Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[Bonus]

Up until a fortnight ago I was still riding in beautiful sunshine wearing shorts & a short sleeve top (with a sleeveless vest underneath). Then the weather turned and it rained for a few days, followed by me having a head-cold for a week while the sun came back! I recovered from the head-cold (I was at deaths door, naturally) but by then the rain had come back again. After a few days of rain the skies cleared and we could see that the first snows had secretly fallen up in the mountains!

The Peña Montañesa, which is 2295m high at its highest peak and overlooks Ainsa, has a smattering of snow covering its top couple of hundred meters while the Alto Pyrenees (the Big Guys north of here, closer to France) have had some serious snow.

Winter is coming - but as long as we can still see blue skies and some sun I think we can cope

 

[Bonus]

Beautiful weather here at the moment! Apparently it's normal for December. November can be a bit wet but the sun comes back in December

:-)

For anyone who's lived in the UK (and maybe most of northern Europe?) for a winter, you'll appreciate how lucky we are here!

Rode in summer kit (with a vest) yesterday and will do the same again this afternoon . . .

 

[Bonus]

Ainsa Old Town from the Castle Wall. Autumn Sunshine . . .

 

[Bonus]

I spent a couple of days this week working in shorts and a T-shirt with Ramon the Farmer - Splitting and Stacking Firewood from trees he felled and cut up in his Woods at the beginning of the year. The wood had dried nicely during the summer and was fairly easy to split using axes (I bought my big one with me from SA) and a wood splitting Maul (which has a head that is half-axe and half-sledgehammer).

We tractor-trailered the wood back up the hill to below the Farmhouse and stacked it in the wood store. Great fun and very rewarding work. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't done it to try it!

A few more loads to do next week before the weather finally changes for winter . . . .

 

[Bonus]

What is Zona-Zero in Ainsa?

This summary from an article on the "BikeMagic" website sums it up nicely . . . .

"There is a small but devoted scene of local mountain bikers, unlike any we are used to in the UK. Riders of all shapes and sizes share the hillside and the sport brings the townsfolk together in riding and maintaining the ever-growing number of trails.

The local government made the forward-thinking decision to signpost and advertise the area as a mountain bike trail centre and it is now growing in popularity amongst Spaniards and foreign tourists alike.

Trails vary from short loops around the town to epic descents from high up in the Pyrenees mountains, which sit as a backdrop to the town. All the rides are clearly detailed on a trail map and are well marked with coloured wooden posts and signs. The longer rides are reasonably arduous but never venture a huge distance from civilisation, so it’s easy to return to town or to a tar road if necessary.

From up high, rocky traces of singletrack negotiate steep mountainsides with an epic backdrop of cliffs and in springtime snow too. These longer trails really are fantastically adventurous and take you on a journey from summit to valley encountering every terrain imaginable in-between, along with tiny traditional hamlets and rest-stops along the way.

Expect dusty rollercoasters down low and sometimes precarious singletrack up high. But above all, be ready for an adventure to remember"


These trails are what we call "Zona-Zero" . . . .

 

[Bonus]

Zona-Zero was host to Stage 7 of the Enduro World Series 2015 :-)

 

[Bonus]

The Estate Agent, Pilar Maria, who showed us the property that we ended up buying, shares an office with an architect (Pedro Miguel) who gives advice to people like us who buy properties that need either restoration work (as in the case of someone buying an old house in an abandoned village) or, as in our case (with it being a barn conversion) - a major design change.

When we first saw the property with Pilar Maria it was a Tuesday morning in June 2015. I fell in love with it when I saw it and so she arranged a meeting for us with Pedro Miguel for the next morning so that we could discuss what was possible "design wise" with the property. Wendy and I went back again to the property on our own that evening to have another look at the property "before tomorrows meeting" and we actually decided that it was too bigger project - too much work - and that there were too many obstacles in getting it turned into something we could live in and use for the B&B business that we wanted to start.

The next morning we met with Pedro Miguel and we went through our long list of reasons why we should not buy and renovate the property. One by one PM was able to reassure us and dismiss our problems with sensible answers - not as someone who was desperate to "push a sale through" but as someone who really wanted to help us get to where we wanted to go.

This week we have had what was probably our last meeting with PM before the building work finally starts after Christmas.

As well as producing a full set of around 30 construction drawings/plans for the property and a 138 page "Execution of Project" document that covers literally every aspect of the project - from the exact details of the very first old existing wall that needs knocking down to the quality specification of the final coat of paint in the kitchen, and everything in between - PM has assisted us with a myriad of other things . . .

He and Pilar Maria helped us find somewhere to store our furniture before it arrived. When the furniture truck turned up he was there to help us negotiate with the driver to take our belongings to a different location than the one on the shipping contract and then he helped us unload the truck and store our stuff. He has acted as translator for us dozens of times - when we've had difficult meetings with neighbours to sort out various issues that have come up and for things totally unrelated with our project. He has checked and translated official documents for us, he came to the bank with us and he came to the council with us to help push our planning application through. He has been the "calm person" standing with two quite often not very calm people (even more so as time plodded on and we seemed to be getting nowhere!) and he has managed to slowly but steadily get us to where we are now.

It's easy to forget how much help someone has given you - above and beyond anything they were ever obliged to give you, but I was reminded of it this week at our final "pre-build meeting" when an IT chap came into the office to sort out a computer problem and PM introduced us as "my friends, Tony & Andrea".

:-)

 

[Bonus]

It's been a busy week and sadly I've been neglecting my riding and trail maintenance lately. . . .

On Thursday I did manage to join Angel from "Zona-Zero" though and we did some trail-clearing out near Route ZL-004, which is one of the "Light" routes. This particular one is near the "Muro de Roda" which is a very old castle up on a hill. The plan is to clear several old paths and cut a few new ones in the area to form a network of trails with Route 004 as the "Base route".

The weather has turned a little colder but was still pleasant. Here's a pic taken just 10 days before Christmas . . . . I'm sure it's not that different to the UK and the rest of Northern Europe . . .

:-)

 

[Grant Fondo]

Lovely pics, only ever ridden San Sebastian to Oviedo over the Picos, would recommend

 

[Bonus]

Been busy exploring and managed to pick up a little bit of mud crossing a farmers field . . . after a long dry summer I'm not used to this!

 

[Bonus]

Our first Christmas in Spain . . . .

It's been nice. We've been well looked after (and very well FED) by our neighbours, the families of our neighbours and by the British couple who live in a town 60km away but have a weekend place in our village.

Christmas and New Year have been pretty much as I expected they would be, because I've had many years of Christmases in the UK - but for Mrs Bonus it's been very different. Coming from South Africa she's used to Summer at Christmas! This Winter weather is killing her and she's a long way from family. Face-Time has helped us keep in touch though :-)

We had supper on Christmas Eve in a nearby town with family of neighbours. The meal started at 9pm and finished at 2am. Some of the other guests arrived just after midnight!

Christmas day was a huge meal with Ramon & Rosa and some of their friends. Many varied courses and much wine!

Boxing day with the British couple and they did a traditional Christmas roast. Very nice.

New Years Eve was quiet and then on New Years Day we were invited to our local church up on the hill for the "blessing of the New Year". It was all in Spanish and the church is Catholic - but I think I got the gist of it . . . .

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2017 is a good one for you all.

Remember, wishing your dreams would come true is a plan, but making them come true is a better plan.

Bonus & Mrs Bonus

 

[Starchivore]

Happy New year- that sounds like a brilliant few days of celebration over Christmas, it's great that you have such good relations with neighbours.

 

[Bonus]

First week of January and between around 11am and 4pm the weather really is beautiful!

Checking out more local trails for the bike and soaking up the winter sunshine . . . .

 

[Bonus]

The winter weather that a lot of northern and eastern Europe has been experiencing over the last few weeks was headed towards the Pyrenees yesterday and got there last night.

Up in the Alto-Pyrenees - places like Bielsa & the Ski resort of Benasque - nearly a meter of snow has fallen and the tunnel from France that our friends from the UK came through when they visited us back in the summer is currently closed, as is the tunnel at Somport, north of Jaca.

Ainsa has a bit of a cold wind blowing through it at the moment but sunny skies - no rain or snow here and it was up around 11 degrees when we popped to the shops earlier.
Cold but certainly not too cold.

Guaso today was sunny and fairly warm if you kept out of the slight wind :-)

We can see the snow that fell on our nearest mountain, the Peña Montañesa, last night but it's all above about 2000m. You can see the bad weather behind the mountains but, despite the snow blowing towards us from France, it's not making it as far as us.

This is the sort of "bad weather" I don't mind - when you can just see it in the distance . . .

 

[Bonus]

This picture of Ainsa "Old Town" being used in the latest tourism initiative from our local area council.

(From Facebook)

Corona de Aragon
22 November 2015

Hello. Very good morning. We want to collaborate from crown of Aragon with this initiative of treasures of Aragon to publicize locations of our land, Aragon. We need your help. The shape is very simple, give the likes and / or share this message. The first town we want to make known to the whole world, is Ainsa. Help us, we want to reach 25.000 people reached. Thank you.