"They say if you want to test a relationship, go on a long trip. I decided to take it a step further and strap my girlfriend to the back of a 125cc Vespa for a 6,000-kilometre loop of Spain and Portugal in the middle of February."
After years of solo sprints across Siberia, the USA and the edges of Europe, I did something fundamentally different in 2025. I took Martina with me.
This was her first real adventure. Not a coffee ride. Not a sunny Sunday hop in the countryside. A 30-day, 6,390-kilometre circumnavigation of the Iberian Peninsula in February — in rain, hail and temperatures between 2 and 21 degrees Celsius.
She did not just survive. She thrived. And then she wrote a book about it.
A 2007 Vespa PX 125 — upgraded with a T5 engine to handle the extra weight of two riders and full luggage. The suspension was constantly at its limit. The brakes were working double shifts. Every mountain pass was a slow, deliberate crawl.
Riding 2-up on a PX is an exercise in commitment. After a few hundred kilometres, every muscle is screaming. After 6,390 km, you either hate each other or you are ready for the next trip.
We are already planning the next trip.
Day 1 — Instant Baptism Within the first hour we were hit by hard rain and hail. Martina called her lip balm "Adventure Lipstick" and kept going. I knew she was the right co-pilot.
Valencia & Málaga We hit the Mediterranean coast early — Valencia by Day 2. In Málaga we stopped for a service and fresh tyres at ASM Scooters.
The Algarve — Portuguese Hospitality Through Rota and into Portugal's Algarve. The winds were cold. The hospitality was warm. The contrast was everything.
Aveiro — Fed by the Moliceiro Vespa Club The Moliceiro Vespa Club in Aveiro welcomed us properly — the kind of welcome that reminds you why the scooter community is the best community on earth.
Porto — Cobblestones vs. Suspension Porto's notorious cobblestones were so enthusiastic in their destruction of the suspension that we had to visit Ciclo Foz for a check before continuing north.
Bilbao — The Vespa Temple In Bilbao we visited the collection of Iñigo Andrieu Azcarate — a legendary Vespa enthusiast whose garage is less a collection and more a cathedral.
Pamplona — The Legendary Paella My old friend Jaf Fernandez welcomed us in Pamplona with a paella that deserves its own chapter. It got one in Martina's book.
Barcelona — Home We rolled back into Barcelona after 30 days. Tired. Happy. Already talking about the next one.
Before this trip Martina had only experienced coffee rides — short, sunny hops in the Catalan countryside. After 20 years in the building trade she was ready for a radical departure from the normal world.
I wanted to show her that real adventure is not delivered to your sofa. You have to go and grab it by the handlebars.
She grabbed them. Hard.
Martina wrote her own account of the trip from the pillion's perspective — "Vespaseo Ibérico — Zwei-Takt, Flamenco und Pastéis de Nata". A completely different view of the same journey. Highly recommended — especially if you want to know what it is actually like to ride 6,390 km on the back of a PX125 in February with a man who considers this a relaxed holiday.
Vespaseo Ibérico — Martina's Book on Amazon
Was this Martina's first big Vespa tour? Yes — before this she had only done short coffee rides. The Vespaseo Ibérico was her introduction to real adventure travel. 6,390 km in February on the back of a PX125. She handled it better than most experienced riders would.
Did Martina really write a book about it? Yes — Vespaseo Ibérico — Zwei-Takt, Flamenco und Pastéis de Nata tells the story from the pillion's perspective. A completely different — and frequently funnier — view of the same journey.
Why February? Because that is when we could go. Real adventure does not wait for perfect weather. It goes anyway and calls the bad weather character building.
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