Cycle touring in central Spain

[marcusinbristol]

I recently rode with a friend from Malaga to Bilbao, trying to find a route that avoided Madrid and most of the other large cities. it was a fantastic experience, cheap Easy Jet flights made it affordable and I would really recommend this part of Spain if you are looking for somewhere challenging and a little bit remote to ride in.

Most of the roads are in great condition, far better than the UK and many of them particularly in the south have a small hard shoulder almost made for bikes. The villages you pass through rarely see Cycle tourists but were friendly and supportive of what we were trying to do. We completed the journey in a week, but in hindsight taking a little longer would have been better. I've written the trip up here.

www.realadventurefilm.co.uk/category/cycling

I've added a map from "Mapmyride" at the end of each day which shows our exact route. If anyone is thinking of riding this route or parts of it i would be happy to help with any information.

Marcus

[Euan Uzami]

What's bilbao like as a city - any recommendations for places to stay/avoid?

[tiermat]

Just read that, you guys did what I would love to do (and am now inspired to do), but, if it is ok with you, I will miss out the food poisoning bit and the lack of water/food?

[andrewc]

A good read & it reminded me of this http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=7939&v=BX

Sounds like Spain doesn't have much in the way of small campsites, but wild camping appears to be OK.

[marcusinbristol]

What's bilbao like as a city - any recommendations for places to stay/avoid?

Interesting.  We didn't do much apart from lying around feeling exhausted but what we did see was very different from the east coast of Spain with all it's tacky builtupness, it had a little of the lost worlds about it as it's tucked into what feels a bit like a fjord, so you sometimes got an abstract view of modern architecture mixed with some cows on a hill.

We found it really easy to find a hostel, which was clean and i think 56 euros for a twin.

Marcus

[marcusinbristol]

A good read & it reminded me of this http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=7939&v=BX

Sounds like Spain doesn't have much in the way of small campsites, but wild camping appears to be OK.

I think it was the problem of being out of season and trying to ride as far as we could each day so we only really started looking for somewhere to camp 10 mins before it got dark.

We found everyone was very positive about wild camping, as the days passed we camped closer and closer to the centres of villages and always had a positive response from people in the village.  On one occasion we camped in front of a barn just as the farmer arrived and he couldn't have been more friendly or supportive.

Marcus

[tiermat]

Now look what you have gone and done, Marcus.  I have permission from SWMBO to do a short tour of the East of Spain, in April next year \o/

It's all your fault, I tell you

[marcusinbristol]

Now look what you have gone and done, Marcus.  I have permission from SWMBO to do a short tour of the East of Spain, in April next year \o/

It's all your fault, I tell you

Good work!

[Tom B]

Great write-up, most enjoyable, esp the bit about the 'col' near Avila and lack of descent. Any trouble with the bikes on Easyjet?

[marcusinbristol]

Great write-up, most enjoyable, esp the bit about the 'col' near Avila and lack of descent. Any trouble with the bikes on Easyjet?

Flying the bikes to Spain and back was the thing that worried me most, how the trip went in the middle was always going to be  the fun bit.  Easy jet were fantastic.  In both directions they were totally cool.  On the way out we had the bikes boxed up, so we weren't expecting a problem.  But on the way back we had a bit of an epic in Bilbao.  About three days from the end I contacted a friend to get him to find out if Easy Jet had bike boxes available at the airport.  Answer:  no.  Three days out this was something to strategise about in a world of endless riding, and I felt sure two fit cyclists in a morning could find a solution.  Fast forward three days,  and with a crippled wing man and all the demands that creates  ( regular searches of the hostel for more loo paper)  and three hours to find an answer, solo, on the streets of Bilbao, it started to look unlikely.  I found some cardboard some black bags and tape.  We stripped the bikes down as best we could to protect them, used our karrimats as protection,  the bit of rope I had added for a towing emergency as handles and Easy Jet were very cool with what we had created.  And more importantly the bikes arrived home in on piece.

Marcus

[Tewdric]

Epic stuff Marcus.

Your surname isn't by any chance related to a female parent and a shallow river crossing is it?

[marcusinbristol]

Epic stuff Marcus.

Your surname isn't by any chance related to a female parent and a shallow river crossing is it?

No, if your thinking lively band  who have their male offspring playing as well....it's not me.  I might have descended to unintelligibly cryptic.  Truth be told I should really have the username marcusinsomerset