North West Spain Advice

jp842

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It's our first time in Northern Spain at the end of May. We have the ferry to Santander booked and return 2 weeks later from Bilbao. The first two nights are in Pechon, west of Santander, but other than that we have no route or accomodation sorted. Obviously the Picos are a must, and we want to go to Santiago de Compostela, so has anyone got advice on a route and good accomodation to stay in? It's just me and the Mrs on the back, so we don't really want long days in the saddle. We also want a minimum of two days in the same place. Any help is much appreciated.
 
I'd do a loop and take in Braganca in Northern Portugal. Lovely town.

We stayed here a few years ago. Superb place.
https://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/qu...2fc24768ed770135;type=total;ucfs=1&#hotelTmpl

I'm happy planning routes simply by the look of the roads on google maps and then looking on booking.com at whats available (map search) You can key in parameters such as costs/score out of 10/breakfast incl etc. We've never been disappointed with places we've stayed. (I appreciate Booking.com takes about 15% but I wouldn't find 1/10 of the places without booking...and the places would likely not get half of their customers without paying Booking their fee)
 
Lots of accommodation re the Camino in local hostals and hotels and should not be over busy in May?
 
It's our first time in Northern Spain at the end of May. We have the ferry to Santander booked and return 2 weeks later from Bilbao. The first two nights are in Pechon, west of Santander, but other than that we have no route or accomodation sorted. Obviously the Picos are a must, and we want to go to Santiago de Compostela, so has anyone got advice on a route and good accomodation to stay in? It's just me and the Mrs on the back, so we don't really want long days in the saddle. We also want a minimum of two days in the same place. Any help is much appreciated.


http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...with-September-2018-edition-in-the-shops-July


This sticky is as good a place to start as any, not least as it's designed to answer a considerable portion of your question. There's even a pre-made suggestion for the Picos and Northern Portugal (eight days) which you could stretch out to 10 to 12 without too much grief - made easier as you want a minimum of two days in each place - or mix it into the Picos six days tour, perhaps? It's pretty easy once you get going.

As to hotels? You really do need to start to work out where you'll be or you'll get lists of hotels that you may find yourself sitting outside the front door of at 11:30 AM, when it would have been much easier if you'd been standing in front of their reception desk at 16:30.

You are going in late May. Depending on the weather, some of the higher passes may be shut. Time will tell.
 
You might want to take the inland Camino route to SDC as it is well marked with signs and the scallop shell image, it is a cracking route and you could take the coastal road to return through the Cantabrian mountains with the ocean on your left.

I have stayed in Sahagun twice, it is on the pilgrim route and is a lovely little town - Trivago should help you find a hotel.
 
Spend a few days in Potes, you’ll get accommodation no problem. Lots of nice routes from there. I would go to Leon, make sure it’s a Friday or Saturday night. Fantastic atmosphere around the tapas bars. I’ve been twice, took my wife there 2017. She couldn’t get over how nice the tapas bar areas are. You’ll love Northern Spain.
 
I did a trip using the same ferry options - 2 nights like you not far from Santander in Las Arenas, 2 nights in the Fuente De Parador. Looped around to Riano then went NW to the coast, stopping 2 nights in Navia. I really recommend a few nights to explore Asturias before heading further west.

I dropped into N Portugal and the border area is good. I liked Leon on the way back east and was there on a weekend night. There was a Celtic music festval on and I stumbled on a free concert with a very good Asturian band.

The area inland of Bilbao has some good roads and I took in a loop into the Pyrenean foothills. San Sebastian was lovely for a couple of nights before the ferry home.
 
I also recommend you visit Cuidad Rodrigo which is SW of Salamanca close to the Portugual border. It is a walled town that featured heavily in the 1812 Peninsula Wars when we were allies with Spain against Napoleon. Stay in the Hotel Conde Rodrigo I just yards away from the cathedral and the main town plaza. You can walk around the city ramparts and still observe 19C cannon lying in the grass outside the walls. Stay a couple of nights and also visit La Alberca which is like going back in time. In 2006 we met Tim Ewart the ITV journo and his son there, they were on a biking tour together and Tim was en-route to Portugal to cover the European Championships.
 
I've stayed in the Parador at Cervera de Pisuerga. It's a fantastic hotel. I'm a big fan of Paradors, and they're not THAT expensive for what you get, so well worth considering for a nice couples tour. There are a dozen or so in the North-West of Spain (I've only stayed in two of them).

EDIT: you can get various deals on packages - three nights for two, five nights half board for four, etc - and further savings if you join the loyalty club - Amigos de Paradores.
 
Hi JP,

All good advice above and if I may add to it.....bear with me....:D

Quick background if you don't know me. Born in Asturias, never missed a summer in 53 years, educated UK, live in Valencia. Every year I migrate my bike north to Asturias where we have a family home in order to have the bike there during the holidays, and then finish up with a group from UK riding around NW Spain in September, after which I ride back home again.

I'm a planner but not in the OCD way, I just enjoy thinking about my trips. First to admit that I don't know all there is to know about northern Spain but having ridden most roads there (it ain't exactly big) I do have some experience but I'm still very much learning myself. I'm starting to think about my trip in May also.

I am going to try and keep this simple. If you want a full on version, PM me but be prepared for a detailed document. Wapping will doubtless berate me for not sharing but it's not that, It's just that the post will be too long and of little interest to the majority.

First, don't over-plan this and don't set yourself an itinerary First and last stop is a great idea to pre-book. Leave the rest on the fly.

Second, have a Plan A & a Plan B. Be prepared to ride south of the Picos if the wx is going to be shite because it can rain for weeks on end there. There are some great roads and places to visit south of the Picos and the wx is much more stable.

Avoid motorways unless by-passing major cities. Always take the N or tertiary roads, they are virtually unused because everyone takes the motorways. They are the best roads and well maintained mostly. Coastal route the N632/634 is your friend stay on it all the way to Ribadeo.

If the weather is shite, i.e raining moderately with thick low cloud, avoid the passes and the interior roads. Rain and fog do not make for a good day's ride.

Places to visit stay (Coastal) all along the N632/634

San Vicente De La Barquera,
Lastres,
Cudillero,
Cabo Busto Lighthouse,
Luarca,
Puerto de Vega,
Viavelez,
Tapia De Casariego,
Ribadeo.

Interior (plus roads),
Potes, N621
Cangas de Onis, AS114 (western approach) or N625 (southern approach) Link the N621 & N625 with the LE2703/2711 for two great mountain passes but avoiding Riaño.
Tarna Pass, AS117
Somiedo, AS227
Cangas del Narcea (various routes, all good)
Pola De Allande with the Palo Pass. Pola has a great restaurant called La Allandesa. Arrive hungry, portions are enormous!

South route.
Riaño,
Puebla de Sanabria (Beautiful) via La Bañeza.
Parador de Santo Estevo near Ourense.
Chaves (Bragança) Stay at the Forte de Sao Francisco. Look it up, biker friendly, safe, wonderful in every way and where we have booked already for September.

Accommodation.

With the exception of the first, the last and the Forte DSF (if you are going that far south), do not need to be booked. It will tie you down. One double room for 2 people will not be a problem to book on the fly (except FDSF, as I say).

If you were to head along the coast, then south to Bragança or just Galicia in general then without a shadow of a doubt go via Navia - AS12 - Boal - AS28 - Fonsagrada and make your way south to the Sil Canyon where you will find a Parador (Sto Estevo) which was a 10th century monastery. Not cheap but very beautiful.

A word of caution.

Your biggest dangers at that time of year are the shaded, damp bends which can become mossy. Not often of N roads but the AS ones can be a bit like that. Early morning, when the sun is in your eyes, you might have trouble.

Enjoy.
 
Puebla de Sanabria

Hotel Victoria is small but very nice
 

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Puebla de Sanabria: be mindful of two things: You cannot ride in on the weekends and there is a high bit (in the photos above courtesy of Leadfarmer) and a low bit. You want to stay in the high bit unless you want a hefty leg stretch after being in the saddle to see it.

The last two are stock photos of the Parador de Sto Estevo in Ourense, the other two are mine.
 

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Forte de Sao Francisco in Chaves. Book now and it's about €80.
 

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Hola ketal
Brilliant information, what do you think of La Alberca? I've been there 4 times, first visit on my bike, was over 20 years ago. I don't hear many people speaking about it! Great roads around the small town, for me, it's like stepping back in time.

I've also enjoyed Plasencia, nice restaurants and bars around the square, I think Spain is underestimated for biking.
 
It's just that the post will be too long and of little interest to the majority.

Put it into a PDF or just a Word document and plonk it onto the Cloud for free. Dropbox is great for just that purpose.

It will occupy no space here and I’ll make it a sticky, with a suitable acknowledgment to you. There are hundreds of GPS routes on this site hosted that way, all made available with no great drama.
 
Hola ketal
Brilliant information, what do you think of La Alberca? I've been there 4 times, first visit on my bike, was over 20 years ago. I don't hear many people speaking about it! Great roads around the small town, for me, it's like stepping back in time.

I've also enjoyed Plasencia, nice restaurants and bars around the square, I think Spain is underestimated for biking.

Westride, indeed. As I said, I'm still very much learning. Extremadura (Plasencia) and La Alberca (south eastern Castille) are part of an area I have yet to explore on my bike. I must confess that I had to look them up. I have been around the area many, many moons ago in the car when I was working for my dad but my area was more the norhtern half of Spain. It is an area I very much want to explore and, yes, part of the charm of that part of Spain is it's timelessness, for sure.

I tried to include close to that area last year but I got caught just east of the Sierra de Manzanares north of Madrid. Having made the schoolboy error of booking too far in advance in Sanabria, I realised at 1pm that I still had some 300kms+ to go!!! My intention was then to head west and loop Galicia and approach my house from the west. However, I decided to turn north from Sanabria, head home and spend a long weekend in my own house. In hindsight, it was probably an error as I was bored shitless in my house, and most of my friends were not around that weekend. On the other hand, the road to Bañeza (where they hold an annual road race) and the Barrios de Luna just south of Asturias was a good road to tuck into my pocket for another time.

Not something I will repeat this year.

For various reasons I won't bore you with, this year's Picos tour is going to be slightly different and the idea is to go from Potes to Chaves (a regular jaunt that we do now) through Leon and Ourense. It's a pretty long day in mostly 30+ degree heat and I definitely want to do a reconnaisance trip. I'm familiar with the area but I haven't done the point-to-point before. There doesn't seem to be much scope for error, either. We always get separated on the way to Chaves for some reason!! and we lose about an hour or more re-uniting. I have to see how realistic it is and if it's going to be any good. I'm sure it will be, but I think it will be a hard ride.
 
Put it into a PDF or just a Word document and plonk it onto the Cloud for free. Dropbox is great for just that purpose.

It will occupy no space here and I’ll make it a sticky, with a suitable acknowledgment to you. There are hundreds of GPS routes on this site hosted that way, all made available with no great drama.

OK, understand. I don't have such a document made up, it's all in my head, but I will consider making one. I have to think about how best to structure it so that it's easy to read and refer to, but I will do one eventually. Will it have the ability to be edited form time to time?

You see, when I get petitions from UKGS'ers to recommend routes and good places to visit and stay (just had one) I usually tailor it because I generally know the distances involved and in many cases, having experienced the rides I know what is realistic. I don't plan it for them as such, but I do need to know times, timescales, the type of riding they like to do; long days, short days, spoke, looping. However, I do realise that your idea might be less work (although I do enjoy it anyway) in the long run and then just get people to PM me if they have any questions.

I'll have a think on it and be in touch.....
 
Thank you all for all the brilliant information posted on this thread. It has given us much food for thought. Keep it coming.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 


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