Cycling UK Forum

To give you a flavour of what Northern Spain offers have a look at this chap, Andres Basagoitia's drone videos, and watch them in HD if you can. He specialises in Spanish railways, but also covers the countryside of Gipuzkoa in the Basque country of Pais Vasco as well as Cantabria and Navarra. The scenery is just as good across the rest of northern Spain ie Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia. Here's a few of my favourites and this should want to make you get on your bike.

VOLANDO SOBRE EL EMBALSE DE IBIUR

SUANCES (CANTABRIA)

COSTA DE BIZKAIA

PAISAJES DE EUSKADI

PUEBLOS DEL INTERIOR DE GIPUZKOA DESDE EL AIRE

EN DRONE POR LA SIERRA DE URBASA (NAVARRA)

AGUA DULCE Y AGUA SALADA EN EUSKADI

Agree.

Here's an idea to modify your bike for entertainment purposes, but at least people would hear you coming. Not a very popular thing to do I imagine.

This site in Spanish has pulled together all the camino stages on foot and by bike with a listing of albergues.

For the by bike Vía de la Plata with albergues the site bases its 13 stages on information found in the expanded by foot section. This lists the stages, distance km, number of albergues. To see the information click on expanded links. The route described runs south to north.

This site should improve your Spanish no end!

Check out the ALSA bus service from Barcelona to Valencia:

Do you enjoy cycling, surfing or skiing?

Now with ALSA you can transport your sports equipment:

Supplement: €5.00 on short trips or €10 on longer journeys.

International services: transport of bicycles only available on Spain-Morocco routes, advance booking required.

A total of 4 bicycles per vehicle (one for each ticket), ensure your booking before travelling.

Items should be wrapped for protection during transport. We have bicycle covers available for €12, ask at the ticket desk.

Please arrive at the bus for boarding at least 15 minutes before departure.

Looks like you can get a fare one way from between 11 euros to 35 euros depending on time of day, plus the bike charge of 10 euros.

Fill in the route planner on this page. Look for the bicycle symbol under each timing. When you continue through the purchase it will ask you do you want to add sports equipment/bike.

I use Routeyou.com This uses google maps and I find it loads up faster than the main google site and doesn't freeze.

You may want to consider where you fly to next year as the new airport at Murcia La Covera is still beset with problems. Flights to San Javier may be tranferred to La Covera, but things are still are still up in the air (excuse the pun). Alicante may be a better bet.

Just watched the first episode and thought the whole programme was flippant. No depth of content and hardly any cycling shown. A waste of time.

Tonight
Monday, 9pm, Sky 1/HD Channel 106
Series 1 of 4

Micky Flanagan's Detour de France
Romance. Wine. Philosophy. Chafing. Micky's taking you for a ride.

New series. The comedian hops across the Channel and jumps on a bicycle to sample the sights and sounds of France, joined by his best friend Noel Lynch, a brickie and cycling enthusiast. The pair start off in Calais with some essential pampering, fully aware that no cyclist worth his or her salt would hit the road without a facial or a leg wax. Then it's bon voyage as they tackle a small portion of the 150-mile race between Paris and Roubaix lovingly known as the Hell of the North. The cobbles may look pretty - but they aren't bike-friendly.

Saw the consultant 9th October who told me there is a slight improvement in my knee, although there are three bits of bone on the outside of my knee which he is conerned about. I am booked in for another MRI scan at the end of November (the third since July) so I will see what he has got to say after that. My knee does not ache and feels normal, although I suppose it's what is happening underneath that counts. I asked him if I could get back on my bike and he aid yes, but go carefully. If everything fails it will be a new knee cap.

The consultant said it may be down to some trauma, but although we postmen walk into things, trip, miss our footing, go up and down steps/slopes I can't really identify a cause. Repetitive actions could be a cause. As someone has said here maybe we should warm up the joints before rushing out and getting stuck in. I have even fallen off my bike several times, but had no knee or leg injuries - just broken arms and wrists! He said there was a problem of blood supply renewing the damaged/crumbling bone area.

I see the consultant again early October and will get his report then.

I have had problems with my right knee which was causing pain at the end of January 2014. I put the problem down to being a postman, in and out of a van up to 150 times a day in a rural situation, six days a week - five straight weeks on and then one week off. I cycle a short distance to work and use my bike for leisure purposes very regularly. I have been cycling for 15 years and I am 64.

I thought the pain would wear off, but throughout the following three months it persisted and I had to cancel a cycle tour to northern Spain planned for May. My visit to the doctor resulted in pain killers and later an X-ray which on inspection, the doctor said revealed nothing abnormal. Physiotherapy was recommended and I undertook several sessions which helped slightly. The pain subsided, but came back with a vengence late June and a return to the doctor. It was decided to send me for an MRI scan and the result was sent to my doctor. While at work delivering the post in rural Herefordshire I had a call fom my doctor to say that I was to return to the surgery immediately to pick up a pair of crutches and told to keep weight off the leg for 12 weeks. From the consultant's report I had got a condition called spontaneous osteonecrosis (SPONK) together with a hairline fracture of the knee cap. The article mirrored my complaints exactly.

When I had real pain in my knee with severe swelling of the leg in May, I found using the bike helpful for moving around, the only problem being that when you stopped you didn't put want to put the affected leg down! However as cycling has now been banned by the doctor I have been at home sitting down too much whilst watching the Tour de France and La Vuelta.

I am having another MRI scan to see if the condition is healing or getting worse. I will know the outcome in October. There is little pain in the knee now, which could have been down to the fracture. The year has been a bummer - no cycling, no gardening and all the odd jobs piling up. You don't realise how much you rely on your knees, and I never thought I would be in this position just before retiring and cycling into the sunset. I will let you know the outcome and whether I get a new knee.

strat wrote:Thanks a lot for that. It gives some reassurance. Hopefully we can get on a coach from the airport to Girona.

There is a regular bus service into the city from the airport or you can cycle along the GIV-5343 & GI-533 avoiding the main busier routes A7 and A2/NII (all no cycling).

There is station at Vilajuiga, one stop after Figueres. The RENFE timetable states that on Saturday 13th September there is a Regional service from Girona at 16:48, 18:48 and 20:54. The journey time is 47 mins and the fare is 4.90 euros. From there you can cycle on a direct road GI-610 to Roses (11.6 kms). SARFA run a bus service from Figueres to Roses at 15:30, 17:00, 20:30. However you have to get to Figueres so I would use the train above. There should be no problem with your bikes on the train.

When you arrive in Santander cross the road from the ferry to the Municpal Tourist Office (Oficina de Turismo) in the park at the far end - Jardines de Pereda. In October open from Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 19:00, Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00 and Sundays from 10:00 to 14:00. Ask for an accommodation list and city plan, get the staff to show you where two or three places not too far away and cycle round and inquire at reception - take you 30-45 mins. I do this in most cities in Spain. The street map helps you get out the next day.

Or you can use this site Infohostal.es for comparing establishments, price and location. I find it very reliable and a good source for accommodation across Spain.

The regional tourist office is located two streets further back in the market at 4 Hernán Cortés, (Mercado del Este).