another... Pyrenees trip - 13 June-27th June 2011

[AndyCook]

Got the aircon regassed near Chesterfield today at "autokool" - as recommended by Chris - thanks. Great friendly people at autokool, 285g of refrigerant came outand 700g back in. cooler now!

so shortly leaving Worksop for Hull to catch the overnight Ferry to Zeebrugge,
then 2 days driving through France, ready to hit trails on Thursday!

hope to update progress on the trip

andy

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Hope you have a good trip Andy

 

[Gav Peter]

Bonne voyage Andy

 

[AndyCook]

thanks Chaps

I will struggle to get some new photos! apart from on first 3 days of the trail, thereafter i cover your ground

 

[TonyP]

Have a good and safe trip Andy

 

[Gav Peter]

Keep an eye out for mushrooms

 

[SpinDrift]

Hi Andy,

enjoy. It is a great place to visit and there is lots to see.

cheers

 

[adrianr]

Safe trip fella

 

[Red Oktober]

Safe trip Andy

 

[AndyCook]

Camped at a campsite in mid-france, by a river at a campsite in a town called Argenton-sur-creuse - nice spot.
450 miles since worksop and fuel light not yet come on - a record for us, driving at 60mph...
Drive from zeebrugge to paris OK, paris slow - took an hour from charles de gaulle to southern suburbs.
After that roads quiet and it was warm and dry.
Getting a creaking on lock turning.. So worried about CVs, but could be an arb bushing - will investigate.
Blunder at campsite - drove over a light unit on the ground.. Skid plates ground over it.. But owner wouldn't accept compensatiton, said it was broken already
Pyrenees tomo, aiming for Bossost, another 320miles.
Now back to the red wine!
Andy

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I will be interested to hear what you think of Bossost, we didn't have time to stop and check it out.

 

[Graham]

Camped at a campsite in mid-france, by a river at a campsite in a town called Argenton-sur-creuse - nice spot.

Andy

.
Great trip so far,
Fantastic miles.
Have you worked out the mpg?
It sounds very good, esp. as the warning light is yet to come on.
60 mph is a pain, but in todays prices, it has to be more worth it.

What is the name of the camp site ?
Do you have th gps for the front gate?

G.

 

[AndyCook]

Arghh lost what I possted

Here is progress
- deleted spot link - as not fair on chap who sells the roadbooks!

Campsite at bossost closed
So at one by les
Got 28mpg yesterday - with loaded lc90 and roofbox and wafflebaords on top

Taking mountain bikes out tomo on a loop from bossost that is mentioned in the roadbook, as we need a morning off driving
so will skip the first 28waypoints of rb1

32 deg in toulouse area
Graham I will post campsite long/lat when I get on laptop on web - using a blackberry at moment

 

[Gary Stockton]

Sounds great - enjoy the warmth!!

Drive safe!

 

[AndyCook]

very cloudy and damp in the hills today

did a 24km bike ride from Bossost to mines of magdelena - with massive 900m ascent and descent!
later - on the trail in landcruiser, very foggy, so spoilt it, no views....
may skip the offroading on higher trails tomo if still claggy and head East to Andorra etc as the weather is supposed to be better there.
took 3 attempts to find an open campsite, backtracked 10km on road to West of Viehela to find an open one.
rained a bit after setting up camp, but ok under awning

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Shame about the weather, thought it might have perked up again by now. It's no better back here if that's any comfort So are you near Era Bordeta? I see 2 tent symbols on the map side by side near there.

 

[AndyCook]

We are at Camping Verneda (between Benos and Arros)- i think its just West of the place you mention
we tried Era Yerlada? (Arties)- but it was closed..

no real fun driving with 20-50m viz in clag, cant see the view.. and dodgy if a local comes the other way at speed!

andorra forecast for sunshine, vielha - more rain!
so hope its better further East tomorrow

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I see you, added that to my list of camp sites for next time

 

[AndyCook]

What a fanastic day today!!
Brilliant sunny and dry weather
Rejoined trail near vielha and followed it to Sort. Some great trails and climbs and descents in forest and ski resorts. Wife use mountain bike for 38km, one downhill was 20km long and last one down to Sort was 900m vertical! She was faster than me
Got caught up by a manic rav4 driver and let him passed.. He left gouges in track with its low body..
Camping at sort - nice spot

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Good that the weather has cleared for you, should have recognised some of our pictures today then? Are you aiming for Andorra tomorrow? I ask because the route we took, which cut out a chunk of the RB1 loop taking us along the splashy river section was still quite a long day ...