Day 133
At 7 AM (it’s Sunday) the breakfast room is packed with British cyclists who arrived late last night. They are all up for the Pyrenees
and Andorra. On the other hand, I’m not so sure about 3,000+ metres of climbing, and also my Europe SIM times out at 12:36 to be replaced by a Spanish SIM, so I opt to head over a lesser part of the Pyrenees straight into Spain.
Figueres of course has plenty of unusual stuff
But the prize for the most beautiful cycle path goes to Girona with this path that follows under the train track for miles, lots of hanging vegetation, lots of varied artwork all the way.
Day 134
Late start. Spanish Time applies: breakfast starts at 07:30 which means maybe 08:00 más o menos. There are a bunch of Irish cyclists here doing a five day loop around Girona. Interesting choice.
The ride down to Barcelona is not especially interesting, some castles and stuff. Then I pop into decathlon to pick up a €14.99 temporary helmet. I wonder whether to wear it like a bonnet on the back of my head, like 80% of the non-sports cyclists, or just hanging from the bars like the other 20%.
Getting out of Barcelona is hard, just like getting out of most major cities. I’ve been to the main part of Barcelona many times so this time I’m cutting round the back through the olympic park. There’s not really an alternative given the geography. It’s quite interesting but slow on account of a million traffic lights.
Next is the coast road which is very twisty and up and down. It’s also packed with traffic nose-to-tail, which makes absolutely no sense as there’s a motorway that cuts through tunnels and is free.
Day 135
I follow down the coast, through Tarragona and other places. It’s almost continuous built-up areas, either residential or industrial. Mostly quite tedious, a few castles and olive groves, no pictures.
There are plenty of cycle paths, they are mandatory but shockingly bad in every imaginable way. I stop for a beard trim, it’s both the most expensive and the worst trim the whole trip. Then it rains. I give up at 80 km for the day.
Day 136
I take a route slightly more inland, though still heading to Valencia. This is more like it, proper Spanish countryside and not-holiday towns. The mountains in the distance remind me that this is the second most mountainous country in Europe.
I meet Iván from Catalunya who’s cycling to Jaen, which is where I’m going, on the same route, and what’s more he’s booked in to the same hotel in Sant Mateu tonight. He’s about 30 years younger than me and on a carbon bike with minimal luggage, but he asks to cycle with me. He says it’s fine I’m slower than him but it’s still a little pressure.
Day 137
Ivan may be fast but he doesn’t like getting up in the morning, by the time he does I’m about 40 km ahead of him. This is gorgeous riding, not too hot with a light tail wind through various countryside and villages. Some villages are decked out for an upcoming Saint Day, others clearly getting ready for bull running. There is an excellent long-distance cycle path here and there are loads of chain gangs and older individual cyclists using it, most of whom whiz past me (the older ones on electric). One guy shouts “ánimo, ánimo!” at me, I’m not sure if I should be offended.
Day 138
Cycle to Valencia for breakfast. Then a second breakfast. Then inland up to Requena, this mostly takes the old road that’s been replaced by the autovía so is well surfaced and free of traffic. Most towns up here have a castle.
Day 139
I’m heading to Castilla-La Mancha, via the Hoces del Cabriel nature reserve. The first place to stop for breakfast is some 30 km in, and it’s packed with both locals and cyclists. When I come to pay I query that I’ve not been charged for drinks: there’s a special offer, free coffee and beer or wine with breakfast from 0930 to 1030.
From here I climb to the nature reserve. It’s absolutely stunning, pictures don’t convey how magical the scenery is. Then down to the river valley and up through the pine woods the other side. From breakfast until late in the afternoon I see just two cyclists, two motorcyclists and one car.
Then into La Mancha proper: the guides recommend not coming here and to be fair there’s not a lot to see here. But it’s glorious cycling, up on the high plains of red earth, vines and olives, virtually no-one else about and the road is mine. I’ve not seen any windmills yet though.
Day 140
La Mancha is a vast open plain, flatter than the fens but at 720 m elevation. I do eventually find a windmill, and Sancho Panza
I override the route to ride alongside the irrigation canals – this route is officially banned as being too dangerous to cycle on:
There are a lot of actual wind turbines up here as well as the old Molinas, and of course today has a fierce headwind from the early afternoon. Yesterday or tomorrow would have been much more benign. It’s heavy going, in lowest gear on the flat, I’m thankful when I hit the end of the flatlands.
The town in the valley is Ayna, quite a draw for the day-trippers judging by the traffic coming out. There are about 20 restaurants in the town, but “You want to eat on a Sunday evening? Are you mad?” Only thing open is a sports bar, even the big hotel has closed for the season.
Day 141
The climb out of the Aýna valley takes me up to 1350 m, I’m a bit suspicious that routing has taken me off on a back route, but on checking the only other route rises to 1500 m. The mountains are lovely, maybe not as pretty as elsewhere, but cycling up through the pines is great and there is virtually no one else up here.
Down the other side takes me to Alcaraz and on to another abandoned rail trail, La Vía Verde del Sierra de Alcaraz. This has clearly had some EU money spent on it in the past but it’s showing signs of neglect, and I see absolutely no-one else using it.
Day 142
Out from La Mancha into Andalucia, I follow the railway trail as it changes name for each jurisdiction it passes through, then abruptly disappears.
This is totally Olive Oil country, there are olive trees as far as the eye can see and in every village the air is thick with the smell of olive oil. My destination is a castle in Sabiote, which is right at the top of a very long climb. For a ride that has been predominantly on a rail trail I have somehow managed over 1,500 m of climbing.
Day 143
From Sabiote I head south to the Sierra de Cazorla and the mountains loom in the distance. The towns and villages get less interesting, certainly fewer castles, but the landscapes are ever changing and rewarding of the virtually constant climbing.
Day 144
A frustrating day of U-turns, I didn’t have any objective other than to see the Gorafe Desert – “los Coloraos” – which I didn’t quite manage. I plotted a route with options, intending to pick as the day progressed.
I got chatting to a couple cycling from Netherlands to Almería and didn’t realise I’d missed the first option until we hit the lake.
There looked like an alternative route through the gorge and mountains, but after some time it was blocked by “private property” signs.
So I retraced and climbed back to option one, then back down on the track, passing a guy on a gravel bike coming the other way.
It would have been nice if Gravel Bike Man had warned me about the ford. The water is deep and fast moving and there’s absolutely no other option. This is very remote, there’s no-one for many km in any direction, nor any mobile signal. The only sensible option is to retrace.
Back past the lake and the steep climb the other side
To pick up yet another ex-railway, the Vías Verdes de la Sierra de Baza. This one is very poor, the gravel is almost too deep to safely cycle on and badly planned intersections, probably more dangerous than crossing the road. And tomorrow is another backtrack along that same path.
Day 145
I retrace the railway path to get to the Gorafe Desert from the south side. The surface gets worse as it goes west and I meet some others on touring bikes having an equally difficult time. The bridge conversions are equally sketchy.
The dessert itself is quite impressive
There are almond orchards here, which is odd as almonds are always said to be water-hungry.
From there I head to Guadix with its famous cave houses.
Most of the day has been spent on gravel roads and the distance covered is low, but I’m a little ahead of schedule so that’s fine.
Day 146
From Guadix the route is south to the coast, over the Sierra Nevada (the Ragua Pass rather than the snowy gravelly route). First pass the castle at La Calahora then the long but smooth climb to the top. I’m caught up by a 70 year old Austrian who rides with me for a bit, but after a bit I stop for a rest and he carries on. I don’t feel too bad about that — after all he’s on a very light carbon road bike with MTB gearing, carrying no more than a pocket of gels, if my normal all-up weight wasn’t enough I’ve added a full picnic of bread, cheese, tomatoes and beers.
After lunch it’s a very, very long way down the other side as I’m going almost to sea level. There’s an option on my route to use a smaller road near the reservoir. On the elevation this looks like a nice easy continuous descent, but the scale of 2000 m has compressed everything and hidden the fact that this road is up and down, high up the side of the valley. Very pretty though.
Day 147
Storm Gabrielle made land-fall at Lisbon where it stopped being a storm. However, it has left a very strong westerly wind all along the south coast of Spain. The day consists of fighting this wind up and down the coast road. The only thing of interest was a yellow velomobile which passed too quickly for me to stop and photograph it.
Day 148
More of the same, grinding along in lowest gear until I get to Málaga to spend a week resting, sightseeing and time with family.