Portugal and Northern Spain, trail routes

A friend and I are starting to plan a trail trip, wild camping, Northern Spain and central/northern Portugal. With 300+ miles in the tank we are fairly confident of our ability to get to fuel. I have been thinking about going to n Spain for years, but trying to find stuff out is not that easy - and fishing would be on the menu too!

Anyone got any helpful gen they can pass on please? We are camping because we are both stretching our budget just getting there. I was going to do the classic rally, but he wants to do the trails... I hope I am capable, I have only ridden off road once in my life, and that was with Skygod on his easy trails.

Just look up the TET and its routes

All on the Web

Or WIKILOC..
Free to down load routes from around the world.

I have spent 2 years trying to understand the TET website with nothing better to do as I recuperated..... I find it very much aimed at people with a GPS and a degree in computer science to know how to download stuff. I am still trying to learn how to use Spotify because other than You Tube I can't even work music, Spotify has defeated me - it just doesn't work. Maybe the man who set up my computer for me has it set too high on security or something, to protect me from myself. Quite a bit of stuff people post links on don't work on my computer, the link just draws a blank. I was trying to update my maps on my Sat nav a couple of years ago and Lee had to come over from Derby and do it on his computer because he couldn't get it to work on mine either - that was just an update from Garmin.


The TET forum doesn't load at all, for instance. This is what I get when I press their orange link to the forum section for navigation:

[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/phpbb/class_loader.php on line 160: require(./phpbb/log/log.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory

Is your PC a bit of a classic in of itself?

Serious question btw.

If so update your hardware if you can. It might make a big difference.

Alternatively, there are still many pepes in here that travelled pre techy bollox, good as it is and would be more than willing to help. Paper maps still work

Decide what ya wanna/can do between you and if that means something a little less ambitious to start with then so be it, better to push yerself a bit and get the job done than overstretch and put yerself off the whole thing.

Again, plenty of advice available here and all free

You've been here a while fella I've seen you around but mebbe not for a while

If you don't mind me asking what are you recovering from?

https://www.justlanded.co.uk/english/Spain/Articles/Travel-Leisure/Fishing-in-Spain

Read through it and then buy the book, I’d suggest.

http://www.spainfishing.com/pages/about-phil.php

Contact Simon_100 who is member on this site, for information on Spain and the TET.

Whilst I haven’t looked, I can probably download the TET gps routes for you. How we then get them onto your PC and / or onto your GPS device (which make and model of GPS do you have?) is another matter entirely but it can’t be impossible to do. I doubt if you’d need every TET route in Spain and Portugal, so having an idea of where you wanted to go would help things along. I guess you need to decide if it’s mainly a fishing holiday, a wild camping holiday or a light bit of off-road riding holiday and, not least, where and when.....

Following on from post #6

I am using an iPhone in rural Warwickshire, so I can’t open the Spanish TET gps / gpx file properly and am having to guess but I think I have managed to get it from the TET website, to my phone and then into my Dropbox account.

If that has worked, you should be able to download it from here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ndob1t4nthlbnt/E.gpx?dl=0

But, that assumes that:

A. What I think I have done, I have actually done

B. Your PC works

C. You have software installed on your PC which enables you to view gps / gpx files. Something like Garmin’s BaseCamp or Mapsource should do it, straight off the bat.

Have a go, you really can’t break it.

Report back at leisure. If in the meantime, someone else can see if they can download the file from Dropbox using the link above and view it, we will at least know that it works.

Following on from post #7

It works! I do not know one end of a computer from another but by just using a couple of app’s and a bit of guessing, it seems to function.

Using nothing more than my iPhone I have followed the Dropbox link and got the file - or at least one of the routes from the Spanish TET routes file - into an app called ‘Scenic’, which is capable of displaying gpx routes, on my phone.

It seems to work, though the Scenic app did report some errors, which I asked it to ignore, simply as this is only a trial run. I guess the TET track did not match the Scenic map exactly or something like that. Anyway, never mind, at least we know it all sort of works and SHOULD work perfectly via a proper PC, loading the Dropbox gpx file into BaseCamp or Mapsource on a proper PC







Have a go, you can’t break it.

Travel light.
It can be blisteringly hot....for days.
No wild camping allowed.
Take puncture repair kit.
Have a great time.

Which bike are you taking ?

Bingo!

By fiddling about just a little bit in the ‘Scenic’ app on my iPhone, I have got the TET cross country route from Dropbox to display perfectly.

I’d be confident that I could ride it using just my phone or by tracing the route onto a reasonably well detailed local paper map.



Then zooming in a bit on just one section:



If nothing else it shows how powerful a modern IPhone, the internet, two app’s and a reasonably fast internet connection are.... all done from the relative comfort of my bed in the attic of a farmhouse.

Have fun, Simon.

I vote for TET as well.
Did a (small) section of it on the Pyrenees last spring. Nice, easy, route.

I find it very much aimed at people with a GPS and a degree in computer science to know how to download stuff.

Click to expand...

You really just have to download the Spanish and Portuguese .gpx files and import them in Basecamp (or whatever you use). The files contain tracks for the route. Just select/cut the bit that might interest you. Easy.

Looks like they had issues with the site, but you can still download the files here:

Spain gpx: https://www.transeurotrail.org/wp-content/uploads/gpxsync/E.gpx

Port: https://www.transeurotrail.org/wp-content/uploads/gpxsync/P.gpx

er-minio said:

You really just have to download the Spanish and Portuguese .gpx files and import them in Basecamp (or whatever you use). The files contain tracks for the route. Just select/cut the bit that might interest you. Easy.

Looks like they had issues with the site, but you can still download the files here:

Spain gpx: https://www.transeurotrail.org/wp-content/uploads/gpxsync/E.gpx

Port: https://www.transeurotrail.org/wp-content/uploads/gpxsync/P.gpx

Click to expand...

That is just what I did, using an iPhone to get the Spanish file into Dropbox and then one of the routes (actually a track) into Scenic. If an iPhone was capable of running BaseCamp or Mapsource, I’m confident I could have got the TET route (track) onto it and from there onto my Garmin GPS. There is of course a convoluted way to get tracks and routes from an iPhone or iPad onto a Garmin device https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showt...ing-files-routes-from-an-iPad-to-a-GPS-device but life’s too short to do it.

I think Simon needs to:

A. Decide on where he wants to go fishing and (if that is the main purpose of his holiday) how to mix it with camping

B. Look at how best to get from the port terminal to the fishing / camping grounds and back to the terminal, in the most time efficient manner, whilst still enjoying his motorbike. If that’s off-road, great. If that’s riding perfectly acceptable and quite fun tarmac roads, great still. If it’s on motorways or a mixture of all three, so be it.

Starting with a conventional paper map would be useful, I guess?

Then, when roughly drawn up, get his home computer to join the 21st century or at least the latter part of the 20th in order to get his hands on the TET tracks and, from there, onto his paper map and / or onto his GPS device. All will then be plain sailing.

If some kind soul who knows a little about PC’s (so that’s definitely not me) and just the basics of BaseCamp or Mapsource could maybe help him, it will make life much easier.

If an iPhone was capable of running BaseCamp or Mapsource, I’m confident I could have got the TET route (track) onto it and from there onto my Garmin GPS

Click to expand...

I always dream of Basecamp for iPad.
It would be an excuse for me to buy an iPad and stop bringing my laptop with me when traveling.

Thank you for the detaild, and complicated looking, answers... Christmas got in the way with all Anna's friends and relations (with apologies to A.A. Milne) coming over, or us going to them!

I shall peruse the answers and see what I can do with them - the mere word 'download' fills me with dread. I am sure it won't cause me to vapourise though!

I need to speak to Andy about this wild camping idea, especially if it is prohibited. I might be trying to fit too much in and perhaps the fishing trip will have to be a deciated one another time... ambition and practicality sometimes don't go hand in hand.

Wapping said:

Following on from post #6

I am using an iPhone in rural Warwickshire, so I can’t open the Spanish TET gps / gpx file properly and am having to guess but I think I have managed to get it from the TET website, to my phone and then into my Dropbox account.

If that has worked, you should be able to download it from here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ndob1t4nthlbnt/E.gpx?dl=0

But, that assumes that:

A. What I think I have done, I have actually done

B. Your PC works

C. You have software installed on your PC which enables you to view gps / gpx files. Something like Garmin’s BaseCamp or Mapsource should do it, straight off the bat.

Have a go, you really can’t break it.

Report back at leisure. If in the meantime, someone else can see if they can download the file from Dropbox using the link above and view it, we will at least know that it works.

Click to expand...

Downloaded your folder... now I need to find something that can read it. I find all this very complicated. I know it is a mental block on my part, I get very anxious when I do this kind of thign.

King Rat said:

Downloaded your folder... now I need to find something that can read it. I find all this very complicated. I know it is a mental block on my part, I get very anxious when I do this kind of thign.

Click to expand...

Just a 20 minute blast from you remember.

King Rat said:

Downloaded your folder... now I need to find something that can read it. I find all this very complicated. I know it is a mental block on my part, I get very anxious when I do this kind of thign.

Click to expand...

Your not on your own, I find myself just using the basic ( Where to ) on my sat nav now. I've tried, and spent hours in front of the computer, in the end I realised it was taking me longer then the journey itself.

Your trip sounds more complicated than most though, as it includes tracks. I hope you can master it, as it sounds like a great trip. You could search for hostals as apposed to hotels for your overnight stays, as they tend to be smaller and better value for money. I once paid 12 Euros for one in rural Portugal, not that many years ago, inc breakfast. Best of luck......

King Rat said:

Thank you for the detaild, and complicated looking, answers... Christmas got in the way with all Anna's friends and relations (with apologies to A.A. Milne) coming over, or us going to them!

I shall peruse the answers and see what I can do with them - the mere word 'download' fills me with dread. I am sure it won't cause me to vapourise though!

I need to speak to Andy about this wild camping idea, especially if it is prohibited. I might be trying to fit too much in and perhaps the fishing trip will have to be a deciated one another time... ambition and practicality sometimes don't go hand in hand.

Click to expand...

Wild camping isn't strictly illegal in Spain as long as you make a distinction between 'camping', which means making a base for possibly several days stay and 'bivouac' (Sp = vivac), i.e. a temporary shelter for the short term. In practice this means from 20.00 to 08.00 and not a moment more, pitch very small tents or by preference a bivvy bag and far from any conventional alternative, e.g. accommodation or a commercial camp site (NB the various 'acampamineto's' that you find dotted around are for use only by specific groups, e.g. scouts or school trips and only with written permission form the owners, which is usually the local town council.

Contrary to urban mythology, all land in Spain is owned by someone or other and you should have their permission to vivaquear-se (another key word to say to the Guardia Civil/Forest rangers, etc.) but in practice you'd spend days finding the owners so just be subtle and use some common sense with your camp site choice.

Finally, whatever you do never, ever, ever light a fire or you really will end up in trouble - and a good thing too, hanging will be too good for you IMHO!

Re, "the mere word 'download' fills me with dread", A doctor writes:

Many men of a certain age find this sense if impotence a cause for embarrassment or even emotional distress. Most find it difficult to talk to their wives or loved ones and may be afraid of facing ridicule from their friends and, often younger, colleagues at work.

This problem is often even more acute among men with a high level of attainment - even those who passed the eleven-plus! - but the answer is really quite obviously simple; just find a neighbour with a teenage child and lass the work over to them. They'll have it done in a jiffy! It's best not to witness or try to understand what they're doing as you may think that your computer is going to break or otherwise unusable to yourself when they give it back to you. But persevere and avoid the temptation to cry, which may traumatize the child ... however it is permissible to pout your lips, raise your middle an index fingers to your lips and go, Bub-bub-bub-bub-bub ...

Enjoy - and also go on the Sotres trail over the Picos!

Regs

Simon

Wapping said:

That is just what I did, using an iPhone to get the Spanish file into Dropbox and then one of the routes (actually a track) into Scenic. If an iPhone was capable of running BaseCamp or Mapsource, I’m confident I could have got the TET route (track) onto it and from there onto my Garmin GPS. There is of course a convoluted way to get tracks and routes from an iPhone or iPad onto a Garmin device https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showt...ing-files-routes-from-an-iPad-to-a-GPS-device but life’s too short to do it.

I think Simon needs to:

A. Decide on where he wants to go fishing and (if that is the main purpose of his holiday) how to mix it with camping

B. Look at how best to get from the port terminal to the fishing / camping grounds and back to the terminal, in the most time efficient manner, whilst still enjoying his motorbike. If that’s off-road, great. If that’s riding perfectly acceptable and quite fun tarmac roads, great still. If it’s on motorways or a mixture of all three, so be it.

Starting with a conventional paper map would be useful, I guess?

Then, when roughly drawn up, get his home computer to join the 21st century or at least the latter part of the 20th in order to get his hands on the TET tracks and, from there, onto his paper map and / or onto his GPS device. All will then be plain sailing.

If some kind soul who knows a little about PC’s (so that’s definitely not me) and just the basics of BaseCamp or Mapsource could maybe help him, it will make life much easier.

Click to expand...

Working my way through it all, slowly. I might not be responding quickly, that is because it is taking time to sink in..... the fishing link you posted was a great help. It might be a bit much doing the fishing part as well... I will see. It also changes things on the month - when we were thinking of going the fishing season is over. I think the date is less flexible than the plans, fo rmy friend at least, he has a motorbike shop to run!