Tag: SpainAndPortugal

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 bicycle tour of Spain and Portugal in May 2015

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Travelsonabike2 This Day 9th-May-2015

Bicycle Touring This Day 9th-May-2015 Touring bike by road sign

Bicycle Touring Spain

This week’s Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring on this day post comes from Spain on the 9th-May-2015. A tough day in the mountains of Spain.

Saturday, 9th-May-2015. Sagovia to Pelayos de la Presa. 80 miles.

What a day to decide to do my usual mileage. I certainly didn’t intend to. I was all set to stop after 40 miles. I’d looked at the map and saw there was a campsite in Avila, which is where I was, and the next campsite wasn’t for another twenty miles. Not much in the scheme of things; the only trouble was that I saw a big climb between me and the campsite so I thought I’d have a short day and stop here in Avila.

As I came into town, I stopped at a supermarket to stock up for the night (mainly beer.) Once I’d stocked up I went to find the campsite only to find that there wasn’t one. As I said earlier, the next campsite was twenty miles away up that big climb, which was only 1300m. But at least the campsite was only just over the summit. So once I’d done the climb, it would be downhill, and I could rest afterwards.

Garry McGivern in sunglasses
Going up yet another mountain

It was a fairly hard climb but very scenic. Once at the top, it was a nice downhill, as predicted, into the small town of Barraco, where the campsite was. Unfortunately, again I found out that there wasn’t a campsite. But there was in the next town another twenty miles away. So off I set once more with more big climbs; surely it’s got to be third time lucky. I couldn’t believe it once again, there was no campsite; however, there was one about 7km away in the wrong direction. With no hotels about and if I stuck with my route it would have meant another big climb. I took the rare decision to detour. Thankfully, it was all downhill to the campsite. The only trouble is I’ve got to go back up it again tomorrow!

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Cycle Touring Spain 30th-May-2015

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Spain on Saturday 30th-May-2015. 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!

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You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

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Cycle Touring Spain 29th-May-2015

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Spain on Friday 29th-May-2015. Vilalba to Luarca. 77 miles. Late start today they 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 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!

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’s been for the past week. There was a breeze, again blowing against me. But compared to what I’ve had, I was happy! 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 I’m in the north. Yesterday I had to put my jacket on. Today I’ve had my fleece on for most of it!

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where I’ll publish the photos from this tour once I’m home. Pictures from all my tours and monthly photos can also be found on Flickr.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

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Cycle Touring Spain 28th-May-2015

A white building with a cross on top

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Spain on Thursday 28th-May-2015. Santiago to Vilalba. 62 miles. Another tough day with big hills and still that strong wind! I’ve even had to peddle quite a lot when going downhill!

I could hear the wind as soon as I woke up this morning, rustling the leaves in the trees!  If I hadn’t already booked my ferry for the 1st of June, I would have stayed put today. But I don’t have any spare time. It’s a bit tight as it is without stopping another day! I’m hoping tomorrow that the wind will have stopped or maybe change direction. But I’m not holding my breath. I think I might have it all the way to Santander!

The Temperature Has Dropped

It’s been a lot cooler today. Especially as the wind has been blowing from the northeast, I’ve had my jacket on all day. Passed loads of people walking the Camino de Santiago some of them could hardly walk. They were walking as bad as I do! Didn’t get as far as I wanted to today. It was gone 5 o’clock, and to do another 20 miles would have taken me at least another 3 hours. I really didn’t fancy another late night. The only trouble is the fewer miles I do each day makes it harder to get to Santander on Sunday. Ready for my ferry on Monday!

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where I’ll publish the photos from this tour once I’m home. Pictures from all my tours and monthly photos can also be found on Flickr.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

Follow Garry on his travels

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