Tag: BicycleTouringIberia

Garry McGivern (Travelsonabike2) bicycle touring Iberia on his trusty bike, Passepartout

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Bicycle Touring Iberia: Bay of Biscay To Portsmouth, Cycle To Bognor Regis | Travelsonabike2

A landscape of a mountain with a road

Cycling Iberia: Bay of Biscay to Portsmouth, Cycle Home

My latest bicycle touring Iberia update: cycling in England. The Bay of Biscay to Portsmouth by ferry, then cycle home. 33 miles. The ferry crossing was okay, and time passed fairly quickly for once. It was a bit of a bumpy ride at about 1 am, but apart from that, it was a smooth ride despite it blowing a gale outside.

Once we docked and were allowed down to the vehicle deck. Where we continued to wait for a good 45 minutes with nothing moving. Or rather nothing that I could see as I was at the back of the boat, along with another guy on a bike from Wales. Eventually, things started moving, and as we approached the front of the ship, I saw the reason for the delay. A rather newish car had broken down on the ramp, blocking the exit.

Finally Off

After getting through border control, which seems to take forever these days, I rode along to the railway station with the Welsh chap. He was going to get a train home and didn’t know where the station was. I left him at the station, unsure whether or not he would be able to get home that day. Apparently, he’s able to buy a ticket for himself but unable to buy a ticket for his bike. (The train company dictate that you have to have a bike reservation.) But you can’t buy a ticket for your bike on the day. You have to book that in advance.

So, although he was able to get on the train with his bike. If somebody further down the line had already booked their bike, he would have to get off! What a wonderful system!! I do hope he got home ok!

I myself was going to go back to the Isle of Wight for the night just to try and get some more miles in and to make the total tour mileage over 2000. But it was far too windy. It was blowing at about 30mph, and I would have been cycling more or less straight into it. And the way my ribs are hurting, I really couldn’t see the point! So I just decided to have a fast ride home with the wind on my back!

Well, that’s another tour over with. It’s been tough at times, but probably no tougher than any other tour. As for the main reason for going away, to try and fix my back, I think it’s about the same! I did try cutting back on my painkillers a couple of times. But each time, I ended up being too uncomfortable and had to start taking them again! I still have trouble walking any distance, and my leg still goes numb if I stand around!

Not Good

Perhaps my consultant was right when he said I’ll never work again! Now I really don’t know what I’m going to do work-wise, as I do have to earn a living! If I could get paid for riding my bike, that would be ideal, as I do put a lot of effort into it and don’t seem to be too bad at it! But that’s not going to happen! I could start writing that book again or maybe get somebody to write it for me, but then I’d still have to get it published! There is another operation that can be done, which involves putting loads of nuts and bolts in my back. But my consultant isn’t convinced that would work, and there’s a very strong chance that I would be worse off! Basically, unless I find some rich old widow or win the lottery, I’m knackered!

Total miles covered: 1957.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

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Bicycle Touring Iberia: Spain, Villaviciosa To Santander | Travelsonabike2

Cycling Iberia, Spain: Villaviciosa to Santander

My latest bicycle touring update: cycling in Iberia, Spain. Villaviciosa to Santander. 108 miles. Another long day, but at least I’m in Santander, ready for my ferry tomorrow. I don’t know why I was so determined to get here today, because my ferry doesn’t leave until tomorrow afternoon, but I’d just got it into my head that I had to be here today!

At about 6 o’clock tonight, I’d decided that I wouldn’t make it to Santander, or rather, I would, but it would be a bit late. So I decided to stop at a campsite for the night and then cycle the thirty or so miles to Santander in the morning.

Idiot

According to my map, there were loads of campsites along the coast road. Now I know that my map hasn’t been that accurate so far, and it’s shown quite a few campsites before. But I was sure that there would be at least one that existed along this coastal road. I was merrily bowling along, not really taking that much notice of the roads. And just following the signs for Santander. I was flying down yet another huge hill when I suddenly thought I was on the wrong road. As I could see the motorway in the distance. And there was no way that I should have been able to see it. So I slammed the brakes on and stopped!

I looked at the map, and sure enough, I was on the wrong road. I should have turned left at the top of the hill. Balls, I thought, well, there was no way I was going to cycle back up the hill. I’ll just have to continue on this road, which was the main road to Santander; it was just that it didn’t show any campsites this way. Whereas the route I wanted to take along the coast was! There was nothing else I could do apart from continuing on this road and getting to the campsite in Santander. But if I saw one on the way, I would stop there or maybe a hotel.

A Long Day

Well, I didn’t pass any campsites; I did, however, pass a couple of hotels. But they were closed, so I pushed to Santander. It was dark by the time I arrived in Santander, and I still had to find the campsite, which was on the opposite side of town! Realising that I might not get to the campsite until nearly midnight, I thought a hotel might be a better idea.

San Antolin beach.
San Antolin beach.

Even if I could get into the campsite, a lot of them don’t let you shower between midnight and six in the morning. They turn the lights and hot water off, and I really needed a shower! I eventually checked into a hotel at just gone eleven o’clock. No restaurants open, but at least a bed and a nice hot shower!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

Follow Garry on his travels

Subscribe to my email and follow me on my travels

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Bicycle Touring Iberia: Spain, Luarca To Villaviciosa | Travelsonabike2

Cycling Iberia, Spain: Luarca to Villaviciosa

My latest bicycle touring update: cycling in Iberia, Spain. Luarca to Villaviciosa. 83 miles. Now, that was a hard ride today! Very pretty this morning and this afternoon anyway.

The first part of the day, from Luarca to Cudillero, was very tough with long climbs and long descents with tight hairpin corners. It was non-stop twisting and turning. Going up and downhill. Whilst all the time there was the motorway that just carved its way through the countryside, only ever gently rising and falling. Sometimes it was raised up on huge columns that were as tall as a 20-storey building. Other times, I would be looking down on it in the distance whilst all the time my road was twisting and turning following the contours of the land!

My road was very peaceful with just a handful of the lycra brigade and some people walking the Camino. All I could hear was the birds twittering away or the rumble from the cars as they would go overhead on the raised motorway. There were hardly any cars at all on my road. I think I must have only covered about 30 miles by lunchtime! The middle part of the day, from Aviles to Gijon, was very industrial. With huge steelwork plants and other heavy industrial engineering plants.

A Tough Afternoon

The ride from Gijon to here was again in the countryside. This time it was one big climb and one long descent to here. On the way up, it was like being on the Isle of Man with the TT races going on. There were motorbikes everywhere, all racing up and down the hill! It was very noisy compared to my ride first thing this morning! I eventually finished today at about 8.30 pm after nearly 11 hours sitting in the saddle! Think tomorrow may be another long, tough day. But I’m hoping not quite as hard a ride!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

Follow Garry on his travels

Subscribe to my email and follow me on my travels

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Bicycle Touring Iberia: Spain, Vilalba To Luarca | Travelsonabike2

Cycling Iberia, Spain: Vilalba to Luarca

My latest bicycle touring update: cycling in Iberia, Spain. Vilalba to Luarca. 77 miles. Late start today, the hotel couldn’t find the key to the room that my bike was locked up in! When I arrived last night, as normal, I made sure that there was somewhere to keep my bike before checking in. There was an underground car park, which was perfect.

After checking in, we went to put my bike in the garage, which I’ve done many times before. I always leave my bags on the bike and just take the one bag I need and the bar bag (the garages are always locked, so they’re secure), but the man from reception decided that this wasn’t a good idea and suggested that we lock it in the store cupboard instead, which was fine by me. I couldn’t really see the need, as it wasn’t some cheap hotel. It was a rather posh 4-star one (although it wasn’t expensive at all), but if that’s what he wanted to do, then so be it!

The trouble was that nobody this morning knew where the key was for this room. They had to wait for the manager to come in! It wasn’t a real problem as breakfast wasn’t until 8 o’clock anyway. And I’d gone down early to sort my bike out before breakfast anyway. I also wasn’t in any real rush because I thought it might be windy again!

Garry McGivern bicycle touring Iberia in the lush green mountains of northern Spain
The view I had on the 5-mile descent into Mondonedo

Good To See You Again

Once I’d had breakfast, I went back to reception, and there was Passepartout all ready and waiting for me. Once out of the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as windy as it had been for the past week. There was a breeze, again blowing against me. But compared to what I’ve had, I was happy! I had a few big downhills today, one of them was about 5 miles long. I got rather chilly on that one. The temperature has definitely dropped a bit now that I’m in the north. Yesterday I had to put my jacket on. Today I’ve had my fleece on for most of it!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

Follow Garry on his travels

Subscribe to my email and follow me on my travels