- cross-posted to:
- bicycles@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- bicycles@lemmy.ca
(Title picture is from yesterday in the Parque Natural Sierra de Castril, narrow single track only went for a couple 100m but a good occasion to take a photo and make me look like a badass)
A week in and it’s been really great so far. I started in Malaga, stayed a day longer than i wanted to because it was harder to find a fitting gas canistrr than i yhought. The third Decathlon (at the airport) finally had one. I also picked up a windbreaker there because i felt that the wind was really cold but the sun really strong, too warm for my rain jacket. Was a good idea, used it a lot already. From there went into the mountains then down to Granada where i made an early rest day, had a pension for 25€ a night in the heart of the city and wanted to have a look around. Early rest day was also good because i was not in shape at all (last cycled in ocyober really, other than running errands at home), and the first days were pretty tough with lots of climbing and steep grades.
I feel like the grades here may generally a bit steeper than what i know from elsewhere, maybe i am imagining it though due to my form.
- Cycling out of Granada. If you enhance the jpg enough, you can see a crystal clear Alhambra
Went back into the mountains on what i believe is a part of the badlands race route, very lonely and beautiful. Went on through the Gorafe desert. It was drizzling
- Gorafe desert
In the desert there were quite some people, motorbikers, vans. Not too bad though. In the weird sandy riverbed (?) at the bottom of it seemed to be a small cycling race going on. After a river crossing i was all alone again for a good while in amazing landscapes.
Yesterday i went into the parque from the title picture all day along this hiking track. Only at the bottom of it i saw some hikers, the rest of the day i was aline. Slept in one of the refugios up there on the high plateau, it was so good because it is getting really cold in the mountains. It was drizzling, really windy and i was freezing. So happy that i have mu stove with me to eat something hot, also earlier just make a coffee break and wait out the rain. So good when there’s no infrastructure around.
- My bike in the refugio. Somehow looks like great weather outside in this photo :)
Refugio also had a water pump. This morning it was real cold again, the nights in the mountains were like 3-5° which i did not really expect tbh. It was raining and i descended. Fucking ice cold hands, cold everything. After about 15km downhill i finally made it to a village, where i hung around in a cafe, eating tostadas con tomate and drinking tea and coffee. Rain kept raining and i didn’t want to go back up on the hiking tracks, so i made up a new route to the next village on my original route where i could take a room. Cycled through the rain on mostly asphalt, which was nice for a change, the road was also super calm, met like three cars on 40 km of riding. Beautiful views too.
- Through the trees you can see the village where i’m at now. Every lemmy user here in Siles is invited to as much beer as you can drink, pm me for details :)
So i got a room here now. Somehow the sun is coming out, weather report said it’d rain all day, heavy in the evening. Next two days it’s gonna rain too.
I am waiting for a restaurant to open, which is only ever after 8. So i have time to kill writing this post, haha.
The whole ‘no dinner before 8’ really is not great for my touring time table. Also the siesta fucked me over a few times. I hope i will get used to it.
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Back on the road and a bit hammered from my stay in alicante. Bruised a rib and toe while skateboarding in sandals and i reckon i catched the cold of one of my friends kids. Hope it’s not still ramping up but that i am in the middle of it now. Weather is way warmer, super good.
Found a nice spot to set up my tent, got a cold beer and about to cook up some pasta, yoghurt for dessert and breakfast, they only ever sell four packs of it here.
Oof, a bruised rib can hurt as hell and also really mess with sleep quality. Hope it cures quickly, get well soon!
Thank you. The cold will pass, but i guess that rib will give me lots of fun in the coming weeks.
*edit: just decided to take a day off here on a campsite to get rid off my cold hopefully. Otherwise i’m looking at lots of climbing today and no campsites around to call it an early day.
A very smart decision, I think! And let’s hope not too many washboard gravel roads in your near future
There was hardly any washboard yet thankfully, that is a very annoying surface i think. The worst? But last two days some km of narrow single track, where i had to get off the bike quickly at times, that shit hurt, abrupt movements. All the chunky gravel doesn’t feel great really. And being kind of stretched out on the bike, coughing and sneezing also not optimal, haha. But that will pass at least.
I’ll see how it goes off road, the asphalt roads i rode were very enjoyable too, super empty, as in zero cars, or maybe one, two in hours, just the ‘natural park patrol’ really.
About to hit some section of montañas vacias now on my way to Teruel i think.
Spent yesterday too on this campsite. But i’ll start riding again today. Yesterday a spanish guy on tour was staying here, that was kinda cool, he knew which bird was making the noise in the night - el autillo, the scops owl, apparently a bird that you can hear a lot here, first time for me ever hearing it.
Also there’s a woman from california working on this camp site, she apparently just decided to stay here while on a bike tour last year. I mentioned to her how my back wasn’t feeling great after lying in the tent for two days (didn’t mention my rib), and she gave me the hammock talk. Oh man. The hammock crew is really something else. Apparently her bottom side doesn’t get cold when it is cold outside, because her sleeping bag is made for alaska, and also above treeline she never had a problem finding sign posts to strap the hammock to, only upsides to the hammock.
I didn’t go to Teruel, but instead to the fantastic village Albarracin. Arrived in time for lunch and treating myself to a room, the price was right. Already hit a little section of the montañas vacias route, it was asphalt though and to my surprise the most traffic i have seen on rural roads sonce i left the coast. Wasn’t bad at all, but on the other roads i had basically no traffic at all, yeah, a car now or then or the park patrol. Today then a few motorbikers, couple RVs, roadies and roadettes. I guess because Albarracin is a very touristic place. No wonder it, it is really impressive.
- Albarracin y mi bici - probably comes off really cheesy that i include my bike in all the pictures, but i really prefer that, than taking landscape photography
The road towards here was also quite spectacular canyon road along the rio gudalaviar, lots of spots to go swimming i guess but wasn’t the temperature and i was trying to make it to town before siesta.
Met a french guy on tour with his road bike in town, he started in malaga on tuesday, haha. But he kept it straight on the roads. Now i have a nice contact close to lyon, that is nice.
My cold is a lot better now and also my rib hurts way less than in the beginning, that is so nice. Writing this waiting for the Pizzeria to open at 20:30 which is in 5 minutes, oh my god i’m so looking forward to that.
Man, that is a ridiculously good looking town. Sounds like a great time, how much of the montañas vacias route are you planning on doing?
A good pizza after riding a bike is one of the great pleasures in life, enjoy!!
Yes, AchtungDrempels is in business again! Amazing pictures, great stories.
The single trail photos are definitely good for building up some Lemmy street cred, looks great! Also, so great having Decathlon around. Even though I’m not always a fan of the quality, I was in Canada once and really missed having an affordable sports goods store around — I value them way more now.
Early rest day sounds like a great plan, and I think the steepness is real. Somehow Spain and Austria seem to have those, french side of the pyrenees as well I guess.
Goraffe desert looks incredible, funny to read that a place I would ecpect to be desolate is actually quite busy.
Really nice to have the abrigos around in the cold mountains, I figure you’re going to be thankful for them in Montanas Vacias as well, I heard it gets really cold at night up there, too.
Man, the cold hands whilst descending are a real problem. I remember not feeling the brake handles, having to look on my handlebars to see if my hands were still in good braking position before any corners. I now have some very light waterproof mittens that help a bit.
Haha also, if there is ONE thing to complain about in Spain, it’s the bizarrely erratic opening times. Ehat the hell, Spain?!
Hope you found some Lemmy users in Siles, great joke :D
Sorry was in a bit of a rush to get going when i first replied.
Yeah i read that the grades in pyrenees would be steeper than in the alps. I feel like i am already in somewhat of a shape now, just have to make sure to not make the siesta mistake and have not enough to eat.
I wonder how much more lonely the montanas vacias can get tbh, i had some really lonely days, haha. I think the difference is probably that now i could have gone off the route to some village, while there it would not be as easy. And the cold… Man. I talked to a guy in siles and he said it was normal. Then being cold in montanas vacias too, and then to be in the pyrenees too early and cold and wet - that was not really the plan with starting in southern spain. Should have looked it up better i guess, haha. I was never that cold last year in norway.
Having a snack here on the first climb, now some downhill and then up high on a hiking track.
If the cold becomes bothersome you could consider staying on the southern coast. Girona is still one of my favourite cities in the world and the weather in the region is usually very mild.
But do prepere for some cold in the montanas vacias. Some of the refugios seem to have fireplaces though, that would be amazing!
Yeah my weather worries are more tongue in cheek, tomorrow should be rainy, but after that it’s sunshine for a while. And it should only get warmer as i go on, generally.
Sitting in my tent now, already had dinner and dessert, and tomorrow i’ll have mostly downhill to my second breakfast. It’s starting to drizzle but i’m already wearing my cozy cold wind pyjama, haha.
Damn that is a great place to camp. Second breakfast is always a good plan, but what about elevensies?
I just went to the decathlons because i was sure they’d have those screw canisters. Well obe of them had em. I definitely like some of the stuff at decathlon, not all of course though.
I did not expect it to be this cold here, tomorrow it says it’ll be in the single digits all day and rain. I have to make progress, on thursday i’m gonna meet up with a friend and then cycle together to their home in alicante and stay there for a bit. I would like to do a short hiking track day again today, sleep in a refugio, but that plan would mean i’d have to ride a lot tomorrow in the cold. Definitely thinking about pickibg up gloves in alicante, but send the book and my plate home, haha.
I posted some more pixs as a reply in the !bicycles@lemmy.ca topic. Thanks for the feedback!
I have the 2 euro fleece gloves from decathlon and combine them with the black diamond waterproof overmits, it works well for me (but they’re not the cheapest). My problem with thicker waterproof gloves is that when they do get totally wet (and they will), it takes ages to dry.
Good luck on shedding the weight in Alicante, keep the stories from the road coming :)