Searching for Europe's Best Biking Roads
After nearly two complete months without a drop of rain in the South of England, it was a shock to feel rain splashing onto our heads outside the bar in Biarritz out of the dark Basque sky. It was a taste of things to come. The next day dawned overcast with a steady Atlantic drizzle. Our route took us east on the A64 Autoroute, but we had decided rather than do the three sides of a square to Toulouse-Narbonne-Perpignan that the autoroute followed, to head into the foothills of the Pyrenees skirting Andorra and make a more ‘direct’ track towards Perpignan.
The rain that was falling in Biarritz relented at first as we travelled east, but came back to haunt our Autoroute dash with a fine steady drizzle. Which turned into steady, but never heavy rain for the rest of the D117, until near Perpignan where it turned properly heavy and then thundery. Our entrance into Collioure was heralded by a couple of lightning strikes so close to us that the thunder and lightning were almost simultaneous. There wasn’t room for all the bikes in the alleyway outside Casa Parail, so Mutley had to come inside and shelter from the storm. Despite the rain, the D117 was a joy to ride and definitely one of the best in the Pyrenees - which are always great.
My hotel room looked like a laundry as things got spread out to dry. Best performer in the wet was my new Arlen Ness mesh jacket. I was determined to take one jacket that ought to be able to cope with everything. The AN Mesh jacket comes with both a thermal and a waterproof liner. Both of which I brought – and wore in heavy rain and temperatures of about 15 deg. C in the mountains. I wore the same jacket without the liners as we rode through the plains of Northern Spain a couple of days later and again it was perfect in the 30 deg. C. plus temperatures there. Not bad for £179. . .
Got to say it's nice to say good morning to your ride on the way to breakfast. . .
More disappointing were my Gore-Tex textile Hein Gerricke boots. They are a couple of years old and haven’t been re-proofed. Apparently waterproof in everything Blighty has thrown at them so far, they turned to huge absorbent sponges in the Pyrenees, and were still wet after a night on the radiator. Their previous performance, amazing comfort and breathability making them cool in the highest temperatures made me forgive them though.