Spain - where to ? Must see?

Just because there is a white line down the middle does not mean you won't encounter a herd of cows. Or sheep, or on one occasion last month, half a dozen pigs!

True enough but they will usually be in the remote regions of the highlands or within the confines of villages but not usually on fast main roads like the second one above. The biggest danger, i find, especially between dusk and dawn, are wild boar and deer. There is a plague of boar, particularly, in Spain at the moment. Were they pigs or boar? I ask because pigs are rarely herded and they don't roam like cows and horses are allowed to.
 
Yeah, I know what you mean about having to plan a route that all riders in the group are okay with. I don't lead tours for a living so anyone riding with me, and this goes for domestic rides I post up locally, has to come knowing that some of the road surfaces may not be what they really want. I ride a small adventure bike so am not really concerned if the road gets bumpy or has grass down the middle but obviously I wouldn't plan those sort of roads, but short of doing a recce of every road you've planned you won't know for certain what you're going to get.

Somewhere in Asturias last month, a road that looked okay on the map suddenly and without warning became a gravel track, complete with potholes and ruts. It was a proper road but looked more like a green lane in Devon and doing that for about 2 miles with a pillion and full luggage was interesting, to say the least. The bike and wife coped very well but I'd have been inclined to stop and turn round if we'd been on a sports tourer type of bike. One of the reasons I'm quite happy riding for just us two - I'm not under pressure to come up with perfect roads. To be fair, you can't go far wrong in that part of Spain, but posting specific road numbers as you've done is an excellent way for someone to start planning a route, so I for one am happy for people to post suggestions.

It may or may not be the place I'm thinking of; a mountain pass that's in Asturias but has a link "road" to a road which is technically in Leon province. It's about 4kms long downhill. I did that one once and my wife hated it. That doesn't happen often, though, and google maps will not have a street level of that sort of road.
 
Ride routes:

I gotta say, I'm not enamoured of them. I looked at the one which included Spain and in particular the ones around the Picos. We even tried a much hyped loop around Chaves (Bragança) one year and found it, at best, underwhelming. Had it not been for the excellent Forte De Sao Francisco hotel and the roads down to Chaves: Navia - Fonsagrada - Ourense - Chaves, I'd have been pretty pissed off to go all the way down there for that loop ride.

In Sept we crossed paths with several other groups including one led by a friend of one of our group. They'd mostly taken their lead from Ride. Now, I realise that I'm amking assumptions here, but judging by the type of bikes, their tyres and them, I'd say that they wasted a fair bit of their ride and missed quite a few good roads.

Everyone is different and every tour is different. Ride routes are widely generic in their nature. The journalists that ride thm are on the clock mostly and I think research is probably minimal. It's not possible to cater for everyone's tastes so when people come on here asking for good routes and places, it's disheartening to be told to get a map, look at Ride and stop bothering people on here. It isn't particularly helpful, either.

Having "tried" and failed miserably to come up with a system or a PDF/WORD document to extend to others my miniscule area of expertise, other than the technical difficulties of using URL links (which don't seem to work the same twice), I am painfully aware that everyone wants different things from their tours.

In my humble opinion if you like planning and researching your tour (not necessarily to the "nth" degree) then you need as much different information as possible. Sometimes that information might come about by a chance message, direct contact, a helpful person who knows the area or just something you hadn't thought of and, of course, ride reports as well. Then, and only then, can you sort the wheat from the chaff and come up with something tailored to your tour. Adaptability is key at times. There is no substitute for the groundwork, including using Google street-view to check out road surfaces and environs.

Always open, by the way, to people messaging me if they have a question or want recommendations. Wapping will say: "Publish it all here, then we can all read it". Doesn't always work that way; I repeat, everyone wants different stuff and has longer/shorter tours, more/less riders all too impractical to put on one document.

I use the Michelin maps where they highlight the scenic bits with a green band. They are spot on.

The green edged routes are a pretty good guide as to what Michelin regard as ‘Scenic’. Whether they are always “Awesome biking road, mate” is a matter of conjecture and more importantly, finding out. For example, some will take you around very pretty lakesides, chocker block with cars and blokes bimbling along on their awesome steeds, chatting with SWMBO on the back or via Bluetooth to their six mates. Some will take you through village after village after village, all very scenic but slow going. Great for slow going; not so great with a ferry’s departure time looming.

For sure the RiDE guides are generic; they have to be as they cater for a potential mass market of all sorts of ages, abilities, types of bikes and (not least) expectations. They will though give anyone who has never visited a country a pretty good start, on which they can build. Not least, via the downloads, they will tell bods EXACTLY what roads the routes take. That is very often exactly what people want to know.


The opening post is a great example.

Ok.

So I’ve got two weeks, end of Sept. never done Spain. Don’t even know where to start ( yes yes I’ve looked at all the posts etc).

I’d really appreciate 10 day route ideas please guys, also places that are a must, mountain, regions, amazing roads etc.

My idea of a biking holiday is around 6hrs per day riding.

I’ve got the long slog from Rotterdam first so will be entering from France.

Thanks folks.


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That is very broad area, potentially the entire peninsula of Spain. There was little or no subsequent follow-up from the OP, so nobody was any closer to really helping him than when the thread started. The RiDE guides would at least give him a very decent start.

:beerjug:
 
No argument, there, Richard. I understand not everyone can have the guidance of a "local" everywhere. For sure, though, if anyone is looking for those hidden gems in the Pyrennees they should get in contact with Simon 100, or me if they want to know about Asturias/Picos. I don't visit the other forums because..... well, I don't visit the areas but I'm sure every area has it's resident member. We seem to be broadly in agreement, then, that not everyone will be looking for the same rides and so it is often easier to help on a one-to-one basis and, as is often done, publish links to the odd outstaning roads/routes.

ATB
 
True enough but they will usually be in the remote regions of the highlands or within the confines of villages but not usually on fast main roads like the second one above. The biggest danger, i find, especially between dusk and dawn, are wild boar and deer. There is a plague of boar, particularly, in Spain at the moment. Were they pigs or boar? I ask because pigs are rarely herded and they don't roam like cows and horses are allowed to.

domestic pigs - we have wild boar in Gloucestershire, fortunately cause more damage to allotments and gardens than motorists

I actually think the pigs were just over the border in France - possibly on the delightful D294 Col de Marie Banque https://goo.gl/maps/yQNyYJpWprihRRiu6 where you drop down to this mesmerising valley https://goo.gl/maps/hLUhSQDBUGYCUoWL8 where there were dozens of horses, cattle and sheep wandering around. Then you summit the Col du Porteigt where you get a view of what is to come, the big Cols. One of my better days out on the bike, apart from not seeing the top of Col du Tourmalet due to thick cloud.
 
I'm a little out of the loop with regard to options on the new 1250, so bear with me; am I to understand that you can now stipulate a GSA with cast/mag wheels?

If so (genuine question, honest) what is the point? Surely (ok, I won't call you Shirley), the "A" part of the model supposes that it is a more off-road oriented machine. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of spoked wheels; I like the way they look but I don't off-road a 260kg machine because I find it difficult. I'm simply not strong enough to do so if it topples over as it surely will at some point. Having gone over a pothole earlier this year, and seen first hand the damage caused by it (not serious, but annoying), I just don't see the point in having a cast wheel option on a machine that is armoured like a tank and is designed to go off-road but then has such a glaring weak spot in the one area that receives the most punishment in its intended environment.

Again, not having a go, or being clever, just curious.:nenau

Well, I love the GSA but I’m unlikely to go off road. I do like the look of spokes but I’ve yet to find a round or straight pair on any of my GSA’s so I’d rather have mag wheels. Much easier to clean too. They are not a factory option.


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Well, I love the GSA but I’m unlikely to go off road. I do like the look of spokes but I’ve yet to find a round or straight pair on any of my GSA’s so I’d rather have mag wheels. Much easier to clean too. They are not a factory option.


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Ah, OK. I'm actually of the same opinion. I bought mine with alloys (GS). I actually preferred the Rallye colours but I didn't want spokes. I don't actually need the range, either.

Not entirely sure what I will do when my select comes to an end in 15 months time.
 


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