The Pyrenees Run – Part 1 – Home to Campan.

To be honest this run had sort of dropped out my thoughts; mentally it seemed to be weeks away. Then I checked the calendar only to realise that the off was in fact only a few days away! Funny how life can creep up on you like that sometimes isn’t it?

Days 1 & 2. Wide loads, Batman & Robin, a Chinese laundry & a Tapas bar…

Things didn’t get off to a great start: I rode from my house around to Matt’s, a whole 2.5 miles and promptly got soaked. It started to rain as I pulled away from my house and stopped again as soon as I arrived at his place. Grrr….
Thankfully the weather soon improved and Si (‘Champs’) rolled up on his beloved Kawasaki ZX6R to join the proceedings and support me in giggling at the huge girth of Matt’s Honda CBF1000 now burdened with the HUGE Givi pannier, only recently acquired for this trip. Honestly I think these maybe the widest set of luggage I have ever seen!

The run down to Portsmouth was largely uneventful, we had to re-attach the tax disc to Champ’s bike. This represented the peak of excitement until we got to some standing traffic. Here we had the amusing spectacle of watching Matt nervously threading his super wide CBF through the traffic. Every now and again he would bottle it and just stop! On one occasion he caught poor old Champs a bit unawares: He had to lock everything up in order to prevent himself from planting himself in those cases too! Well held Champs! Meanwhile I was hanging back just a wee bit, crying with laughter!

Long time friend, and fellow biker,  Rob (aka Speedy) had been kind enough to offer us a rest halt on route. He only lives 20 miles or so from the Ferry port at Portsmouth. As we rolled up outside his place we were greeted by the sight of a bevy of fine looking ladies all dressed to impress. His Mrs and her her crew off for a night on the town! Nice welcome Speedy. Good work!

Anyway they soon cleared off and left us smelly bikers to those two great biking traditions: Drinking tea and talking rubbish! At this point Andy, the final member of our posse joined us on his mighty BMW R1200GS. He had been delayed as he had to hand his homework in. Well ok his university dissertation, Andy, late? How unusual…

Matt, Champs and Speedy at our south coast rest halt

Andy eventually arrived having handed in his maths homework and set about inspecting Speedy’s GSXR600. All the  while looking for all the world like a Tory MP inspecting a local factory:

“Oh most impressive, I bet that goes like the clappers! 

“I have Mulsanne Turbo myself don’t you know”

Speedy was only too happy to drag out his GSXR600 and lead us along the more interesting way to the port. This taking in some of his favourite lanes. He was even (quite) restrained by his standards. I remember him riding his pocket rocket Kawasaki ZXR400: Speedy by name and Speedy nature!

The ferry itself was excellent, boasting good cabins and decent food. The later laying to rest bitter memories of French pot noodles on the Normandy run back in 2011! The ferry was full of members from a variety of car clubs, all making their way to Lemans for the 24 hour race. Many were in fancy dress and as the beer flowed the high jinks started. All good fun to watch and we were treated to the somewhat surreal sight of Batman and Robin blazing through the lounge at full speed. Very odd, but harmless fun! So we downed a couple beers and headed to our cabins to get some much needed rest. We were split into the non snoring and snoring as memories of the ‘Great Assen Snore off’ were all too fresh in the memories of Matt and Champs!

Into France

We docked in Caen early doors on the Saturday morning and we began the long run down to La Rochelle. To be honest it was a dull ride on dull roads in ever worsening weather. We were all worried if the weather for the whole week would be wet. Excitement was provided however by the Teutonic excellence and terribly clever trip computer on the BMW. Despite this wonderful device declaring he had 16 miles of fuel left Andy rolled to the side of the road. The GS was out of fuel! Luckily the ZX6R as piloted by Champs was carbureted. The only bike on the trip.

Improvising somewhat for a container, we managed to drain some fuel out of the 6R and into the BMW via a drinks bottle. The simplest bike on the run saves the bacon for the techno masterpiece. Somehow ironic and I doubt Andy will skipping fuel stops anymore declaring ‘Don’t worry lads I have loads left!”

The joy of carbs as Champs comes to the rescue

Rather like checking the wine at a decent restaurant a BMW rider likes to personally ensure the quality of any fuel fed to his thoroughbred machine…

Once happy with the quality in she goes…

Champs also demonstrated his new form of signalling how tired he was getting: None of this floucey flashing of headlights or waving twaddle for him. Oh no. He goes for a full on warp-speed fly past before lamping on the brakes and going for the next lay-by. Good method, it certainly worked for getting attention!

Looking like a right bunch our soaked heroes show off their leather stained hands.

It got much worse from here!

The weather just got worse and worse and by the time we rolled into LaRochelle we were all wet through and pretty tired. The sight of an Ibis hotel on the harbour front was really welcome and Matt was so keen to get parked up that he forgot his panniers for a moment and clipped a concrete bollard with one as we rocked up the hotel entrance – at this point you could see the words ‘I AM PISSED OFF’ in 10ft high flashing neon above his head. I thought it would be wise to keep my amusement to myself for the sake of own longevity!  He was not a happy bunny, but no real damage was done to the panniers luckily.

Rooms were promptly sorted and quickly turned into makeshift Chinese laundries as we all attempted to dry out our sodden riding kit. There was only one thing for it, beer and food…I know that is two things, but you get the gist!

Dried out, beer in hand…smiles on faces!

So we headed into the town and the mood lifted immediately. What a fantastic place! Lovely harbour, beautiful architecture everywhere and a good choice of bars and restaurants! The town has a buzz and above all it had stopped raining!! So a good night was had by all as the beer flowed and the food was wolfed down eagerly, even the posh pudding Matt had delivered on a roof slate. That really bugs me: What is wrong with a plate or a bowl??

Enjoying LaRochelle. Some of us displaying distinctly lightweight tendencies.

The atmosphere in the town is superb and we enjoyed exploring the town and harbour. We wound up in a Tapas bar listening to traditional music while a rather attractive member of the audience hit the dance floor right in front of us. Result! By the time we got back the hotel the whole mood of the run had completely changed for the better. What a superb night!

Day 3: La Rochelle to Campan. Better roads, sun on our backs, chased by mad French women!

The sun rose and spirits too as we were greeted by clear(ish) skies. Even our kit had nearly dried out too, albeit at the expense of an all but burned out hairdryer: I don’t think you are meant them to leave them running for hours pointing at your boots! We had well over 200 miles to cover today in order to reach our ‘base camp’ at Campan.

Picking Up the Pace

The pace picked up as the roads improved and got a bit more interesting. We cheated a bit by using the payage tolls roads for a while in order to catapult ourselves south that bit quicker. At one point Andy and I seemed to set off a speed camera as we passed a slow moving car. We thought little of it; no point crying over spilt milk. About 40km down the road we stopped at a little cake shop/cafe in a charming village for a rest.

Anyway we were soon happily tucking into a cakes and knocking back our bottles of Orangina. Tough cookies us bikers. Suddenly a little Citroen C3 screeched to a halt if front of us. Out strode a very pissed off looking French lass making a beeline for us! The young lady marched up to us declaring how annoyed she was with us: Turns out she was the driver of the car we had passed earlier as the camera flashed. She spent the next five minutes having a go at us, declaring she had alerted the plod. Them just as suddenly as she arrived jumped back in her car and sped off in the direction we’d just come from. How odd.

Chilling before the crazy French lady arrived!

The sights were so much better today, as you work your way south France seems to blossom and get steadily prettier and more scenic. Eventually the plain came to an end and the edges of the Pyrenees, looking amusingly like the Malvern Hills at this point, came into view.

I thought the Millau bridge was MUCH bigger than this…

After over 700 miles we had reached Campan and our base for the week. Well Champs had done us proud and ‘Shed2’ (see the Assen Run review) was superb. Four Bedrooms, huge log burner and comprehensively equipped. It even had safe electrics! Rooms were sorted with Andy getting the Granny annexe as the senior member of the party. Champs secured his beloved mountain view. As for Campan itself,  it is an engaging little place with lovely old buildings and a quite stunning church set beautiful grounds. We headed to one of the two restaurants in the village and enjoyed an excellent meal washed down by a few well earned beers.

A slightly deranged looking Champs about to attack his Pizza with some vigour…don’t ever piss him off!

The final act of the day was to get back to base, Champs to get the log burner going (this was to become something of an obsession for him) and chill out over a few more beers. Tomorrow the mountain roads are calling us!

Words and Pictures: Tony Donnelly