Eight must-ride roads
- Simon Weir
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 6 hours ago
It has been one helluva year. Back in March, my friend Drew noted the Chickenstrips touring calendar and said, "You'll be busy, then…" To which I replied that it would either be the best year ever or a two-wheeled Stalingrad...
With two or at the most three weeks off between tours, Bruce "Teapot One" Smart and I racked up more than 10,500 miles through eight countries over seven months, with more than 100 riders on a wild range of bikes – everything from a Ducati Scrambler 800 to the inevitable fleet of BMW R1200GS Adventures. Along the way we rode some incredible roads. Here's my pick of the bunch from this year's tours.
1. Picos de Europa – A227, Piedrafita de Babia to La Riera
There are so many amazing roads in the Picos de Europa mountains of northern Spain that it's really hard to pick a single favourite. The most-famous roads – like the N621 over the San Glorio Pass and the N625 over the Ponton Pass – are famous for a reason. They're brilliant. There are plenty of other great roads around Potes that are perhaps less well-known – from the AS114 from Cangas de Onís to Panes or the CA184/CL627 from Potes to Cervera de Pisuerga; or the P210 from Cervera de Pisuerga to Velilla del Rio Carion.
For me the joy of the Picos is that there's so much riding: some tight, twisty roads; some open and flowing – and I think it gets better the further west you go, as the roads become even quieter. It's not unusual to meet other groups of bikers on the roads around Potes… but get into the hills and it isn't often that you meet any other vehicle.
The road I enjoyed most on this year's Picos tour was the A227 over the Somiedo Pass – partly because it was utterly deserted and I really got into my rhythm with the Kawasaki Ninja 1100 SX SE and partly because it was the first time I'd ridden it for a few years so it felt like I was rediscovering it. It was a fabulous ride (and we found a great café there too).
• Ride the A227 on the León Loop – or as part of the Pure Picos tour.
2. Portugal – N221, Castelo Branco to Barca de Alva
Our second tour of the year was Portugal and the Picos de Europa – which meant another dash over some of those brilliant Picos roads. They're very much a means to an end, though… as the promised land on the other side of the border is packed full of amazing roads that are generally one click up on the "wow" scale from those in the Spanish mountains.
There are so many fabulous roads in northern Portugal – the one rule is to avoid getting too close to Porto, where villages halo the city so you're almost never out of one 50kmp zone or another. Our tour sticks to the quieter corners of this quiet country, where superb surfaces and an absence of traffic are the order of the day.
I admit, I'd been focusing on the Serra da Estrela – the range of peaks that mark the southerly point of the tour. They're packed with jaw-dropping roads – including the N339, nicknamed "The Portuguese Stelvio". And the ride through the mountains was magnificent… but my mind was blown before we even got there.
I'd forgotten, you see, just how exceptional the N221 is, as it hugs the Duoro River along the Portugal/Spain border. It's fairly high at the top, but over the course of 25 miles it drops down to river-level in a series of blistering turns, all with superb views. I waved my friend Al past, on his Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX: he was waiting at the bottom, looking dazed. "That was a transcendent experience," he said.
• Ride the N221 yourself on the Portugal & Picos de Europa tour and the new Guarda Gem daytrip route.
3. NA127 / D132 – Sigües to Arette
For the third tour of the year, a third crossing to Santander – but this time we came out of the port and turned left… heading through the Cantabrian mountains to La Rioja and on to the Pyrenees. This was a tour that suffered disruption last year with fog, torrential rain, road closures… But this year the weather gods were on our side for all but about 45mins (and even when it tipped down, the sun was still shining).
Like all mountain ranges, the Pyrenees are packed with awesome roads. There's quite a different character from one side of the range to the other. I know some riders who prefer the French side – with roads like Col d'Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet, made famous by the Tour de France. Other riders swear by the Spanish side – especially the N260 that runs along most of the length of the mountains, from Sabaniñago to the Mediterranean coast…
My favourite road on this year's tour – an old favourite, in fact – is the Col de la Pierre St Martin, which starts in Spain as the NA127 and ends in France as the D132. It's always been a great road and I enjoy it every time I ride it. The difference this year? Probably that I was on the Kawasaki H2 SX. It felt light and agile in the fast turns, planted like the mountain itself in the longer sweepers… and then the longer straights of the Col just disappeared as the supercharged motor chirped and whined. It was a simply astonishing ride – I'll cherish that memory for a long time.
• Ride the Col de la Pierre St Martin yourself on the Pamplona Passes, any of the Oloron St Marie daytrips or on the Pure Pyrenees tour.
4. A686 – Hexham to Penrith
I know, I know… it's not the most original choice, is it? And there were plenty of brilliant, less-well-known roads on our tour of the North of England (called "The North" – imagine Sean Bean saying it). But I think I enjoyed this road so much because it wasn't entirely in the plan.
We'd been aiming to cut south from Hexham to Killhope Summit – England's highest A-road – but a temporary road closure changed that plan. Instead we did the full length of the A686, climbing up through Alston to the top of Hartside Pass, then dropping like a stone to the coastal Cumbrian plains. It was another ride that really let the bike shine: in this case, the Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX SE demolished the run from Alston… it was glorious.
• Ride the A686 on the Hartside Loop, Kendal. Mint or Pennines Route 2 daytrips or the second day of the Grin Up North tour.
5. N10 – Reisdorf to Dasbourg Pont
The first time Chickenstrips went to Luxembourg, it was a disaster… we tried to go early in the year and ended up with bikes abandoned in a white-out blizzard, getting snowed-in for two nights. This year we went in August and it was, quite simply, fabulous. The Grand Duchy's a nicely accessible destination for a short trip from Dover/Calais and it's absolutely packed with amazing riding.
The thing with Luxembourg is that it's a relatively wealthy country with a relatively small population – largely concentrated in the eponymous city. That means there's plenty of money to maintain the roads in the relatively deserted countryside. In other words: great surfaces, no traffic.
The N10 might not be the most original pick for a favourite road from a trip to Luxembourg, but it's another one that was brought to life by the awesome H2 SX. It's just mile after mile of brilliant sweeping corners and short, grin-broadening straights. It was so good I turned around and rode it twice. I'm not sure you'd go to Luxembourg to ride this one road… but it's worth going because the rest of them are pretty much this good. It's biking heaven!
• Ride the N10 yourself on the Luxembourg or Vianden Variant daytrips, or as part of the Luxembourg self-guided tour.
6. A368 – Lairg to Tongue
This year's trip to Scotland was the one we call the "Beyond 500" tour – because we ride the best bits of the North Coast 500 but swap the dull bits for more-interesting roads, like this amazing ribbon of mostly single-track tarmac, cutting north through a wild landscape of heather moors and conifer plantations. It couldn't be more different to riding in the Home Counties if it was on another planet, never mind the other end of the United Kingdom.
• Ride the A368 yourself on the Ullapool Balloon and Lairg Long Lap daytrips or on day two of the Essential Scotland tour.
7. D292 / D31 – Presles to St Pirerre de Chérennes
Of all the places I've ridden a bike in the past 30+ years, I keep coming back to the French alps. There is simply so much amazing riding there – I've never been able to get enough of it. Whether you like tight and technical roads or broad and sweeping ones, there will be dozens that float your boat. It's not just the famous roads, either. There's great riding everywhere, if you know where to look.
Of course, our Alpine adventure tour does tick off the big-names – the ones you have to ride when you go down there. From stretches of the Route des Grandes Alpes and Route Napoleon to Cime de la Bonette, France's highest road, and the sublime D71 along the Gorges du Verdon, France's grand canyon. It's majestic road after majestic road. No wonder we have customers who've done this tour every year. It's stunning every time.
Our final blast through the mountains before turning for home is through the Vercors, to ride some of the balcony roads. Narrow and challenging, they aren't places you can stop a group to take pictures… but the views are amazing.
I tweaked this year's route to run over the D31, and as we hit the summit it seemed the whole world was spread out at our feet – just the biggest views imaginable as we descended. Every road on this trip has great views, but I'd managed to save the best for last.
• Ride the D929 and D31 yourself on the Vercors Balconies daytrip or the Relaxed French Alps self-guided tour.
8. D84 – Francardo to Porto
The last tour of the year was the only one I was worried about doing with the group. Getting to Corsica means some longer days and more bursts of motorway than most tours, but it was so worth it… After two transit days we had a great day in the alps, then the overnight ferry and three days of absolute mayhem on the island. The relentless, almost dizzying bends seemed to blow everyone's minds. It's simply off-the-charts good.
It's hard to pick one road when all – and I mean all – of them are twistier than the average corkscrew. Honestly, it's like riding the Tail of the Dragon all day long. But with better weather and bigger views. One road that did really blow me away was the D84 – which starts with a run through a canyon like something from Star Wars. The next section had been resurfaced even since I was here last year. It made a great road even greater.
• Ride the D84 yourself on the Porto-Piana loop or the Pure Corsica self-guided tour.
