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  • TakeMeFurtherVagabondingViajante

    Final statistics Spain

    16 de novembro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    I was looking forward to cycling again, but today is a merciless day. It rains all day. On top of that, there are four high peaks, so that at the end of the day I have climbed 1 400 metres in altitude (the route over the Pyrenees had 1 530). Driving is no fun today ☹️
    I am a bit frozen through and keep warm during the day with thoughts of a crackling fireplace and a cosy sheepskin blanket, at some point I don't want to anymore and pitch the tent almost right next to the road.
    I crawl into my warm sleeping bag and forget about the rain outside. All is well again. 😄

    In the afternoon I roll out of Spain and into Portugal. Time for a little final statistics:

    Days in Spain: 27
    Distance travelled: 1 109 km
    Elevation gain: 15 580 hm    Leia mais

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    Madrid

    7 de novembro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    I would never have dreamed that this little break would be so nice. ❤️
    Besides the impressions of the city and the beautiful moments with my cousin Aurelia*, her husband John*, son Jack* and the pet dog Pino*, this short break changed my strategy for the rest of the trip.

    But one thing at a time.

    After the gruelling last few weeks through all the mountains of northern Spain, I rejoice in the banalities of a stationary life: the flowing coffee, the hot shower and the ever-ready bed. 🥰
    I spend a whole eight days here on foot as a tourist and it's wonderful.

    Together with my cousin, I discover the city, we walk through the different districts and I really like it. I criss-cross the city on buses, the metro and local trains and lose myself there for several hours without a specific destination.

    I eat churros for the first time - deep-fried dough sticks that you dip in chocolate - and which are better kept away from open flames because of their energy content 😉 .

    I meet Ruven* and Steven*, two friends from Karlsruhe who have lived here for years and spend a typical Spanish day with me in a market hall. There I can once again watch with amusement the growth of groups in Spain. Everyone brings a few friends and in no time at all the whole bar is occupied. 😆

    The highlight for me is the evening at the houseof John's* parents, where I get an insight into Spanish culture that I hadn't had before. We eat the best tortillas and I see how they are made (and how much effort they take).

    The evening also shows me that I have been missing cultural exchange so far. I have seen the country but only got to know the culture superficially.
    It is questionable whether I will be able to learn much more about countries and its people when I travel, but at least I want to try.

    * names changed    Leia mais

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    Ourense's hospitality

    6 de novembro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    I have found it: the place where I am a friend, not just a traveler.

    So I made a plan to leave my bike in Ourense while I go to Madrid. Now I look for someone to look after the bike and go to the first hostel near the station.
    I tell the man behind the counter my problem and he agrees to look after the bike for a week - without payment - just like that.

    I cycle around the city and then return to the hostel to park the bike and book a room.
    After paying, I take the bags off the bike and put them at the foot of the stairs leading to the rooms - a few metres away from the bike. While I am setting up the pile of bags, the owner indicates to me to quickly get the bike off the street, because here in the lobby he has an overview and it will not be stolen. A waiter is briefly initiated by the owner and then helps me carry the bike into the cellar.

    Later that evening, I have all the bags packed and the most important things organised. At the bar I see the waiter, who greets me with a smile and asks directly what I would like. I order a beer and take it to my room.

    Later still, I come to the bar again. The waiter sees me, pulls an ice-cold beer out from under the counter and looks at me questioningly. I nod and smile, he smiles, we understand each other - everything's perfect. 😁    Leia mais

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    Bike logistics

    4 de novembro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    I am in Santiago de Compostela.
    The next destination of my journey is supposed to be Madrid, where my cousin lives with her family.
    To get there I would have to drive right into the heart of Spain: over the hilly Sierra de Léon, then hundreds of kilometres through relatively flat, presumably steppe country and finally over the Sierra de Guadarrama, whose mountain peaks are up to 2 430m high.
    Since my further travel plan then takes me from north to south through Portugal, I would have to drive almost the same distance back again after the visit. 😮‍💨
    There are the following alternatives:
    a) Take the bike on the train or bus
    b) Store the bike safely and travel on to Madrid on my own.

    I would prefer to have everything with me., but soon it turns out that this is not easy:
    - Busses only transport bikes with the front wheel removed. 😕
    - Regional trains with bike transport only run from Ourense, about 80km away. ☹️
    - High-speed trains transport bikes packed in a cardboard box but my expedition bike will never ever fit into the allowed shoe boxes. 😖

    So removing the front wheel is the least of the evils. As luck would have it, I also lose my special front wheel dismounting tool on this very day.
    Now I can't remove my front wheel and a flat tire will paralyse my journey until I have organised a replacement for the special tool.
    Bravo, Til! Great job! 👏 🥳

    In the end, all I can hope for is to get to Ourense without a breakdown and to catch a regional train there that will accept my bike - as it is - and take it to Madrid. 🤞
    So off to Ourense!

    Once I am there I find out that bicycles are not transported on trains from here. Except in the direction of Santiago, I could happily go there! 🤪
    I need another solution.

    The easiest thing to do now would be to store my bike safely and continue traveling alone, because right now the bike is just a millstone on my leg. And although it's a bit strange at first to leave my most important item to strangers, that's exactly what I'll do.
    The very first hostel where I present my plan supports me and takes care of the bike for a whole week. After so many difficulties, I hadn't imagined it would be so easy.    Leia mais

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    Santiago de Compostela

    3 de novembro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is the end of the journey for many travelers. Most pilgrims lie down on the ground, tear their shoes off their feet and then lie stretched out for hours on the square in front of the cathedral.
    I don't have this feeling of having completed an episode. But since I'm still on my way that doesn't matter.

    I treat myself to a bed and breakfast and lie down on a feather bed for the first time in weeks.
    The subsequent hot shower reawakens my spirits.    Leia mais

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  • TakeMeFurtherVagabondingViajante

    To chip a bicycle

    1 de novembro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The mountain is killing me. I've been in a mediocre mood all day and now this mountain is getting in the way.
    I'd love to get out my metal file and chop my bike into a big pile of metal. 😬
    All right, maybe not the whole bike. But this strut here: it's not needed anymore!!🧐Leia mais

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    Praia das Catedrais

    31 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    What an amazing beach! Praia das Catedrais only shows its full beauty at low tide, when the rugged rock formations are completely exposed and you can walk through stone arches.

    Take off your shoes and let's go!Leia mais

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    Cudillero

    30 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I owe this travel tip to my cousin, too.
    Cudillero is an Asturian fishing village in a small valley that breaks through the cliffs and is definitely worth the diversion from my route.
    It is so steep that I park my bike halfway up and continue my exploration on foot.
    Every square metre wrested from the mountain is exploited. Satellite photos show the criss-cross backyards in which I get lost for a little while before I get back to the main road.

    Thanks to the good weather, I manage to take a few photos that can be directly included in the tourism catalogue.    Leia mais

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    Avilés

    29 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    On the advice of my camping neighbour Nieto, I visit the next largest town, Avilés. It is beautiful there. Only the rain that surprises me on the way back doesn't fit into my plan. 🌧️

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    Camping las Gaviotas

    28 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    In retrospect, I realised that my French skills are really good.
    Conversations in Spanish, on the other hand, are only very basic. I'm barely able to survive: I can order food, say thank you and "I'm German - please don't shoot".
    My current conversation partner Lucos doesn't care about my lack of vocabulary - he's been telling me he story of his life for the last 20 minutes. At least I understand that he was once in Germany in the 90s.
    I understand almost nothing of the rest of the conversation and try to make up a story from the few words:

    "........ Erich Honecker .......... Claudia Schiffer.......... Revolver ( he indicates several bullet wounds on his body, also one on his head)...... Stasi........."
    Since our conversation I've been trying to make sense of it.... 🤔

    In the evening I arrive at the campsite and meet adults and children in disguise: there are lions, vampires and witches. Must be because Halloween is coming up. 😃    Leia mais

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    One German egg platter, please

    27 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Ordered the first alternative dish to tortillas patates today. I call them "Huevos alemania". I told the waiter 'huevos, patates, cebolla (onion), pan (bread) and gestured a bit.
    I got boiled eggs with sauce, roasted potatoes and some bread to go with it. It was a bit dry, but okay for my first Spanish order.
    It looked very much like student cuisine and the whole time I was imagining what the Spaniards were thinking to themselves, "God, do the Germans really have no food culture at all?"

    When I paid, I saw the exact same dish move to another table. Ergo, it's either off the menu or another guest told the waiter "Yo, I'll have the German egg platter there, too". Probably the latter.    Leia mais

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    Santillana del Mar

    26 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    I got the tip about this pretty little town from my cousin. Santillana is a beautiful little village with the distinction of being 'un de los pueblos más bonitos', one of the most beautiful villages in Spain.
    Here, not only the buildings are from ancient times: the stone paving, made of many individual small stones, is just as authentic from another time.    Leia mais

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    Back to the coast!

    25 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    The whole day I roll downhill on a superbly constructed cycle path.
    It's a pity that it ends at some point and I have to pedal myself again.

    On the way to the coast, I finally find the smallest petrol station of my life, consisting of a petrol pump at the side of the road and - after several thousand km (!) - I get my first real flat tyre.

    In the evening I spend the night at a campsite and meet a friend, the black tomcat I call Cachou.
    At first he watches me patiently while I eat dinner, then he comes closer and closer and sniffs my things here and there. He loves everything I own and rubs against me, my bicycle, my bags, my cooking utensils, really everything. But when he doesn't get anything to eat even after these expressions of friendship, he disappears just as quickly as he appeared. 😄    Leia mais

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    To Cantabria!

    25 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    I have two route options to travel westwards: the Camino Francés and the Camino del Norte.
    I have already followed the first one to some extent. It runs along the south of the Cantabrian Mountains where the landscape is relatively flat. The Camino del Norte would give me a new perspective - the ocean on one side, the mountains on the other. Finally, I choose this route.

    On my ride round the coast, I have two steep climbs to contend with. Komoot, my routing app, tells me to expect about 13%, but my legs say it's much more.😬    Leia mais

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    Valle de Mena

    24 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    My day starts early this time - without breakfast, because I somehow miscalculated and only have three apples left. I found them on the road yesterday. (The journey has already changed me in that I take what nature/the road gives me).

    My first hurdle is already waiting for me 10 minutes after starting to ride: my routing app decides that my bike path leads over a small river... 🤨
    First I have to climb a small stone staircase with a handrail and further on there is a passage where there are only single stones leading over the river and you have to balance over them. 🫣
    Anyone who knows Takeshi's Castle knows what I'm talking about. 😆
    I take the bags off the bike in no time and thus cover the 200 metres in about 20 minutes - both bags and bike are carried over there bit by bit. My bike also carries me every day, so today it's my turn. 🤷‍♂️

    I then cycle west via Sobrón into a new valley (see map in the picture gallery). I pass rugged rock faces, climb a few metres in altitude and finally reach the impressive dam wall.

    After a few kilometres, the valley opens up, there are mountains to the left and right, mountains in the distance - wonderful. 😍

    Highlight 1 of this valley is a church. I take photos of the strange façade from the outside and am about to drive on when a Spaniard waves me over and tells me to go inside. Inside, I am almost breathless at how beautifully the window panes shine.

    Highlight 2 is Puentedey - one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. Here, the river Nela now flows through a stone bridge on which houses stand. It looks enormous.    Leia mais

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    Wind 💨 and more wind💨

    23 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The same way the foam in the coffee cup looks at me during my break is how I feel 🙀.
    The forecast for today is for a gusty headwind of about 33 mph (53 km/h). Sometimes it comes as headwind and then again as crosswind. 😑
    If I had a sail I could cross the wind. Just spread my arms and zigzag. How nice that would be. ☺️

    As the day progresses, I spot a dead straight stretch of road across the country on the route ahead. It looks like a route error, far too precisely straight ahead for a road.
    In the satellite view it becomes even more implausible, because I would be driving dead straight through a dense forest.
    Finally, I want to find out what it's all about and come across an old track bed of a narrow-gauge railway, which I wouldn't have expected to find here away from big cities.
    The highlight of the trip will be crossing the kilometre-long tunnel. 👻    Leia mais

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    Cabredo - Jesus' home town

    22 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Today I want to spend the night at someone's place - not wild camping but an overnight stay with a local. For cyclists, there is a social network where cyclists register their home and offer accommodation to other cyclists called 'Warmshowers'.

    I chose Jesus, who sounds trustworthy and lives in a somewhat remote valley. There, he writes, he fell in love with nature and I absolutely have to go there.
    The area lives up to expectations. You drive through gently rolling countryside while marvelling at the mountains in the distance.
    In the end, unfortunately, I don't get to meet Jesus, but I wouldn't have found this beautiful valley without him.    Leia mais

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    Pamplona

    21 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I don't know much about Pamplona. It is the capital of the province of Navarre and the venue of the world-famous Spanish bullfight, as a local proudly tells me.
    When I hear this, I get defensive inside, because I have no love for this tradition - I think it's cruel to animals. It is not noble to wound an animal with lances until it is completely exhausted.
    Of course, it's a great achievement when a human being uses tactics and skill to avoid a larger animal like a bull, and this form of bullfighting (without hurting it beforehand) exists - unfortunately not yet in Pamplona. Hopefully that will change soon.

    The most interesting thing about the city is its unusual geography, as it is built on hilly terrain and offers beautiful views of the surrounding area and distant mountains from its hilltop.

    And here's a recipe from my own experimentation:
    Fried Egg Deluxe 🍳⭐️

    Fry the onion in a pan with water. Why not with oil, you ask? Frying oil can only be bought in 1-litre bottles and is used up very slowly, which is why it takes an incredibly long time to transport a large quantity of it around and over all the mountains, which you want to avoid at all costs☝️.
    After a few minutes, add more water and the eggs to the pan. We prevent them from burning by constantly turning them.
    As soon as the eggs are done, add salted peanuts and eat the whole thing with pesto-smeared bread.
    ¡Buen provecho!    Leia mais

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    Pitching the tent in a storm

    20 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    Whoever has ever pitched a tent in a decent gust of wind, please raise your hand.
    For me, it is the first time.
    I'm trying to put it up for the first time - or to be more precise, I'm not putting it up, because putting it up would mean that it stands - and it doesn't 😂.
    It's actually flying around my ears.
    It starts to drizzle and I intensify my efforts to bring the trio of inner tent, poles and outer tent into working harmony.

    The first attempt... fails.

    The second attempt... fails.

    I try to set up the tent in a different order and suddenly the supporting poles slip out of their anchors and I sit on my flat inner tent while the outer tent whips around my ears.
    Now the tent canvas smashes my skin in the rain, which creates noises which are hard to describe. 😄
    In the last few minutes, setting up the tent was torture - but now that nothing works anymore, I start to laugh. It's no use: I go outside and try again.

    After a few more attempts, it somehow works and I get everything upright.
    I tighten everything as much as I can but I'm not really sure that it won't buckle at night. Tomorrow we will know...    Leia mais

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    Over the Pyrenees⛰️

    20 de outubro de 2022, Espanha ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    My plan worked out: The route over the Pyrenees is tough but not impossible. Fortunately, I can handle the brakes and the first gear so well that starting on the hill is not a problem 😁
    I secretly wonder if the nice Berlin woman from the campsite has put some drug in my coffee this morning, because it's going pretty well.
    What is annoying, however, is the headwind, which hits me with 50 km/h. At At times I have to stop to make sure I don't get blown off the street.

    The downhill ride is not as easy as expected. Here, too, the wind keeps blowing and despite the gradient I have to pedal hard and arrive late in Pamplona.

    Now I just want to wash up, eat and then go to bed as quickly as possible.    Leia mais

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    Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

    19 de outubro de 2022, França ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Around noon, I roll into a pretty little town called Donibane Garazi. It's one of the prettiest villages in France, a road sign tells me - and I think to myself 'Well, whether my plan for the next big step works out: it's nice that I was here. What a coincidence that here on my route lies another of the most beautiful places in France'.
    It turns out: I'm exactly where my day's stage was supposed to go, only the sign at the entrance to the town greeted me in Basque and not in Spanish, so I didn't realise that I already reached my destination. 😆

    I have now arrived at one of the stations on the Way of St James. (Later I will learn that from now on almost every road that goes in the direction of Santiago de Compostela is considered to be the Way of St James).

    Today I take it easy and find a paid campsite for the night. There I make the next contacts with my campsite neighbours, who invite me to their home near La Rochelle should I step by there in the future.

    There are strong wind gusts tonight. If a tree doesn't fall in my face at the campsite, the story will continue 😉

    The next morning a couple from Berlin invite me for a coffee. Their strong dialect immediately awakens feelings of home and the woman starts mothering me a bit. "Drink up, you need it. Wait, I'll make some more coffee! Over breakfast we exchange all kinds of experiences and I roll out of town with a little diversions via the post office. (It's exciting to see which things I still carry around without using them).

    Up to this point the route was still manageable, but the coming stage is on another level. After looking at my route and the altitude profile, I'm sure I can do it though.    Leia mais

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    Bayonne

    18 de outubro de 2022, França ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    On my way to Spain, I pass Bayonne. Once again, a beautiful town with an old quarter and many small shops that probably don't belong to larger corporations. The shops are tiny, one of them so small that a woman with a desk and a chair for clients just fits in.

    I jump over my own shadow today. At the end of the day, I stop at a homestead. There, at the side of the road, an elderly woman is trimming a hedge. I ask her if I can spend the night on her property. She has two meadows: a meadow full of sheep and an empty meadow, both separated by a stream. She later allows me to spend the night in the sheep meadow after she has brought the sheep in. What a nice lady.
    I pass the time as life comes into the flock. They suddenly flock from their grazed meadow to the other meadow.
    Flailing, the good lady comes out and flees terribly.
    Together with the herding dog, she enters the meadow and the scene really comes to life: she purposefully shoos the sheep back and forth and at the same time speaks commands to her dog, which helps her herd them. I just stand there and am amazed because I have never seen anything like it. For me it looks a little like witchcraft, as I don't know any of the words, but the dog is magically guided by her words. 😆
    I wouldn't have been less amazed if she'd shouted 'Go, potato mash' and her broom flew over. 🧹
    Eventually all the sheep are herded back and we survey the cause of the problem: a fence has buckled, presumably when a sheep rubbed against it.
    We straighten the fence, tie it up well and try to reinforce it. A few metres further on, the sheep are standing and watching us. I think they are plotting another escape.

    In the evening in the tent I ask myself the same question I've been asking myself for days: whether my next step will work or whether I'm completely overestimating myself. I guess I'll have to try it out to find out.    Leia mais

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    The Dune of Pilat

    15 de outubro de 2022, França ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    I'm a city kid. I know dunes from the Baltic Sea. I have no idea how high they can get when they are fully grown.
    The statement 'Europe's largest shifting sand dune' in the travel guides therefore means nothing to me.
    Now I'm standing in front of it -and it is huge. My nieces would freak out if they saw that there was such a huge pile of sand. 😆

    Eventually I climb up and then overlook the nearby forest and a good part of the ocean at the same time. I can see sandbanks and individual tiny sailing ships.

    In the evening, I find a really nice spot on the lake of Cazaux and Sanguinet and bathe in it.    Leia mais

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