Old Gits 2021 - Northern Spain - June 2021

[black-k1]

Old Gits 2021 – Northern Spain – 10/Jun/21 to 20/Jun/21

The planning for the Old Gits 2021 trip is well underway and assumes that the challenges of COVID-19 travel restrictions will be a thing of the past.

In 2021 we’re planning to return to Northern Spain for a week riding the roads of the Westerns Pyrenees and the Picos. If you’ve never been, the roads are superb, the weather in June is generally really good and the locals are friendly and welcoming.

The Itinerary is as follows:

Thursday 10th June 22:15 Portsmouth to Santander ferry, arriving 08:00 on Saturday 12th June. Single occupancy cabin.

The hotel NH Pamplona Iruña Park in Pamplona for 3 nights as a base to explore the Western Pyrenees.  www.nh-hotels.com/hotel/nh-pamplona-iruna-park
Tuesday 15th June, move to Oviedo in the Picos for 4 nights, giving time to explore the Picos.  www.granhotelespana.es/en/
All hotel rooms are single occupancy and include breakfast. Twin rooms are available for any who would prefer to share.
Hotel bookings include secure parking for bikes within the hotels secured car park. (2 bikes per car space.)

Saturday 19th June 15:00 Santander to Portsmouth ferry, arriving 20:00 on Sunday 20th June[/li][/list]

The costs for the above are:
Ferry - £653.40
Hotels - £503.70


If you are interested in joining us in Spain next year, or would like to know more about the trip, then please contact me ASAP as we need to confirm exact numbers by the end of next week. (Fri 25th Sept.) Booking a space will require payment for the ferry as we need to confirm our exact group numbers before the end of September.

UPDATE 08/Oct/20

All spaces are currently booked but if there is enough "serious" interest I'll go back to the ferry company and hotels to see if I can get more space.

[Melvin]

Just curiosity would that be £653 per bike

[sudolea]

As a start, I have noted the dates. However, don't count on me to take any spare ferry slot, as I wouldn't take the ferry anyway... In case I join, I'd stay on the mainland (and probably not stay for the whole period, like e.g. only until the first or second stay in Potes). I'll decide in the spring.

[black-k1]

The ferry price quoted is for a bike and rider.

I've already booked the crossings and released the extra reservations so I can't say if there is still space. I'm happy to see but it will need commitment in the next few days.

Unless someone drops out there won't be a "decide in spring" option.  Organisation a trip of this size is a huge commitment and I don't have the capacity to include "maybes". Sorry.

[sudolea]

That was how I understood it indeed, and I wasn't exactly expecting anything organisationally. My intention was to take care of hotel reservations myself (in case I would join, that is). Sorry for the misunderstanding ...

[black-k1]

Ensuring ferry capacity for around 20 bikes, finding hotels with around 20 rooms, parking for bikes, a decent review score, close to restaurants etc. and booking them all with deposits etc. to ensure that we really do have somewhere to sleep when we actually arrive takes a little organising. There'd be some pretty fed up people if we turned up to find that the ferry only had 12 spaces left then the hotel only had 6 unsold rooms.

To give you an idea as to how challenging it can be, the reason we sail out on a Thursday next year is that, 10 months ahead, the Saturday and the Friday ferries are already fully booked. Additionally, our first and second choice hotels didn't have capacity for the group as they were already booked up.

These trips don't "just happen".

[Matt]

David if I was planning such a trip we would definitely find several situations where there wasn't capacity at the hotel or the road went into the sea . I am always impressed by such organisation, if you guys ever did project management I like to think projects actually were delivered!

[Melvin]

Good on you I wouldn't/couldn't organise a trip like that,trying to please everybody takes some doing.
I organised a trip for three of us to France this year via Roscoff but only organised the accommodation that was bad enough.

[Phmode]

Those of us who have done any organising of a bike trip of almost any duration for more than a few bikes have either given up the relatively thankless task long ago, have a very odd masochistic streak or have become follically challenged and prematurely aged. No one would believe I am only 33...

Even something as loose as a TT trip for six bikes took most of my meagre brain capacity and that was thirty-odd years ago; I was very young at the time.

I think everyone who goes on The Old Gits trips really does appreciate all of David's incredibly hard work, even if he does enjoy doing it. The fact that it is all done in a foreign country at the end of very long internet connections only adds to the grief.

The same goes for Rae and The Wrinklies, let's face it, even Cumbria is a foreign land to some of us.

[Tigcraft]

What size group is it and what sort of pace does everyone ride at?

[black-k1]

The group for 2021 is 19 people but we definitely DO NOT ride as a group. That would not be fun for either us or other road users. In fact, it would be my idea of hell!

The trips are about having a larger group of people who speak the same language and have the same interest in the same location at the same time. This is not an "organised tour" where everyone follows the person with the umbrella and gets told bout the local history and architecture.

We base ourselves out of one location for a period of time (2021 is 3 days in the Pyrenees and 4 days in the Picos) so that we can off load the luggage at the hotel and enjoy the roads without the bikes being loaded down. It also reduces the time spent packing and unpacking the bike.

Each morning over breakfast there is inevitably a "who's doing what today" discussion. Small groups of 2 to 5 then tend to "organically" form between people who want to do the same thing or go to the same places. That said there are also occasions when some people just do things on their own. Likewise, there are some groups who enjoy riding together and only get such a change once a year.

Each evening there is tendency to gather in the hotel bar to talk about the days riding and also have the "who's going where" discussion around eating. Again with smaller groups naturally forming.

This approach allows everyone (including me!!!) to do what they want on their holiday with the people they want to ride with.

Riding styles range from "making brisk progress" to "relax and enjoy the view". Days out range from riding 300 miles of mountain passes and twistie roads to a 30 mile trip to visit a site of particular interest and enjoy a coffee or two. Bikes in 2021 will range from S1000RR to Indian Vintage Chief  to F800. Previous trips have seen bikes from a K1600GT to a NSR400 to a KTM390 to a CBR1000RR

[Matt]

I feel this post has been your best advertisement for it yet .

[Melvin]

Ditto ditto

[Tigcraft]

And I was just about to say too, very well put. I’m quite interested although really don’t know what this next year will bring regarding Covid bollox. Let me get my head round it.
What’s the current space availability btw? Eric

[black-k1]

How the trips work are all on the website www.old-gits.org, as linked to in the original post.

At the moment all the spaces for the 2021 trip are booked. If there is sufficient interest then I'll go back to the ferry company and hotels to see if there is more space available but signing up will require full commitment.

PM me if you're interested.

ETA link to relevant page on the Old Gits website. http://www.old-gits.org/informar.htm

Note that due to a recent terminal illness, the website may not be updated with details of the 2021 trip to Northern Spain for some time.

Here is our very own Brian (Phmode - WebMaster-in-Chief) enjoying the great roads and the lovely weather on our 2015 trip.