Spain (summer 1998)

It was our first travel in abroad. Of course we had a wonderful time, we saw as many things as we could in this large country. We boarded on the ship from Patra (Greece) to Ancona (Italy). After a fast drive through Italy and France, we entered Spain. We passed from Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia but we had always Andalucia in our minds. Granada, Almeria, Malaga, Gibraltar, Ronda, Seville. We then headed to Toledo and Madrid. I needed some rest and a lot of time to visit the museums, so we stayed there for 3 days. We have to return there, just to see the paintings of Goya, Velasquez and D. Theotocopoulos (El Greece) again. Unfortunately, vacation time had passed and we had to return. We passed from Aragon (I like this desert-like landscapes) and returned to Greece, after a short break in Florence.

Photos taken with a 35mm SLR, 28-105mm lens and polarised filter. Leave cursor on the thumbnail to see the description.

A bad surprise: toll taxes were really expensive everywhere in France and Spain (except Andalucia). More than the fuel per km cost! I was surprised from the equal treatment of cars and motorcycles in that subject. I don't understand why we have to pay the same money while our vehicles weight is much less. At least, we do the less damage to their roads. We are a minority. How much do they expect to gain from us ?
Unfortunately, my other half of my life cannot drive, so I had to run about 7000 km (4350 miles) in 18 days. I strongly recommend to anyone, who will try such a long travel in such a short time, to improve first his body fitness, particularly in the waist area. It is also strongly recommended to use a waist belt (with protectors incorporated) . These protectors also help your mate resting her (his) back on the top case.
The biggest problems: waist fatigue, heat and finding a place to sleep. A useful conclusion is that in those distant travels, the passenger is far less exhausted than the driver (surprised ?). Our TA didn't had any problems, except a broken spoke. I didn't change the SAE15W50 semi-synthetic oil I used (but added a bit, after 6000Km). TA need fuel only. The spark plugs had already 8500Km. After returning home, I found them in fine condition (15500Km total). I adjusted the chain only once. After returning home, I adjusted valve clearance and found that only a minor tuning was necessary. It was the first adjustment since we bought our (new) bike. It seems that one could run even 20000Km without any problems regarding to valve clearance.