cycling across spain

[Dorabjork]

Yea that what I was thinking. But for some reason I can only find bike trails in other areas of Spain on the internet, mainly Camino de Santiago routs. Was starting to think there might be some reason for it. That maby thats less interesting to bike than other areas, or more difficult.

 

[jay clock]

when you say bike trails that sounds like off road. There are a tiny number but nothing worth planning a whole trip around. For Barcelona to ALiicante I would head inland 50-100km and wiggle your way along the many country roads/lanes.

 

[Dorabjork]

Thank you Thats more of what I meant with "bike trails" , some quiet friendly roads, like country roads

 

[jay clock]

Large urban areas can be a problem in Spain.

They have tendency to take a normal road and convert to a massive motorway that will not take bikes. And conversely on Google maps it is often hard to see but frequently there is the old road next to the new one, so easily do-able


A great map app (not for navigating but seeing where you are) 100% free of data charges, and based on Open Street Map is maps.me (iphone or Android). Download the base app then one map per country/region. Outstanding. The premium version is 2.99 and allows searching but for just finding where you are and zooming in and out the Lite version is fine too

 

[Dorabjork]

Spain and Iceland downloaded This is great !

 

[nomdeplume]

Consider the Camino de St Jaques de Compostelle. This is the old pilgrim route that was revived about 20 years ago. You can start in England and traverse France, or you can start at the border. Some years ago I started from St Jean Pied de Port but gave up about 4 days later at Burgos as the weather beat me and my bike was falling to bits

 

[jay clock]

Consider the Camino de St Jaques de Compostelle. This is the old pilgrim route that was revived about 20 years ago. You can start in England and traverse France, or you can start at the border. Some years ago I started from St Jean Pied de Port but gave up about 4 days later at Burgos as the weather beat me and my bike was falling to bits

When I revived the post I was looking for more southerly routes. I would not do the camino in October. I did some of it in early Oct and weather was variable

hence my reasons for looking at a southerly route

Having said all that, I am now not free in Oct

Jay

 

[smith4188]

Maybe a bit late but I've done north to south, south to north, east to west and half of west to east. East to west I had the wind in my face the whole time (August). Spain is probably the best all round touring destination in western Europe for scenery, road/driver quality and cost.

 

[jay clock]

Maybe a bit late but I've done north to south, south to north, east to west and half of west to east. East to west I had the wind in my face the whole time (August). Spain is probably the best all round touring destination in western Europe for scenery, road/driver quality and cost.

Never too late for extra advice! Now booked for a 5-6 day trip from Malaga to Sevilla in the first week of November, so that leaves my route options very open

 

[Brains]

It's Europe.
So West to East touring is always the preferred direction.
The wind will be behind you more often that it's against you
The sun will be on your back rather than in your face most of the time.
.... and all roads lead to Rome which is a sort of east'ish direction

There is the reason why people do LEJOG and not JOGLE despite the Cornish section (the first bit) being the most hilly of the entire route

 

[MarkF]

I am not sure. I rode across Spain into an awful headwind, day after friggin day. But, I was heading south, to the sun, to glamour and Seville, it's a psychological thing. The hardship is worth it, Seville to Bilbao would be far easier but not as enjoyable, IMO.

 

[jay clock]

ok, trip done. Never done less miles on a tour, but learnt new stuff! Have a read www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/julian2014