Round the bends
Charles Swiney rides the Basque country
Roads, to many people, are inanimate objects, simply routes cut through the landscape enabling trade access to sources of production or consumption. To motorcyclists, travellers and anyone with a soul, they are capable of absorbing emotion thrust upon them. Think of Route 66; in its short life it has perhaps come to embody the cultural twentieth century ‘American Dream’ more wholesomely than anything else.
There are roads that offer crazy challenges, like the aptly named ‘Road of Death’ in Bolivia, but Europe offers an abundance of routes that encapsulate history, culture, geography and fantastic riding which, given their
accessibility, should never be overlooked.
La Route du Cols in the Pyrenees is one such road. It doesn’t claim to cross the highest peaks, contain the most corners per mile, suffer the highest death rates or be the most technical ride, but it is right on the doorstep of the UK if you catch an overnight Brittany ferry to Bilbao or Santander and it will make you smile.
If you’ve chosen Santander as your Spanish entry, you’ll find yourself in the middle of the city immediately, but don’t panic. Unless you really want to look at the architecture or do a bit of people watching from a cafe, you’ll be out of there in ten
motorcycle tours
....because only the best is good enough!
www.orange-and-black.com
+44(0)1256 770775
orange-and-black@hctravel.com
orange-and-black@hctravel.com c 30 The ROAD
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