Gijon 2010

I had been waiting for a Euro Lambretta in Spain for long as it was one of those European Countried I had never been before so as I got the information I have started, together with my friend Marco to plan the journey. Finally the day has come in a nice shiny and warm early June day. Just two of us riding, no back up van or whatsoever. The first day has seen us riding through the old dear Via Emilia heading North and then West crossing the Appennines mountains to reach the French border. Perfect day, you call it, everything fine scooters never missed a beat, final touch of the day is dinner in a Restaurant on the beach in Imperia. What more can you ask for? From the second day on, the scenery changes radically though. In the distance we can see black not promising clouds so from the beginning of France it starts raining and rain unfortunately will be with us most of the trip and the rally. Despite the storms, the second and third days we arrive on the French atlantic coast, riding a steady 500 kms a day as scheduled. At the beginning of the fourth day we ride through the' Paesi Baschi' with unbelievable scenery and for a bit the weather seems to improve. The roads are breathless, we often ride with the sea on our side. Past the pictoresque town of Eibar, where, as most of you will know, the plant where they were building Lambrettas for the Spanish market was placed, we find the rain again. A fuel break about 150 kms from our destination, make us meet up with some folkloristic locals who welcome us in a bar and this is food for our souls, but it gets worse again as we arrive in the nearby of our final destination where we also find a strong wind against us we have to struggle with. What a shame. We even had ridden with some other lambrettisti coming from all over Europe. The most shocked are the English boys, most of which had comfortably travelled on the ferry to Santander, leaving the last bit of trip for the scooters. As me they also must have thought it wouldn't have been possible to find bad weather in Spain and as such I have seen some riding with flip flops.
Unfortunately also the rally takes place in a mess. The situation is so bad there is a weather alert. For this more than attending the campsite and events, most of us head to the nice town centre for some drinks and football. No good.
Early in the morning on Sunday we then leave for our trip back as we have had enough. The weather seems to get better so we want to arrive in Biarritz for the night, on the Spanish - French border. So we decide to take the motorway, Marco is in front of me but all of a sudden I feel my trustworthy SX200 like not going in a straight line and immediately realize; quick watch in the mirror nobody comes from behind so I immediately slow down and leave the scooter go wherever it wants without trying to 'control' it. I stop in the fast lane to see that my orrible seconds were due to my exact feelings; a puncture. I have been very very lucky, but also having ridden Lambrettas for 30 years has teach me a bit. Then I take the scooter to the emergency lane and change the wheel. Some English friend stops to ask if I need help. They are quite impressed when I tell what has happened. Anyway changing the wheel is a few minutes affair and when I have nearly finished Marco appears after having ridden in the wrong way on the emergency lane. Anyway we arrive in Biarritz in time for a nice steak and some French wine and stop for the night. Day two is again a mess, the rain is so bad that we have to stop only after 400 kms in Carcassonne, but we can't really go any further as we are soaked despite the rain gear. At least we stop in a brand new and very comfortable Hotel and we have the opportunity to watch the march Italy is playing in South Africa where the World Cup is taking place. In the morning we wake up brand new, we really need it as the third day is probably the most difficult of all journey. We ride about 400 kms not even seeing where we are going. I remember an English saying I've been told 'it's raining like welding rods!' now this is even worse. We arrive in this little village and the water arrives at the disc links on our scooters, leaving it in the country we start to see rivers of water and mud flooding from the land. After a bend a sign 'Hotel' sounds like a miracle to me, so I stop and tell Marco we better stop now as the situation is getting very difficult. Once we get our rooms the TV says that in the area all rivers have flooded and there is a massive need for help. We can see apocalictic report from the area we are in, people on top of their houses with helicopters taking saving them. Unbelievable.
The day after we realize the road had been blocked by the police just a few kms from where we have stopped. We then have to take the motorway which is the only rideable way from where we can look at the nightmare.
Once back in Italy we are finally welcome by good weather and warm sun. Coincidence or what? We then ride 750 pleasant kms in one day to arrive home. What can I say? The best part of it have absolutely been our Lambrettas that in all this mess have demonstrated once more absolute reliability as we have not had the smallest mechanical trouble.