Tag: Spain

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring in Spain

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Bicycle Touring Spain: Premia de Mar to Figueres On This Day 17th April 2011 | Travelsonabike2

Garry McGivern bicycle touring Spain with a derelict castle on a hill

Cycling Spain on this Day in 2011

My on this day bicycle touring blog post comes from Spain on the 17th of April 2011. A short tour before my big ride later in the year, cycling to Australia. I wanted to try out a few things before I left for Australia. A fun day playing one of my favourite games, it always helps the miles go by.

Sunday 17th April 2011. Premia de Mar to Figueres. 76 miles.

I thought I was going to make France today. But the last 15 or so miles would have been tough going; there’s a strong headwind, and there’s the small matter of crossing the Pyrenees mountains. It’s already been quite a tough ride today. So I thought it best to have one more night in Spain and tackle the mountains with fresh legs in the morning.

A colourfully painted car
A colourful car outside the Salvador Dali museum

I’ve seen loads of prostitutes along the side of the road again today, so I was playing my favourite game of trying to get a photo of them without getting caught. I failed once again. But it makes the miles go by quickly and gives me a laugh. The town I’m staying in tonight is the birthplace of Salvador Dali.

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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. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can 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.

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Travelsonabike2 This Day 20th June 2008

Bicycle Touring This Day 20th-June-2008 Man on bike

Bicycle Touring Spain

This week’s Travelsonabike2 bicycle touring on this day post comes from Spain on the 20th of June 2008. And it’s the first day of cycling as I embark on my first-ever long-distance bicycle tour.

There is a more embellished version of this post, along with all the posts from my first long-distance bicycle ride, in my “Bilbao to Bognor” tour book, available to buy from Amazon.

Friday 20th June. In Spain Santuritzi to Zarautz. 91 miles.

It was a much smoother night last night, and I got my first sighting of the Spanish coastline when I woke up and looked out of my porthole. It seemed very hilly.

Wind farm by water
My first view of the ride ahead

After filling up with a full English breakfast onboard the Pride of Bilbao, it was time to disembark. Now, the hard work begins.

The temperature was a pleasant twenty-five degrees with a gentle breeze as I cycled off the ferry. Once off the ferry and out of the terminal, I didn’t get off to the best of starts. I got lost in Bilbao, and it took me two hours to find my way out. Then, I ended up cycling on a motorway for four miles. I’m not too sure if it was me not reading the signs properly or if they’re not very clear. But the road I was cycling on, which wasn’t a motorway, just turned into one.

Eventually, I found my way to the right road. And found myself in the thick of the hills I saw from the ferry. But despite getting lost and having plenty of hills to cycle up. It’s been a good day, and it felt good to be cycling again after three days at sea.

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, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if Garry’s away touring at the moment and check his location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

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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!

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, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if Garry’s away touring at the moment and check his location, visit the Where’s Garry page.

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Andalucia

Spain and Portugal May 2015

After spending a couple of weeks cycling through Spain it was now time to reach the Mediterranean coast in Andalucia and it was downhill all the way from Ventas de Zafarraya at 920m down to Velez-Malaga at sea level. The videos a bit long and boring, it’s not been edited just speeded up! It was originally 20 minutes long but by speeding it up its only 4 minutes long now! It’s a bit like watching paint dry; Garry got bored sitting on his bicycle when he was doing it!