Hello my fellow XT riders!

This is my first report on a trip so far.
2 friends of mine and I travelled from the Austrian state of Carinthia to the famous town of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain in August 2016.

We only had a limited 2 weeks time so there was quite a pace.
Eventually we came back home after 12 days and some 6230km.


(yellow = journey there; red = return)

This is a short teaser for the full-length video I'm currently working on.
There's also the link below, in case the player doesn't work.


https://youtu.be/GKZ0oEC5KWc


Now let's get started with some pictures:


First stage ended at the waterside of the beautiful Kalterer See in Kaltern, Southern Tyrol



The following day led us up to the legendary Stilfserjoch (German) or Passo dello Stelvio (Italian), 2758m above sea level




after the pass we entered the world of the northern Italian lakes, in the picture below you can see the Lago di Como


We headed on towards Torino and climbed up to our first gravel passes in the Western Alps, Passo delle Finestre...




...and the Colle dell'Assietta



The rugged roads and the heavy payload with the steel ammo box panniers caused some displacement of the rear axle. Fortunately one of our team is a professional mechanic and able to handle every tricky situation perfectly.


In the evening we finally reached French territory and started looking for a night camp. We set up tent right on top of the Col de Vars




Another beautiful pass road: Col d'Allos


Leaving the Alps we continued southwestbound and traversed "the Grand Canyon of Europe" as friends described it to us. And in fact, the Gorge du Verdon was very impressive. The extremely hot weather and dangerously crowded roads however limited the picture yield to mostly static images.

Welcome to the forum! , looks like a great trip. ..try and post some more photos. Steve

Hi Steve! Thanks for the welcome!
I filled up the thread with some more photos now, trying to keep the posts within the 20 pictures limit


At the end of the Gorge and at the beginning of the lowlands lays the Lac de Sainte Croix


In order to get to the Pyrenees faster we decided to take the autoroute all the way to Carcassonne. I've heard about this place since my childhood and convinced my two companions to visit it.
Although I never saw it before and it was also unknown to them, we all agreed that it was a great decision to see this unique medieval town.




Half an hour outside the city, which only offered very costly accomodations, we finally found the very last B&B that was still willing to welcome us in the middle of the night.
The surprise was perfect as the owner turned out to be a very talkative and sociable Englishman, which made communication a whole lot easier.


The next day we entered the Pyrenees and travelled through Andorra on partly gravel and partly tarmac roads.


Andorra la Vella


Via the Coll de Conflent we crossed the Spanish border for the first time


Burg, Provincia de L�rida, Spain


back on the French side of the mountains to Lourdes, France


San Sebasti�n/Donostia at the Atlantic coast


Making some Spanish friends


After passing Bilbao/Bilbo (both Basque country) we found a camping site at the northern coast of Spain at the Cabo de Ajo




...And after 6 days we finally reached our destination, Santiago de Compostela



Of course no pilgrimage is complete without getting at the end of the continent, so we continued on to Praia de Carnota next to Finisterre/Fisterra (literally "end of the world")

one of the rare pictures which shows all three of us


for the way back we decided to follow the inland trails of the camino de Santiago through the provinces of Castilla y Le�n...



...the province of Huesca...


...all the way to Catalu�a and the famous Montserrat




Montserrat Abbey, on the horizon you can get a glimpse of the magnificent city of Barcelona



We spent 2 days in Barcelona. Not only because the city is very interesting, but also because one of my companions had a light accident with his bike
and had to cure his knee a little bit, in order to be able to continue safely back home.





Due to time pressure and my friends injury we mostly used the motorways alongside the mediterranean coast to get home faster.



For the final night we took a hotel room in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains next to the Mont Blanc




The last day of our tour led us through the Mont-Blanc tunnel and the Val d'Aosta into the Po basin and finally back home to Austria via Southern Tyrol again

__________________

Riding is dangerous.
Always wear your leather apparel

what an amazing trip you had and some great photos. what's next? thanks for letting us in on it.

Looks like you had a great time , looking at doing the Spanish bit of your trip next year , thanks for sharing.


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Wow..... Loks like an amazing time :-D thanks for putting up the pictures. I love seeing adventures like these. Ill krep an eye out for the finnished video.

Oh and welcome along. You will like it here :-D

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To boldly go where no Tenere has gone before.

stunning pictures. look forward to the video

Fantastic mate. Definitely worth every ounce of energy it must of taken. Thanks for posting the photos.

Fantastic photos thanks wowowowow.

__________________
(Now sold on, sob) 2011 Blue XT660X with gold wheels, was 26,500 km.
Engine mods: K&N Stage 1 filter, DNA Stage 2 filter, snorkel removed, Kev fuel mod fitted.
Plus: smoked Puig screen, Yam aluminium sump guard, Yamaha / Acerbis handguards, Givi Trekker aluminium side cases, Leo Vince X3 cans plus Kev front fork mod and Fender Xtender. Just fitted Michelin Road Pilot 3 tyres.

SOLD the XTX for a Super Ten 1200. And just bought a Raptor 700 so staying on here for some tips....