Piston Rally

[Miti]

Start off for Santander tomorrow...

Back in a couple of weeks with photos, etc...

Whoo-hoo..!!

Jeff

[Rob B]

Have a great trip Jeff.

RB

[Scott]

Hope it went well and look forward to seeing the pics... Scott

[Miti]

Unbelievable event... Will definitely be planning another visit...!!

Got home yesterday evening after about 2,000 miles (ish). Set off from Glasgow, stopping over in Birmingham (Travelodge) and Plymouth - lovely B&B on Pier Road (details to follow).  Our convivial hosts were kind enough to let us park our bikes in their yard and I was able to (try) to fix the leaking tacho drive there...

The ferry journey is long, but we had a very smooth crossing with a party atmosphere - losts of bikers heading for the Picos - some for the rally, some for the roads...

The Picos Tour is a three-day event organised by MC Piston (a bike club consisting of a group of like-minded friends and families) based in Santander.  Attendees register at a central hotel in el Sardinero, where they are given a bag of 'goodies' including route maps to their next accomodation.  In our case it was a hotel in Portes - 67 miles away  The route takes you away from Santander and into the mountains proper... WHAT a beautiful place..!!  The mountain passes and canyon roads are utterly breath-taking...

Our hotel was clean and reasonably well-appointed, with hot showers, cold beer and off-road parking... We had two days of prepared ride-outs with routes, roadsigns and refreshments provided by MC Piston... Their hospitality was second to none and the routes they devised were absolutely amazing.  Each day took us through around 165 (ish) miles of the Picos and into villages most tourists would never visit... We were expertly led, fed and watered, with hot food provided morning and night at the Hotel(s) (Four were used in Portes...)

The third day saw us taken (by another circuitous route) back to el Sardinero and the start of 'The Piston Rally'.  The Hotel SanteMar is very nice indeed and we were treted to buffet style meals, evening receptions and entertainment from local artistes (not to everyone's tastes admittedly).

Thursday saw another ride-out from/o el sardinero and more and more bikes started to gather for the 'main even' - The 5,000 Curves.  This is an endurance challenge covering about 330 miles through the Picos range... In this case, routes and en-route refreshments are provided, but no road-side signage.  Each check-point (there are four) is only open for a limited time and entrants have to sign in before the check point closes.  The event is expected to take between 10 - 12 hours to complete...

The post 'Curves' party was simply great and the cameraderie before, druing and after the event was simply wpnderful to witness...

Saturday continued with another ride-out and Sunday too - thei final one was short, culminating at the Santander Zoo, where we were treted to a formal lunch.  The formality continued to Sunday night and a farewell dinner, where the MC Piston mebers where treated to a raucous round of appluse and three deafening cheers for their efforts.

I recommend this to anyone who truly enjoys riding their bike.  The event is open to any pre-1980 machine (I was given special dispensation being the first Hesketh ever to register) but all manner of bikes were made welcome (modern bikes don't get awards or prizes but can still participate).

I'll write this up for the Sock too... Photos here:

ATB

Jeff