Touring Spain North to South - Report

[pdiaz]

Hiya!,

Last June I crossed Spain North to South in 15 days (13 cycling, 2 rest days). It was my first touring trip and also a wonderful experience!

Anyway, I am collecting tips, photos and GPS routes in a webpage. The address is http://www.pedrodiaz.com/cycling/spain2008.php. I thought it may be useful for someone planning to do a similar route. I'm still updating it with photos, maps and other stuff, but there's quite a lot of info there at the moment. Hope you like it!

Ohh, and any comments or suggestions either about the webpage or about the content are very welcome!

Cheers

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Now that is what I call a cool first post here! Excellent stuff! I was particularly interested in your gps route files...i just need to figure out how to convert all that code into my Garmin!?

I'd be interested in more detail about the weather en route (especially surviving the Spanish heat), and the ease of access to water/food in some of the more remote areas? Also, I know you used hotels but do you have any experience of the campsites on your route? Where are they, are they in the right places and how much do they cost etc? If i ever did the trip it would be on aself supported camping basis for cost reasons.

I lived in th Malaga area for 2 years so i know how dry and hot it can get...but I am starting to think that this would be a cool route to bolt onto say a trip down though France along the atlantic coast into northern Spain then down your route and either fly back from Malaga/Gibralter or continue into France and back from perpignon...(nobody mention Montpellier ok)


..great post...I have saved it in my favs as I possible tour for next year.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

..actually maybe you can help me..I would like to navigate your routes in my Garmin GPSmap60csx. I have downloaded your complete route file and opened it in mapsource. I would like to load each days ride individually and filter it to 50 points so that i can 'navigate' the routes (my gps has a 50 pont limit on route files if you want it to navigate)...I also have gps babel on my pc but I am not sure how to drive all this kit yet.

So...my question is...is it possible to load each days route file into my gps and have it navigate me along that route? if so How?

many thanks in advance.

 

[pdiaz]

..actually maybe you can help me..I would like to navigate your routes in my Garmin GPSmap60csx. I have downloaded your complete route file and opened it in mapsource. I would like to load each days ride individually and filter it to 50 points so that i can 'navigate' the routes (my gps has a 50 pont limit on route files if you want it to navigate)...I also have gps babel on my pc but I am not sure how to drive all this kit yet.

So...my question is...is it possible to load each days route file into my gps and have it navigate me along that route? if so How?

many thanks in advance.

Hi there again,

Thanks for your kind comments B), I will update the page with weather and food/water information soon. The short version is: Weather is wet but warm at the north, dry and very very hot at the south. Water and food are easily available.

Regarding the routes, if you want to just have one route per document, it's as easy as copying the route (select it, right click, copy) and open a new document and paste it (Ctr-V). You can also download each route individualy in GPX format (mapsource accepts it also). The links are on the webpage

The filtering business is a little bit more complicated. All my routes are set to 250 or less points, because that's what my garmin supports. What I would do is open them in GPSbabelGUI and filter them (click on filter, Routes & tracks, simplify, limit to 50 points)

Hope that helps!

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Ok ta.
I cna get the route files individually by copy paste in mapsource like you said, no probs there. I then took the first file (day one) intogps babel and applied the 50 point filter and re saved the file. However on importing into the GPS unit I still get a message saying only 50 points can be used for on road navigation...must be a way round it...I'll keep trying.

 

[pdiaz]

Umm, did you checked the "Routes" checkbox in the "What?" section of GPSBabel? I just took one of my routes, filtered using GPSBabel and the result looks like it has only 50 points. Try this file
http://www.pedrodiaz.com/cycling/day2_filtered.gdb

Also, are you using on-road navigation? I found it to be a waste of time and a source of problems (just my personal experience). I usually have on-road navigation capable maps in my GPS, but all my routes are specified as off-road. That gives me 250 points per route

Cheers!

 

[Enogeze]

Thanks for your post - some beautiful photos in your blog.

I see that you used GPS Visualizer - I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do!

Oh, and by the way, maybe I'll try some pigs ears the next time I'm in Spain!

 

[xilios]

Nice site, thanks for sharing.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I loaded that file into the gps and it would be easy to follow the track line i guess. Yes I do use the stay on road option which does limit it to 50 points ..but it worked ok for me in France...but I can see that 250 points would mean longer sections could be added per route file...I just like seeing the purple line actually on the road ..I find it easier to follow. I'll keep trying...if it doesnt work then I can just instal the 250 point files as they are and stick as close to the purple line when riding as I can if I eve rget to spain.

How did you find th elanguage? I speak a very small amount...tourist Spanglish really...

 

[pdiaz]

I loaded that file into the gps and it would be easy to follow the track line i guess. Yes I do use the stay on road option which does limit it to 50 points ..but it worked ok for me in France...but I can see that 250 points would mean longer sections could be added per route file...I just like seeing the purple line actually on the road ..I find it easier to follow. I'll keep trying...if it doesnt work then I can just instal the 250 point files as they are and stick as close to the purple line when riding as I can if I eve rget to spain.

How did you find th elanguage? I speak a very small amount...tourist Spanglish really...

Fair enough . The thing I don't like about the autorouting thing is that Mapsource seems to have a mind of its own when making the route. Sometimes I want to use that small road there and it goes thru the big highway on the other side, etc... Yes, you can adjust more or less how do
you want it to plan the routes, but it is a pain in the a** in my opinion. Didn't have any problems with the point-by-point route files, I created them following the contour of the road and although sometimes the waypoints were 10/20m off road, the GPS is smart enough to recognize when you have navigated a waypoint


Actually, I'm spanish, so the language was not a problem But my girlfriend is not, she speaks quite basic spanish and she got around just fine (I helped her with the language from time to time but also wanted her to practice, so she went around asking and shopping by herself). People usually are willing to help if you can speak some spanish, at least a few words. Older generations usually don't speak a word of english (but might speak some french - specially in the cities). Younger people usually know some english, might be good or totally broken. And of course, in the most touristy places (Cordoba, Salamanca, Malaga) your chances of finding someone english-speaking are quite high

 

[Aperitif]

Nice feature.

I research prefetching algorithms for cache hierarchies in Chip-Multiprocessor systems.

I guessed that...

Well done

 

[pdiaz]

Nice feature.

I guessed that...

Well done

Contrary to popular belief, some Computer Scientists *do* get outdoors from time to time

 

[MarkF]

Fantastic pics, I really enjoyed those. I love Asturias, it's a fantastic place to cycle and that is one trip I am "fixed" on doing.

 

[pdiaz]

Fantastic pics, I really enjoyed those. I love Asturias, it's a fantastic place to cycle and that is one trip I am "fixed" on doing.

Glad you liked them. We really enjoyed the trip, the Asturias part was _beautiful_ but very hard. They don't make a lot of flat roads up there!

 

[videoman]

Great write up and photos, thanks very much. I have considered a similar trip as I have been living in Tenerife for the last two years and would love to cycle from the UK and down through Spain and catch the ferry from Cadiz to Tenerife.