Touring out of Santander to Rioja (Logorno)

[surroundedbyhills]

Any have any advice or tips on a route around this area?

Flying to Santander from Edinburgh 1st week in Oct.
5-7 days
Relative bike touring novices
BnB/Hotels/Guest Houses as travelling light.

[brianleach]

Didn't quite get as far as Logrono in 2014. Just got off the ferry and booked accomodation a night in advance using Booking.com. Other websites are available. It was July/August though not October. The route I ended up doing with my youngest son is given below.

Day 1 Santander to Vega de Pas 58k 1230 metres of ascent. Nice hotel in V d P
Day 2 Vega de Pas to Medina de Pomar 58k 1254 m Strange but comfortable hotel.
Day 3 Medina de Pomar to Miranda de Ebro. 71k 451 m Lovely hotel, stayed 2 nights.
Day 4 Day trip to Haro. 42k Enjoyable day sightseeing
Day 5 Miranda de Ebro to Vitoria-Gasteiz 52k 1059m Nice hotel.
Day 6 Vitoria to Bilbao 88k 1364m Nice but expensive hotel in Bilbao but it was Fiesta there.
Day 7 and 8 Sightseeing in Bilbao.
Day 9 Bilbao to Isla 54k 1294m Poor hotel.
Day 10 Isla to Santander 57k 1468m Horrible riding in Santander and poor hotel.
Day 11 and 12 Sightseeing in Santander
Day 13 Ferry to UK

Really enjoyable trip and coping well with the conditions. Did a lot of walking uphill but got great views.

Hope that is some help.

[iviehoff]

One of the most spectacular bits of riding which you should aim to cover on such a trajectory is the Ebro Gorge. The road is mostly close to the river so not generally very hilly. It starts a short distance east of Polientes and the most spectacular bits are around Orbaneja, which tends to have a few coach tours visiting, though perhaps not so much any more by October. The Ebro hasn't fallen much from Reinosa at this point, so it could be cool and damp in the autumn, but it could also still be warm if summer is reluctant to leave. Logrono is down at 400m so you are losing material height as you go east and it gets a bit warmer.

Probably one of the easiest ways over the mountains is the N-611 to Reinosa (around 850m) from Torrelavega, which is just outside Santander: it is reasonably quiet, because the heavy traffic goes on the nearby motorway. I think the pass is around 1100m at the top, which is relatively modest for a pass over the range. The next pass west (CA 280) from Cabezon de la Sal is much more scenic but from memory is more like 1500m. I haven't travelled the next road east. Whilst there are a limited number of crossings of the watershed, clearly either side of it there are a number of quiet little roads in the hills to get you off the main roads, but of course they will tend to make it harder work.

An amazing thing to look out for in the upper Ebro area are the rock-cut churches. We went to see one in Arroyuelos, a small village near Polientes, and some others. Some more detail here, but there is more, needs a bit of hunting down. http://www.minube.com/que_ver/espana/ca ... derredible https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_r ... e_Valverde

[iviehoff]

A notch further west, There's also a few interesting things to see around Aguilar de Campoo. We went to see the church of Santa Cecilia for its amazing door, but we couldn't go in.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguilar_de_Campoo

Being rather off the beaten track, a lot of the info is easier to find in Spanish.

[MrsHJ]

Yes, done that (reverse direction only on our way from roscof). We loved cycling through Rioja although it was very hot- Haro was the real wine town from what I remember. Love the Spanish mountains too- it's the ? Cantabrian range between there and Santander? We did quite similar to Brian's first 4-5 days. Just trying to get hold of a map for a couple of recommendations for you.

[surroundedbyhills]

Thanks that's all good food for thought.