A question about Spain

[patpalloon]

I'm planning on cycling down from the Costa Brava all the way to the Costa del Sol, the heading inland and back to the north coast via the interior (Jerez, Seville, Salamanca, Valladolid to Salamanca then home via France. There are loads of places to stay on the coast - but does anyone know the interior stretch I'll be doing? Are there many places to stay or are they few and far between?

[HarryD]

Wow, cycling along the Costa Brava then the Costa del Sol! Can't think of a worse way to go unless you love lots of traffic and urban sprawl.

There are many fine coastal stretches such as Murcia and the Cabo del Gato but otherwise I'd keep well inland. Certainly More mountainous but generally excellent cycling, scenery etc.

Have cycled/visited most of your inland section and getting accommodation should be no problem at all unless you are going July/August when its peak holiday season and uncomfortable to cycle in the heat anyway. One of the best places to look is on paginasamarillas.es (yellow pages) and search for alojamientos (accommodation).

HarryD

[patpalloon]

Thanks! I'll be going in May/June so hopefully no crowds and shouldn't be unbearably hot. I thought of following the coast so I could combine a cycle tour with a beach holiday and camp by the beach each night, before heading inland. But yes, perhaps I would be better to avoid the urban sprawls and traffic.

[iviehoff]

Often you only have to go a short distance inland to find wonderful scenery unlike the tedious, busy and often unscenic coastal routes (for the road may often not run exactly along the coast itself). In some areas you'll be passing through near continuous ribbon development along roads well populated with supermarkets, DIY sheds, cement factories, etc, because that is the local through road. Population density means that the roads will be unpleasantly busy with commercial lorries etc all year. The Costa Blanca mountains, for example, which crowd practically onto the coast, are quite wonderful and full of exciting routes, and also well-populated with villages with small places to stay and restaurants. Though of course this does imply lots of big hills to cycle up and down. There are similar wonderful coastal ranges of hills in other areas.

[borisface]

The stretch from Seville northwards coincides with the via de la plata - one of the main pilgrimage routes to Santiago da Compostella, although it turns west after Salamanca and you will be turning east(ish). It maybe worth getting hold of the excellent Ciceron guide - its about a tenner. It may also be worthwhile registering as a pilgrim at Seville Cathedral - this will give you access to refugios which are very cheap to stay in usually less than 5 euros and is a good way to meet others as it can get a bit lonely if you are touring alone.

The downside with the via de la plata is that it is mainly offroad but it is very well maintained good quality surfaces and well signed. It will also keep you away from the main roads. As I'm sure you know Spain ain't well mapped. Places to stay become more frequent the further north you push, however, the stretch from Salamanca to north of Valladolid is incredibly boring.

Edit: the via de la plata goes from Salamanca north to Zamora which is a nice town. If you are planning on going Valladolid I assume after that you'd go to Burgos, again a nice city. The countryside gets better after Burgos.

[HarryD]

El Pais Aguilar publish an excellent guide, in Spanish, for the Via de la Plata. The route maps are excellent and easy to follow plus there is lots of accommodation detail. You should be able to order it from their website for around 23 Euros plus postage.

Although off road it is perfectly rideable on a robust road bike fitted with 28mm tyres although if you are heavily loaded with camping stuff 32's may be better. The guide gives alternatives where the route is unsuitable for bikes.

As Borisface sort of hints it may be worth getting as far as either Zamora or Astorga before heading east.

We do seem to be putting in lots of hills for you.

HarryD

[eileithyia]

My general rule of thumb is to head for a reasonable sized town, much as I do not like it, towns with bullrings will have accommodation, and head for the town centre to get orientated to where accommodation might be. This only let us down once in Andalusia (of sorts) in that there was only one apparent hotel, we rode around the centre a couple of times and all signs pointed to a hotel just out of town... it looked like a bit of 1950's American roadhouse from outside, but was beautiful inside. Main problem was no evening meal, and we did not fancy an ordered in pizza delivery service, or the walk into town (unlit main ish road). In the end we got a taxi and asked him take us to somewhere to eat, he dropped us outside an inauspicious looking bar, (probably a relatives lol) where we looked after excellently, had the best meal of the trip, some nice local company and complimentary post dinner drinks....

Bite the bullet and go.....

[patpalloon]

Sounds great. Are many Spanish hotels/pensiones/paradores bike-friendly? Will they have somewhere secure for your bike or let you take it in to the room?

Re my route, I am open to suggestions for a good route. My only definites are starting in Roses near the French border, then I would like to get to Gibraltar, then all the way back to Calais. I have around 2 months, which should be enough averaging about 50 miles per day.

[eileithyia]

We always were given somewhere for the bikes, from propped up in the dining room, to propped up in the hallway, it was never a problem.

[MarkF]

Rest easy Pat, there is always somewhere to stay in the interior. I did the same route, visiting the same places but the other way around, ending up in Bilbao. Your way is better, much smaller chance of the bleedin awful headwind I endured day after day on the meseta. Between cities is stress free, it's practically deserted, wonderful, you will appreciate this having cycled the coast.

Even in tiny places you'll often find a room above bars and between towns there are often roadhouses (can be dodgy as often for truckers "entertainment") and in any small town you'll have options, rooms, hostals, hotels. There are people all over the interior roaming around, salesmen, travellers, works seekers and of course, umpteen pilgrims, cheap rooms are everywhere, they might not be immediately apparent in very small places, you may have to ask.

I'd recommend a visit to Trujillo and a tiny place north of Toro called Uruena, it has the most spectacular views of the plains.

Every place I stayed had super helpful staff, if the bike was not in my room it was in the kitchens or cellars.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?doc_id=10054

[borisface]

+1 for Trujillo.

Shouldn't have a problem storing the bike. There's always somewhere maybe take a lock just in case.

[albal1]

I rode from Gibraltar to JOG, last year, as for the 'boring' bit north of SA to VA? I loved it. The day from VA to BU was probably the highlight of my trip!. I camped mostly. see for yourself; www.crazyguyonabike.com/gibjog2013. Enjoy it.

[LollyKat]

Even in tiny places you'll often find a room above bars and between towns there are often roadhouses (can be dodgy as often for truckers "entertainment") and in any small town you'll have options, rooms, hostals, hotels. There are people all over the interior roaming around, salesmen, travellers, works seekers and of course, umpteen pilgrims, cheap rooms are everywhere, they might not be immediately apparent in very small places, you may have to ask.

We didn't have problems finding hostals except once, in a pretty remote area. So we just went to the village shop and asked if there was anyone who had a room. It was basic but spotless and the folk were very friendly - and happy to take the bikes in.