorway roadworks, where we had to cross the road) and third lunch in the burger king in Cáceres.
Couple of moments today, the first was early on, slowing behind a cement mixer when I realized that it was going a lot slower than I thought. I could feel the front wheel squirming from side to side under braking.
The second was my first bird strike. It appeared from the left, came over the screen and burst on my right shoulder. I didn't see it for long enough to know what it was (well I know what it was afterwards) but I'd guess it was originally sparrow sized.

The police had some white line checks today.
We came down into a wide valley where there were police on the way down. Wide road through the valley with solid white lines all the way, and more police at the other side, about 4 miles from the first lot, and a police helicopter circling above. We were obviously speeding but they didn't bat an eye. We reckon the helicopter was spotting white line infringements. (Kill their children, burn their houses but do not cross a solid white line)

Cáceres is a lovely little town, and I can recommend the Hotel Iberia in the Mayors square (if you can find it) There's an old section where ... Tell you what - go Here and read about it.
If you do come here, find the multi story car park first & walk to the hotel. You do not want to try to ride from the hotel to the car park. We went round the town twice, the square 3 times and still took the most direct route. We finally managed to get the group with bull photo that Tanya wanted, and I got another bike zippo, so I guess there's not a lot left to do. We should get reasonably near Santander tomorrow (Tuesday) and the ferry's Thursday.

Day 9.
Cáceres to Soria.
Heading home - almost.

Another day of many miles. Currently sitting in my own room (for the first time) in a 3 star hotel in a country park. 8 k out of Soria (Valonsadero - on the Burgos road) Luxury.
3 of us are in this hotel while the others are in town.

For the first time I wasn't involved in the hotel hunt, so when the people who were, came back to the bikes and said "6 places in this one, 4 in another" we knew that we would have to split up. Unfortunately the hotel they sent us to was full (after we had left them at their hotel). We phoned round and ended up here, after dark, with a dark visor.

The days run was pretty uneventful. More fast dull busy roads for the most part. We did have fun with a traffic queue at one point and having filtered our way to the front, we found a huge, slow traveling load. It had stopped at a bridge to allow the escort vehicles to stop traffic both ways so it could tackle the bridge by it's self.
We didn't realize this till we had passed it and were approaching the stationary vehicles on the other side. Woops ....

Past Plasencia there were quite a few miles of roadworks till Jerte where we stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch & watched "Hey dude, where did I leave my car" in Spanish. In the afternoon, as the altitude rose the temperature dropped. We stopped in Segovia for coffee in the shade of a Roman aqueduct, and met the fastest Pizza delivery in Spain.

There was one section of road that was straight for maybe 5 or 6 miles. I was tempted to nail the bike, just to see how fast it would go, but I thought that testing Tom's puncture repair to see if it would hold at 150mph didn't seem like a good idea.

Cold and tired, and no hotel. I don't really care how much this one costs (about £50) it's like something out of an African safari. I'm looking forward to breakfast on the terrace tomorrow & see if I can spot any lions. As the road we're on is the way we're heading tomorrow, everyone else is coming out here to meet us.
I do hope they're suitably jealous.

Day 10.
To Santander.

I know that I couldn't expect two weeks of perfect weather but snow !
Gimme a break.
Given that we're over 4000 ft I shouldn't expect the weather to be as nice as the coast but 2 degrees is not funny (sometimes I really wish that the VFRs didn't have temperature sensors - I really didn't want to know how cold it was).
The others turned up at 10, after we had finished our sumptuous breakfast of fresh orange juice, black coffee, toast & sticky buns.

Head down and head north into the teeth of the gale. At one point we were riding through blowing sleet across an exposed plain and I could see the road in the distance going up the side of the next mountain into the clouds. The following 10 miles were above the snow line and even more unpleasant than the driving rain.
We stopped in a small restaurant just before Villegar and were shown to a room with the builders who were working on the building. Another veal steak & chips ...

Down to Santander for late afternoon and we found a hostel near the ferry port where they put the bikes in a garage.
One more night here & ferry tomorrow.

I'm ready to go home.

p.s. The day after I got home I took the blade in for a service and my local Honda gave me a brand new SP2 for the day.
After 2 weeks on the bike I couldn't be arsed to have a play on it.

Fuel usage on Tom's 'Blade

 

Total Mileage	Mileage	Liters	Gallons	Cost £	mpg	Date	Comments	Euro Fuel
885	107	9.91	2.18	7.43	49.08	23-Mar-02
962	77	6.88	1.51	3.37	50.88	25-Mar-02		5.5
1066	104	11	2.42	5.51	42.98	25-Mar-02		9
1149	83	10.28	2.26	4.90	36.70	26-Mar-02		8
1242	93	9.77	2.15	4.90	43.27	26-Mar-02		8
1345	103	10.66	2.34	5.27	43.92	26-Mar-02		8.6
1412	67	5.75	1.26	3.06	52.97	27-Mar-02		5
1524	112	10.51	2.31	5.21	48.44	27-Mar-02		8.5
1611	87	8.55	1.88	4.29	46.26	27-Mar-02		7
1705	94	9.77	2.15	4.90	43.74	27-Mar-02		8
1773	68	6.87	1.51	3.49	45.00	29-Mar-02		5.7
1875	102	8.19	1.80	4.59	56.62	29-Mar-02		7.5
1949	74	7.27	1.60	3.68	46.27	29-Mar-02		6
2065	116	13.57	2.99	6.86	38.86	30-Mar-02		11.2
2170	105	11.21	2.47	5.67	42.58	31-Mar-02		9.25
2257	87	8.68	1.91	4.41	45.56	1-Apr-02		7.2
2367	110	10.99	2.42	5.51	45.50	1-Apr-02		9
2465	98	10.86	2.39	5.51	41.02	2-Apr-02		9
2567	102	10.05	2.21	5.02	46.14	2-Apr-02		8.2
2664	97	9.94	2.19	4.90	44.36	2-Apr-02		8
2755	91	10.25	2.25	5.33	40.36	3-Apr-02		8.7
2845	90	9.69	2.13	4.86	42.22	3-Apr-02	Snow!	7.94
2925	80	7.51	1.65	3.86	48.43	4-Apr-02		6.3
3060	135	14.3	3.15	11.28	42.92	5-Apr-02
Total	3306	353.83	77.83	210.49	44.92

Fuel usage on Leigh's VFR

VFR800-FIX
Total Mileage	Mileage	Litres	Gallons	Price	MPG	Date	Notes
7262		14.29	3.14	10.27		23-Mar-02
7378	116	14.18	3.12	10.2	37.19	24-Mar-02
7472	94	11.26	2.48	5.85	37.95	25-Mar-02
7574	102	11	2.42	5.75	42.15	25-Mar-02
7654	80	10.91	2.4	5.53	33.34	26-Mar-02	Thrashing round the lakes
7746	92	10.61	2.33	5.65	39.42	26-Mar-02
7846	100	10.91	2.4	5.79	41.67	26-Mar-02
7911	65	6.9	1.52	3.9	42.83	27-Mar-02
8022	111	12.1	2.66	6.35	41.7	27-Mar-02
8106	84	8.57	1.89	4.55	44.56	27-Mar-02
8198	92	12.6	2.77	5.77	33.19	27-Mar-02	Not sure why this was so low. Motorway thrash followed by the high reving hairpins into Granada
8264	66	7.11	1.56	3.83	42.2	29-Mar-02
8363	99	12.84	2.82	6.55	35.05	29-Mar-02
8436	73	8.63	1.9	4.63	38.45	29-Mar-02
8516	80	11.29	2.48	6.01	32.21	31-Mar-02	Thrashing round the mountains the previous day!
8635	119	15.59	3.43	8.42	34.7	31-Mar-02	The A369 was pretty good fun!
8719	84	9.18	2.02	4.95	41.6	01-Apr-02
8826	107	11.91	2.62	6.34	40.84	01-Apr-02
8927	101	13.1	2.88	6.99	35.05	02-Apr-02
9027	100	10.4	2.29	5.53	43.71	02-Apr-02
9121	94	9.89	2.18	5.2	43.21	02-Apr-02
9216	95	11.78	2.59	6.5	36.66	03-Apr-02
9303	87	9.53	2.1	5.08	41.5	03-Apr-02	Slow start to today because of snow
9392	89	8.64	1.9	4.71	46.83	04-Apr-02	Snow the previous day
9528	136	16.9	3.72	12.66	36.58	05-Apr-02
Total	2266		61.62	157.01	39.275

Fuel usage combined

Blade Mileage	VFR Mileage	Blade Liters	VFR Litres	Blade Gallons	VFR Gallons	Blade Cost	VFR Price	Blade mpg	VFR MPG	Date	VFR comments
77	94	6.88	11.26	1.51	2.48	3.37	5.85	50.88	37.95	25-Mar-02
104	102	11	11	2.42	2.42	5.51	5.75	42.98	42.15	25-Mar-02
83	80	10.28	10.91	2.26	2.4	4.90	5.53	36.70	33.34	26-Mar-02	Thrashing round the lakes
93	92	9.77	10.61	2.15	2.33	4.90	5.65	43.27	39.42	26-Mar-02
103	100	10.66	10.91	2.34	2.4	5.27	5.79	43.92	41.67	26-Mar-02
67	65	5.75	6.9	1.26	1.52	3.06	3.9	52.97	42.83	27-Mar-02
112	111	10.51	12.1	2.31	2.66	5.21	6.35	48.44	41.7	27-Mar-02
87	84	8.55	8.57	1.88	1.89	4.29	4.55	46.26	44.56	27-Mar-02
94	92	9.77	12.6	2.15	2.77	4.90	5.77	43.74	33.19	27-Mar-02	Not sure why this was so low. Motorway thrash followed by the high reving hairpins into Granada
68	66	6.87	7.11	1.51	1.56	3.49	3.83	45.00	42.2	29-Mar-02
102	99	8.19	12.84	1.80	2.82	4.59	6.55	56.62	35.05	29-Mar-02
74	73	7.27	8.63	1.60	1.9	3.68	4.63	46.27	38.45	29-Mar-02
116	80	13.57	11.29	2.99	2.48	6.86	6.01	38.86	32.21	30-Mar-02	Thrashing round the mountains the previous day!
105	119	11.21	15.59	2.47	3.43	5.67	8.42	42.58	34.7	31-Mar-02	The A369 was pretty good fun!
87	84	8.68	9.18	1.91	2.02	4.41	4.95	45.56	41.6	1-Apr-02
110	107	10.99	11.91	2.42	2.62	5.51	6.34	45.50	40.84	1-Apr-02
98	101	10.86	13.1	2.39	2.88	5.51	6.99	41.02	35.05	2-Apr-02
102	100	10.05	10.4	2.21	2.29	5.02	5.53	46.14	43.71	2-Apr-02
97	94	9.94	9.89	2.19	2.18	4.90	5.2	44.36	43.21	2-Apr-02
91	95	10.25	11.78	2.25	2.59	5.33	6.5	40.36	36.66	3-Apr-02
90	87	9.69	9.53	2.13	2.1	4.86	5.08	42.22	41.5	3-Apr-02	Slow start to today because of snow
80	89	7.51	8.64	1.65	1.9	3.86	4.71	48.43	46.83	4-Apr-02	Snow the previous day
135	136	14.3	16.9	3.15	3.72	11.28	12.66	42.92	36.58	5-Apr-02

Note - the VFR was clocking more miles than the blade.
The lines in blue - they traveled different routes