4250 miles - Spain & France june 2009

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Saturday 6th
With only 250 or so miles today I slept in until 8am and had a leisurely pack and start. The route today was a luxury of rural and minor roads with plenty of time to enjoy it. Leaving Zaragoza on the CV624 I found myself winding my way over hills and through plains. The road was generally good with great bends and good views. The weather was by now warming up at 29c and brilliant sun. Time for the tinted visor to come out again. I aint half good looking in that!
This was rural Spain with a big R. Very isolated and a bit in the dark ages, with individual families tilling the fields by hand with rakes and hoes. God knows how they grow anything at all it seems barren, but clearly not. It is scratching a life though to be generous.
The T EV 1521 started out as a reasonable surface, but soon turned into a dust and gravel track for about 25k. I loved it as did the bike. A huge plume of dust and about 50 mph possible it was great.
The rest of the route followed suit with very isolated roads and dramatic scenery before dropping onto the Madrid ring road and the airport.
The aircon in the airport was just the job as it was a sweaty 31c outside. I settled with a café con leche in the ‘Arse’ coffee shop. Couldn’t see where the e had been, but a clever bit of patching works wonders.
Mrs Bob appeared and with hugs and kisses and another Arse coffee we got sorted for the 35miles to the hotel at Naval Carno, just outside Madrid. Another Laterooms gem.
Brand new and 4* for £50. There was no restaurant open so we walked into the town. It was a smart place with a bit of a fiesta atmosphere and a bloody expensive restaurant at 130 euro’s for 2!
Something I’d started to miss was a cuppa in the hotel. Clearly I’d not banked on there not being tea and coffee on.

 

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Spain

 

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Spain

 

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More Spain

 

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Sunday 7th

We are headed for Guadalupe in the Sierra de Guadalupe mountains. I only picked it because the photo looked nice and it sounded like I’d ridden to America.
We popped down to Toledo to have a walk around as a bit of an impromptu detour not knowing what we’d find. What a lovely city!! We arrived and parked next to 3 other UK bikes (first we’d seen). Turns out that the chap on the R1200RT had dropped it on the cobble streets the day before and the chap’s wife from the Goldwing had been taken to hospital and kept in. Hope all is well chaps if you’re reading this.
We used the ‘Safepac’ to store all our biking gear and locked to the bike. It was definitely flip flops and shorts weather.
Toledo, unlike its car namesake is a gem. An old walled fortress and dozens of beautiful old streets, chapels, a cathedral and the like. The side streets are for walking only and have a canvas cover running along the centre to provide a little shade. This created a very intimate atmosphere. After a lunch including genuine Paella we had a wander. The Cathedral was 14 euros so we missed it out. But the Jesuit Church was great. Not only did you get to go inside, but you could climb the bell towers and walk on the roof for a small fee. It was exciting and had a stunning view. If English churches realised what a money making thing they had with their towers, more would open them to thrill and scare the public.
We came out in a large square in front of the Cathedral to find pretty pukka Flamenco dancing taking place. Not really my thing, but it was not just for tourists, genuine and with the general atmosphere good.
After 3 or 4 hours we pressed on. The roads good with spectacular scenery and some of the straightest roads I’ve ever seen running off into the distance.
Catherine managed to see a wild Lynx, which had gone by the time I turned around. We were constantly accompanied by huge birds of prey which I did manage to see. I don’t know what the water situation is in Spain, but the reservoirs looked very empty to me and the ground parched.
We’d booked our first Parador in Guadalupe. The former hospital of St John of Guadalupe. A lovely old place and done up to a very high standard. Great rooms and a fantastic setting. We will certainly use the Paradors more. Again Laterooms did the trick at about £65. Normally £200!
Guadalupe is a bit of a one horse town, but the square is filled with restaurant tables. No one on them, so either they found a load or robbed a table and chair truck or it’s the quiet season.
We ate on the square alone, but happy. Certainly after the beer and wine.

 

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Toledo

 

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On the way to Guadalupe and the Parador

 

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Guadalupe

 

[Bem]

Great photos and words.
Some places look familiar..........esp the "end of the trail"
Keep it coming!

 

[davedyer]

Have to admit to just skimming through the pictures until coming across the pictures of Dave and Andy - hang on, I know them, I thought!!! Have worked with them over the years and have also done the France - Millau, French, Swiss and Italian Alps this year!!

Small world!!

Great reports - I must get my pics together and post something.

Keep it coming.

 

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Monday 8th

We had a wander around Guadalupe and a look in the impressive Cathedral. It was massive and stunning. Well worth a look if you are that way.
We had booked into to Adalfas Eurostar Hotel for 2 nights in Cordoba for a bit of a rest so headed off. My first encounter with the Guarda Civil came as I tried to turn left at the junction of the EX 116 and EX316. The road was marked to turn right into a sort of roundabout and then cross over the main road rather than stopping in the carriageway. This is a good idea on busy roads, but I doubt that any cars had passed for an hour. Any way the Guarda Civil were at the junction in force, waiting to check vehicles. I was chatting to Mrs Bob and without thinking tried a normal left turn. Oh no you don’t came the response and they made me ride further on, do a ‘U’ turn and then come back for a right turn. The Spanish Police have got bugger all to do!! Passing huge reservoirs again it was clear that it hadn’t rained for some time. I had seen a feature on the map that basically is a huge perfectly conical hill used as a roundabout. It must be about 1-2k around. It’s on the EX 322 just past Puebla de Alcocer. The only thing I can say is WHY? It’s one way anti clockwise. There’s hardly any civilisation for miles and no bugger on the road.
The trip to Cordoba kept us in rural Spain on good well surfaced roads. The temperature was starting to rise now at 33c and getting very hot even when moving. The GSA impressed me that even in these temperatures and at slow speeds, often crawling pace up mountains it never showed any signs of getting hot. This had been a concern about my first air cooled bike.
Today’s route had given us a sample of just about everything. Long straights, long sweeping bends and tight mountain twisties as we neared Cordoba in lush valleys. The surfaces had been good. We reach the hotel to find a well air-conditioned room and a bottle of bubbly waiting. Nice!
Dinner was taken in a small restaurant in the old quarter, near the Mesquite. The waiter was particularly unfriendly and when it came to the bill would only take cash. Twat! No tip for him then.

 

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Cordoba

 

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Cordoba 1

 

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The Mesquita, Cordoba

 

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Tuesday 9th
Today had always been planned as a day off and a chance to explore Cordoba. We’d been recommended to visit the Mesquite and see the old town.
We decided to walk from the hotel being told 30 minutes into town and give the bike a rest too. 30 minutes!?!? An hour later we were still wandering around the slums of Cordoba looking like tourists and feeling like victims for the kill. This was in the ‘tennement’ blocks near to the big Carrefour shopping centre. A bit worrying to say the least.
After a little readjustment o internal sat nave we found ourselves in the modern but beautiful part of the city on long parks heading towards the old town and the Mesquite.
The Mesquite. It’s awe inspiring. Essentially it is the original mosque which the Christians took over and built a cathedral in the middle of when they conquered some years ago. It’s staggering. GO SEE IT if you’re round that way. There is a small entrance charge which is well worth it. It’s also lovely and cool inside.
After a full day of the sights we popped back to the hotel for a nap and out to a local Pizzeria and some excellent Italian food.

 

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Wednesday 10th
Our plan today had been to travel down to Malaga, stopping at El Chorro on the way and then doing the coast and up to a small town called Orgiva in the Sierra Nevada’s for the night, ready to do the length of the Nevada’s tomorrow.
We had decided to change our itinerary a little and hug to coast up to Barcelona rather than see more rural ‘barren’ land and small villages.
Starting out the roads were excellent with long sweeping bends and straight sections. This then developed into tight twisty stuff that the GSA loves. We had decided to make a short detour to El Chorro, which for those who don’t know is the location where the closing scenes of the film Von Ryan’s Express was filmed. The bits where the train passes in and out of tunnels and the bridge is blocked. Ryan (Sinatra) ended his war hero bit there at the hands of the Germans.
More than that though it is spectacular and the path that El Chorro is about is definitely worth the ride. The rock faces and ravine are something to behold, being huge and absolutely sheer. In the past a footpath was constructed which was bolted with iron supports to the rock face at great height and goes for 2 or 3 miles. It’s narrow and VERY exposed. Some parts of it are inaccessible now due to collapse, so the only way to reach it is to take your chances in a railway tunnel to then walk the remaining parts, which are still extensive. People are killed doing this walk! So be warned. We walked to where you can get a clear view of it, which is worth it as it spectacular to say the least. Have a quick look on YouTube at ‘El Chorro’.
It hadn’t escaped my attention that the road to El Chorro was the MA 444. However it seems to the locals it’s Routa 66. This was borne out by the Routa 66 Bikers Café in the village of Bermejo. (There were no bikes and no refreshments. It was shut.)
It was then a short drop down to Malaga and the coast road. This was crap. Holiday resort after holiday resort. Heavy traffic, and all that goes with it. It was nice to see the blue sea and a bit of normal life though.
We had booked at the Nerja Parador for the evening. This is a 1930’s cliff top hotel, with a beautiful setting, cliff top gardens, pool and a panoramic lift down to the beach. Excellent!
After a rest and a shower we went down to the beach where we ate barbeque food from a nice restaurant whilst sat on the beach at our table. It doesn’t get much better!

 

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El Chorro

 

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Nerja

 

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Thursday 11th

Today we were going to ‘do the Sierra Nevada’s. From Nerja we continued along the coast, but this time popped on the dual carriageway. I was fed up of 100 meter stretches between traffic lights and crossings.
We rode up the N323, which has more hairpins and tight twisty bends on it than anywhere I’ve ridden. It was a steady climb up the Sierra Nevada’s with huge unprotected drops on our right and spectacular views all the way along. Today it was bloody hot!
We’d decided to ride across the top of the Sierra Nevada’s, depending on the state of the road, into Granada and then have motorway stretch into the Almeria dessert. We continued up to the village of Capileira, where a gravel track apparently crossed the summits into Granada. The track started as rough tarmac and soon degenerated into nothing more than a rocky gravel track. We rode this for some distance before being stopped in our tracks by a barrier across the road. Oh well, it was cooler in the hills and time for lunch, so bread, cheese and ham was called for.
This then left us with no alternative, but to traverse the Nevada’s on the A4130 and 4126. It was staggeringly beautiful, but I was tired by the time we reached the dessert at Tabernas. The road had been none stop tight bends, gravel on corners and unprotected drops at the side. The heat was also taking it’s toll. 35c!
The dessert was fantastic. A completely different landscape and well worth a visit. A lot of the locals use the dry river bed (of which there are thousands) as roads. The A4126 had given us plenty of tasters of this. He road is being improved so they just dig up the old one, start building the new one and leave you sometimes to your own devices. The locals had made obvious roads in the dirt, which made it a bit of an adventure.
I’d planned to stop at the film set of all the Spagetti Westerns near Tabernas, but when we pulled in and saw the car park attendant dressed as an Indian Squah! Bugger it lets move on. Slightly disappointing, but I’m not up for a theme park experience.
Hugging the coast we would find to be a bit of a mistake. The bonus of beautiful sea views for small parts was far outweighed by the traffic, constant traffic lights and ‘urbanisation’.
Tonight is another Parador (I’m getting used to the luxury!) in Puerto Lumbreras. A small one road town with a busy main street and nothing really to recommend it. We walked into town from the Parador and found a Chinese Restaurant so stopped for some nosh. Not bad too. The street at 11pm as we walked back had something of a party atmosphere, something normal in Spain and the hot weather.

 

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Sierra Nevadas