Spain - Bardenas Reales By Motorcycle

We've just arrived at the Bar de Neos Reals National Park and it's going to be an amazing day today. The sun is out and we've got lots of gravel tracks to go and explore the area. Yeah, we've just been to the centre here to pick up a map and ask a few questions. We've got our route planned. Show us what it is, Sean. Exactly. So if you pop into the information centre, they'll give you a little map like this and we're going to start there, follow the road down and turn right and there's a 34-kilometre loop which is going to go past all of the really interesting landmarks. Also up here for an additional 12 kilometres, you can go to the extra track and turn back and come back and there's loads of awesome things to see on the way. The weather's great, plenty of gravel tracks, so let's put the bike in enduro mode and let's go have some fun. Okay, so I think we have a few kilometres on this tarmac before we actually reach... Oh wow! You can already see the extent of it. That's crazy. It looks tiny as well. I think that's actually quite big. We're quite far away at the moment. I feel like we've just driven into the Grand Canyon. It does not feel like Spain at all, does it? Let's get past this car. So I guess we turn right here, isn't it? I think so. Yeah, don't pass us beyond that point, so here we go. I think this is a military base, she said, right? We could skirt around the military base. Now we've got like 37 kilometres, 34 kilometres of these tracks going around. Wow, it's spectacular. I'd have never have thought this was going to be Spain. No, not at all. Look at that. That's me. It's like a movie set. I'm blown away by it. The colours, the blue sky that we've had today after a few days of rain. It's just perfect. These gravel tracks are nice. Plus I am. These gravel tracks are nice. Yeah, they're quite well graded. The waterhole, you don't want to fall off there. Oh, a little bit of a climb here. Well, we're not making too much progress today. No, I don't think we've done 10 kilometres. There's so many amazing places to stop here. So I think it's going to be a full day of stopping, taking photos and videos, but wow. Just enjoying the surroundings. It's unbelievable that this is Europe. There's no way you'd think it. And it's just stunning. And it's silent here. It feels like you're in the middle of nowhere. It is. It's really amazing. And it's actually free to enter. There's no entrance fee to get in here. And it's open till 7.30. Well, sundown, I think. An hour before sundown, it's closed. But yeah, it's absolutely fantastic. And the roads are great. They're not too rough. They're not too up and down. No, not too rough at all. So even if you're not super experienced, like off-road rider, don't be put off by it because it's still quite good. Yeah, it's like graded gravel. It's really super easy. Really enjoyable. All right, next stop. We're going to press on. This one's almost shaped like a pyramid. It is, isn't it? Little plateaus in between. Not sure where this right turning is. We've either gone past it or it's miles away. I feel like I'm on Star Wars set. It's exactly like that, isn't it? Mandalorian is about to land. But this place is actually, I think it's only a two hour ride from Bilbao. If you take the toll road, it's really close. That's so cool. I can't believe it's free. I would have expected to pay some form of entrance fee as well. I'd have thought so. Yeah, in the States, I think you'd have paid like $50 for the day here. Wow, look at that one. It's sheer. Goodness me. Okay, so we've just taken the turn off to do the additional 12 kilometres. So it's 12 kilometres there and 12 kilometres back. The gravel is definitely a little bit thicker here. I think Sean would agree. Yeah, it's a bit squirmy there. A bit squirmy. I'm sat on the back, but I can stand if I need to. Sean's stood at the moment. But so far, look at this scenery around us. How's it going up front there, Sean? It's okay. It's a bit deeper than the last bit. I guess not so many people take this turn. It's not as tracked out as the other bit. And we'll go back here. That's good. Wow, look at that. No, actually, you don't look at that. You look at the road. Yeah, yeah. I'll look at the video later to see what I missed. Don't look at the edge. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, definitely not as tracked out, this section. But wow, it really feels like you're out in the middle of nowhere, doesn't it? Yeah, it does, actually. The sand's got multiple colours on as well, different layers. I haven't seen that since Mauritius. You can see Andorra, I think, the snow-capped Alps there. Really? In the distance. Yeah, it must be Andorra. We're not so far from there. Little house over there. Oh, yeah. So, what have we got? 25 kilometres? Maybe another 20 left, I think. Yeah, I think it's 12 there and 12 back, right? Oh, is it just 12? Yeah, 12 there, 12 back. Oh, that's not too bad. We should be there in no time. So, we've been going for a few more kilometres. We're not too sure what we're actually going to see here, but the ride is pretty epic. See the scenery behind me? Shaun is killing it up front. The Michelin Anarchy Adventures that came with the bike, they're actually doing pretty well. They grip really well on the road, and they're not doing too bad on this light gravel either. I think we've had them before. We got quite a high mileage out of them, I remember. Some people complain about them being too loud, but I honestly don't know what they're talking about. I've got earplugs on at the time, I can hardly hear anything anyway. You can hear it from the window. They seem to be doing a great job. We've got the GS in Enduro mode. Turns off the traction control at the back, and I think it adjusts the ABS as well, makes them a little bit more slidy, but they're still on, they're still on. You can customise the Enduro setting as well, to how you want it, but I'm quite happy to leave it at the factory setting. Yeah, for these types of roads, it's perfect. So there's a car up there, I wonder if that's the end point. Yeah, it could be. You can turn around, do it again. Turn around, and then I still think we've got half the park to do. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be, this park. Yeah. This track is definitely a lot longer than we first thought, but it does get you really up close and personal with some of these rock mountain formations. They seem to be a lot closer when you take this off-route. Yeah, and there's not many people on it either, because I think it's an optional 12km there, 12km back. Thankfully, they won't find many people on this one, which is good. I think we've seen one other car on here, haven't we? That's it. What's that? We've only seen one other car. Yeah, exactly that. Number 22, what was that one? I don't know, should I have a look at the map? I'll just stop and have a little look at the map. OK, no problem. It is very peaceful here. It is. Once you turn the engine off, anyway. All right, we've got to the destination that we were supposed to go to. You can go a little bit further, but the girl says it's pretty much the place where you turn around is where the shepherd is there. I think it is Bardonero, which is what the national park is named after. So we've got another 12km back to the crossroads, and I think to complete the ring, we've got another 10 or 15km left to do there. Yeah, and we still haven't seen the main attraction yet, so I'm excited to see that. Wow, it's already been pretty awesome. So you have to come to this place if you're in Spain. Yeah, and take the extra 12km, take the extra time, because it's a lot less busy on that route, and you get a bit closer to some of the rock formations. But let's head back on the bike. All right, we're going to go back. Yeah. It's a relatively unknown place here. I only found out about it when we were looking at this trip. Yeah, I didn't know about it either, and I think if I'd have seen a photo, I would have kind of dismissed it as like, oh, it's America, so I'm not even going to look into it. Yeah, because we're not planning an America trip just yet. But to have this in Europe, pretty much on your doorstep, is amazing. Yeah, and so close to so many airports. Absolutely, and ports. It's a bit deep there, I was kind of picking it up online. Probably get on the right side of the road. It's also relatively easily accessible. Absolutely, yeah. For everyone. I'm not sure that they do tour buses here, but maybe they do. I did see some tours and some buses advertised. The buggies look quite fun, the quad bikes. Yeah, the buggies look a lot of fun. So we've just started to make our way back onto the main loop now. It's getting hotter. It is, yeah. Wow, it's 19 degrees. Wow. I've got like four layers on. And I've still got my down jacket on underneath. I was wondering why I was sweating. It's unbelievable. It doesn't look real, and it also doesn't look like Europe at all. It's not that well advertised either. I just thought it would be one of the tourist hotspots. Because you can drive your car on here, it's no problem as well. Yeah. It's a cool ridge. Wow. And actually a lot more scenic driving back than it was away from it. Yeah. I think the thing that has surprised me the most... Oh, that's so cute, having a little picnic. Yeah. What are you saying, Emma, what surprised you? I think the green with the harsh desert sandy colours I didn't expect. Yeah, these like lush green fields. I love that dead hardy grass that grows anywhere. Yeah. It's like you have a lawn at home, and it's like hard to keep green. You've got grass here in the middle of a desert, and it's like perfect, with no weeds. This is true. Right, we're coming towards the end of this 36km ring route. And I think this is the pinnacle just over there. It's one of the most iconic structures there is here. Yeah, I think it's the thing that it's most well known for. In this specific national park. It's a very unique shape. We'll leave it up to your imagination what it looks like. A little object there on a pinnacle. It seems there's a big crater here as well. Are we going to drive round it? Let's see. Looks like, I'm not sure. It's the biggest canyon there is here, I think. It does look like a crater, you're right. I've seen that bit before, with the hole in the rock. Well, there it is. It's a very unique shape. Have they put them on top, those slabs? Yeah, it looks like they might have added the rocks to the top. That would be cheating. Definitely giving it some height. They've given it a few extra metres there. Always grateful. Shall we get off here? Wow. Alright, shall I get off? Yeah, sure. There we go. That was a great little ride. I would give yourself maybe five hours. Five or six hours for the day trip around here. You can spend longer. And you can do it as many times as you like, if you like it that much. I think we're coming towards the end of our day now. We've probably got another kilometre or so back to the beginning. And then we decide what we're going to do next there. Well, we've had a spectacular day today. It is super windy. Very windy. Don't even know if this will turn out. I think we've ridden approximately 50, 60 kilometres of gravel tracks today. And it's been great fun. The bike performed brilliantly. Put it in enduro mode and that helped a lot. And the tide's been really good too. So we've got another couple of kilometres back to the visitor centre. And then that's us done for here. Yeah, it's been so special to have this day here. The past few days there's been rain and all of that that we've dealt with. It's so nice that it's been blue skies on this day. Absolutely. To make everything perfect. It's just a little bit windy at the moment. I'm having hair issues. But really warm. And the vented suits have been great today. It's kept us really cool. I think we're at 20 degrees nearly. Yeah, we hit 20 today. So if it stays around 20 for the rest of the trip, we're going to be happy with that. So let's head back through these next couple of kilometres and say goodbye to the rock formation. Nipple. Right, let's go. Okay, that's it from us here in Bardenas in the Spanish desert. We're going to be heading on the motorway now towards Bilbao. So we'll catch you guys in the next video wherever that may be.