In 2020 we were going to go back to Western Spain & Eastern Portugal to ride some of the lovely roads we’ve done before, and some completely new ones too, but Mr Covid C19 put a stop to that !!
So……….. we’ve now revamped the tour and hopefully we’ll now be doing it in Sept 2021, with a bit of luck.
The 2021 trip starts on Sunday Sept 05th for 18nights with an option for anyone who cant get away for more than 2 weeks to make a short cut and do just 14nights.
Both itinerary are basically the same, both include 2nights on the ferry (1 each way) and 16 or 12nights in hotels in Spain & Portugal.
Both tours use the same routes and almost all the same hotels too. They differ in duration because when we get down to the Mediterranean coast (Estepona) the 14 night tour stays for 2 nights then goes over to Cordoba for 2 nights and the 18 night tour stays at Estepona for 4 nights, then goes to Granada for 3 nights before heading over to Cordoba for just 1 night.
This is where the extra 4 nights difference occurs, other than that the two tours are the same.
The total mileage from Santander back to Santander is approx. 2,000 miles for 14nights and 2200 miles for 18nights. Most of the riding will be on scenic cross country roads, which are similar to our B roads, so if you enjoy riding sweepy swoopy twisty and scenic roads over hills and mountains you may well love this tour. If you aren’t keen on these road types you may find this trip a bit of a challenge but we can always sort out some more direct routes for you if you wish, just let me know.
Route Map 09 2021
Ferry ship Pont Avon – Plymouth to Santander, Sept 05th
The new ferry ship GALICIA sails from Santander to Portsmouth
We’re sailing out of Plymouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries ship – Pont Avon, and back from Santander to Portsmouth on their brand new ship – Galicia.
We’ll be riding some lovely sweepy swoopy roads, through some lovely scenery over mountains and across flat plains.
Riding through The Picos mountains of northern Spain
Across the flat lands out of Oropesa, heading for the hills 🙂
A section of sweepy swoopies near EVORA, Portugal
We’ll be seeing some great cities and sights, here’s a taster
In the foothills of the Sera da Estrela mountains, eastern Portugal
The Alhambra in Granada, Spain
The Duoro river valley in eastern Portugal
The old Roman bridge into Cordoba, Spain
And, of course, we’ll be staying at some nice hotels too –
New for 2020, the hotel Vila Gale` at Evora, Portugal
The hotel Luna, 5,000′ above sea level in the Sera da Estrela, Portugal
The hotel Parador Oropesa, its a castle !! 🙂
The hotel H10-Estepona Palace, Costa del Sol, southern Spain
Our FULL Itinerary and a Hotels Links doc are available to download in the members area of this website, in Events, under the Sept 21 tab.
Or if you have any questions please email me ian@elite-wings.co.uk
IanC
This tours FULL ITINERARY & HOTELS LIST are available to view to e-w members in the Members area of this website.
Click on Members area, enter the Password, Click on Events, click on Sept 21 tab
Booked onto this tour as of 28 Nov ’20 are –
Ian&Denise
Norman
Mike&Nettie
Rob&Karen
Rodger&Edit
Fireman AL&Debbie
Jim & Jillo
Mark & Pam
If you fancy joining us you’ll be very welcome.
If you have any questions please dont hesitate to contact me – Ian 🙂
Nick Crouch
Hi Ian, i got a 2017 goldwing last june hoping to join a club and go abroard.Only managed 2500 before lock down.i am interested in your trip and joining the club. Any information would be great.
kind regards nick crouch
IanC
Hi Nick,
Thanks for visiting our website and viewing my post about the Portugal & Spain trip.
Sadly, we’re all in the same boat as you, I think I have done only around 3,000 miles on our bike in the last year !! We usually manage between 15-20,00 pa !!
We’ve all got our fingers, & toes, crossed now hoping for the restrictions to be lifted sometime this summer so that we can start doing some proper riding again.
The trip I posted is one I organised for last September, 2020, but which we had to cancel due to C19 ☹
I thought we MIGHT be able to do it next September so I made a couple of adjustments to it and reposted it for this year.
The trips displayed on this website are for elite-wing members only so you would need to join our group to join the tours.
I think we’ve now got 9 couples booked on it. We’ve all paid £100 deposit to Brittany Ferries (non-refundable) and we have to pay the balance mid June.
We’re hoping that by mid June we should know whether its feasible to make the trip and if so we’ll pay the balance, or if not feasible we’ll just cancel and say bye to the deposit, OR transfer the deposit to next year.
Heres a quick summary of how the tours work –
Me & Denise decided we wanted to go to Portugal & Spain again so I did us a basic itinerary of where we’d like to visit.
Then I look for decent hotels in those areas and then choose the ones we want to stay at.
Then I make daily routes – the routes start at one hotel and finish at the next. They include stops for morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea, and refuels too. I try to keep each riding stint to around 90mins, mileage depends on the type of roads we’re riding.
The routes use mainly B type roads, less traffic, more scenic, more twisties & sweepy swoopy roads, and I try to keep away from duals and motorways.
The routes are made available for everyone on the tour a couple of weeks before departure.
We all have the same routes on our satnav so that we all ride the same roads. Each day we select the route for that day, eg 02 Picos to Braganca, and everyone is told the time ‘we’ (Me & Denise) will be departing the hotel. Anyone who wants to ride with us must be ready to leave at that time, or they can choose to leave earlier or later if they wish.
We usually leave the hotel at 08.30am and get to the next one around 17.30ish.
Each rider/couple decide whether they set off at the same time as us, or ride on their own, or with one or two other bikes of the group, its their choice.
No one is expected to ride at a pace they aren’t comfortable with, safety is paramount.
Every bike MUST be equipped with a satnav that can use Custom Routes, such as a Garmin Zumo range or the BMW Navigator range of satnavs so that everyone on the tour has the daily routes and can follow them.
Its all very simple and uncomplicated, everyone is on holiday, it should be fun, interesting, exciting and all very friendly, no one is expected to do, or is pushed to do, anything they aren’t 100% comfortable with. Its your holiday so you are free to do whatever you wish.
I make a detailed tour itinerary and a complete list of all the hotels we’ll be using. I include links to each hotel so that each couple can view them and choose the type of room and board they want eg single or double room, some want sea views or mountain views, others aren’t bothered about a view. Some want just B&B and some want dinner too, etc etc. Each couple make their own choices and their own reservation using their own card and are responsible for paying their own bill at each hotel.
I am here to help and assist if anyone needs it.
I intended this to be a short summary but its a bit longer than expected.
If I haven’t explained it clearly enough please dont hesitate to contact me and I’ll do my best to explain in more detail.
Please let me know what you think of it.
Best regards,
Ian.