THE BARDENAS IN THE HIMALAYAN

The Bardenas Desert in Royal Enfield Himalayan from Biarritz.

A motorcycle trip off road usually requires equipment, time (in both directions), investment and a certain level of riding… Having none of this, we tried to find compromises:

The choice of route was dictated by our level of piloting, the paths in the north of Spain are very fast and accessible to the greatest numbers from the moment when they realized that they should not catch the front brake handle like a brute on the gravette and that driving early was a guarantee of safety comfort! The lure of the desert closest to our old France, Les Bardenas will therefore set our destination!

For the problem of time (that of the calendar!) which is only 3 days, the option departure from the Basque coast, more precisely, Biarritz, reputed for its beaches and its Wheel’s and Waves. But also for its access from Paris or Lyon in 1 hour of plane to definitely fix the starting point of our adventure, indeed, three days are enough to fully enjoy the 740 km trip! Concerning the weather (that of the sky!) if the Basque Coast and the Pyrenees are capricious, as soon as we approach Pamplona with 1h of motorcycles by road, the sky clears and the paths are dry and passable by the greatest numbers!

About the investment that is often linked to the equipment, again by not being proud and by looking closely at his purse, the choice was on the little proud but surprising 410 Himalayan of Royal Enfield, rented 3 times a day. This bike is not a fighter plane, but it was designed to climb the Himalayas, it should do the trick to do the same with the Pyrenees! These 24 hairs may appear, on the crippling paper, but it will be nothing, no surplus of power to manage equal ease! The suspension is up to the task, even when loaded, the tires with the «Trail» profile are effective on the wide tracks (dry of course!), it has a bird’s appetite, the range is 300km. One of the last assets of the Indian is its low saddle height which makes it accessible, especially for the feminine gente as is the case here.

Arriving by the first plane of the day, the motorcycles are loaded with a simple waterproof bag provided with the motorcycles, the small Indian is equipped with a solid luggage carrier, the motorcycles are original, just equip a phone door and a usb socket, we remain in simplicity the phone acts as GPS, Reassuring, if we lose our guide, we will still find it!

In terms of the wardrobe, a good warm and waterproof jacket (we are in January!), an over-pants, a pair of «Trail» boots, a helmet typed cross rented with the bike, a good pair of gloves and zou!

When we leave, the Basque country makes us a whim! So we leave in the rain, we improvise by the shortest road to Pamplona, and then, as our guide warned us at the beginning, the rain stops on arriving towards the capital of Navarre, the time to go around the city, we attack our first paths that are surprisingly dry and without traces of deluge that could have created treacherous ruts! The beginning of the journey takes us from wind turbine to wind turbine, the tracks are not difficult, and lead us to a village where we will be able to eat Spanish way: Menu Del Dia! 11€. Enter/main course/dessert/bottle of pif/coffee! Don’t take the flan for dessert! That’s too much! And it starts again between valley and cultivated fields, the track is made of gravette or a white earth very pleasant to ride! You can lift your nose quietly to enjoy the landscape that is very different from the Pyrenees that you have just crossed! We alternate between wind fields at the top of the hills and slaloming track between crops and dam on artificial water reservoirs.

Spain seems to us to be well placed in the development of green energy. We continue our progress towards our first stage until the time: there! before our eyes, without any warning, we fall nose to nose on a valley of white and yellow ochre collapsed in the ground! The Bardenas are at our feet! Here we are! Here we are! We park the bikes in the grass which is actually thyme! mandatory photo shoot and contemplation, it’s 4:30pm, the sun begins to descend to the west, we savour this moment, the nostrils filled with wild thyme aroma!

We take back our destriers and cross the sunset Bardenas, an hour and a half of happiness, the photo spots are innumerable, so we leave at nightfall and join the road that leads to Tudela, where our hotel for the 2 nights awaits us. A good shower and direction Tapas and Vino Tinto!

After having eaten a few tapas, we go on the advice of a native in a famous restaurant of the city, no paella or other common tourist catch fries in Spain, here is Pig’s ear, lamb’s brains, suckling pig, succulent! We haven’t eaten stuff like this in 15 years!

On waking up on the second day, the weather is beautiful and clear. The program of the day is to tour the Bardenas. Once in the saddle, the air is a little cool safe the 10 kilometers that leads us to our first path, as soon as we put our wheels on the track, the magic happens! We have colder, more numbness of the day before, The royal Enfield purrs, we have the nose to the wind, the time is frozen, everything is fine, it’s perfect! At the top of a hill, we stop to admire the plain that leads to Zaragoza which is embittered by the bailouts, the propellers of the wind turbines just exceeds this artificial fog. We are at the crossroads between renewable energy and an ancestral polluting practice, amazing contrast.

We resume our journey with always rolling tracks, however we must pay attention to certain collapses of ground making think of ostrich nests, we must avoid putting it front wheel otherwise, it is guaranteed free figure. We do a «Pit stop», «menu del dia», without taking flan for dessert, too heavy!

In the early afternoon, we walk along beautiful cliffs oscillating on pink and beige, and continuing on the white land tracks to go to the sunset or the cliffs become more and more yellow to end up on a purple sky at sunset… splendid!

We enjoy the show until the day falls and we return to our hotel with color in our eyes… We traveled 200 km 90% on the roads not very technical, but it wears a hair anyway, It does not make marioles when going back to the parking lot. The saving shower and the call of the Tapas and Vino tinto combo, invigorates us, a good pig’s ear and a sausage snail stew (no kidding!) sprinkled with a bottle of Rioja and the cup is full, don’t throw any more, to sleep.

The light is coming, our third and final days are calling! The snail stew is more or less digested, we charge the bikes and it goes north towards Pamplona by a different track than the one to go, we find a pocket of fog that dissipates by climbing on a hill, the Persian sun mist, We’re getting eyes full in the morning! Umpteenth photo stop! we progress gently through the Bardenas by a track further north than the day before and then at the bend of a valley we get out of the desert as fast as we came back, back to reality and the wheat fields barely planted… we progress on a large right track through an agricultural plain worthy of a landscape of the Oise! to then land on more desert landscapes, curious nature!

A «viroleuse» track a little technical with ruts leads us to the top of a hill, our Himalayan take the difficulty without flinching, it is almost boring! no breakage, no puncture, no fall, not something that slides all the time and annoys you all weekend, nothing! In terms of mechanical anecdotes, we’re going home empty-handed. This 410, some find it repulsive, not powerful enough, not hype enough to shine in society and well after 3 days on her back, we start to find her endearing, we could almost become intimate and give her a little name to the cocote.

Let us resume our path that leads us to the road… And yes, it is time to take the asphalt back to the pretty village of Ujué perched on its mountain, after a mix bitumen/ wind track, we leave the tracks and definitely

we reached Pamplona by the beautiful road of Olleta. A «menu del dia» stop at el mano, which speaks fluent French, explains us that there is no more flan… darn it. The return of the trip is done by road, 270 kilometers on the day, it causes a bit anyway, however the return by the bitumen is far from boring, we walk along the road to Compostela and then branch off in the direction of small roads that take us by the mountain in France, in Urepel exactly, a village of 277 inhabitants known for its sheep cheese and its triple world champion of endurance: Patrick Igoa! It still does!

The road takes us through the village of Aldudes known for its cured Kintoa ham, then through the village of Banca known for its smoked trout, then through the village of Irouleguy known for its red wine, we note in a corner of our brains that it will be necessary to come back...

We climb the pass of Ispeguy then the pass of Otxando, then descent on Dantxaria by a rolling road where our Himalayan are still not ridiculous, we have fun delaying braking, we put everything on the trajectory, We take a 1200 GS in line of sight and we try not to be distanced, we arrive at the bottom with the banana! A few more miles and we have arrived at the rental agency, we put everything down, we change, it is 18H, the plane back is in 2 hours... We’re early, in fact, they roll too fast these little cocotes...

Sidebar:

A box divided into 3 titles:

The pig ears restaurant:

Restaurant of the Remigio Hotel

Calle Gaztambide

31,500 TUDELA

Many giblets forget but not that!

A lot of asparagus and artichoke based dishes, the local specialty.

The guide and the bikes:

Rental motorcycle

5 rue Bazter

64210 Bidart

0620983762

www.rentalmotorcycle.fr

Praise the Himalayan but not only:

Yamaha 700 Ténéré, Bmw 1250 GS, Indian FTR,

The choice is varied, open 7/7 from 1 April to 1 November

Organizes trips to the Bardenas but not only:

Off road or bitumen, has the day where over several days, the choice is wide.

The actors:

Nicole:

Eric’s wife, never tired, always smiling, a good ride on the handlebars, the perfect break, a princess!

Eric:

Nicole’s Mary, the impeccable wick, has the decency to close the march to watch over the good progress of her lady, a lord!