NOT QUITE GERMANY AND AUSTRIA!
In 2004 we had a wedding to attend in 2nd week of August, so to have five weeks in Germany/Austria after that would have taken us into the cooler weather! As a result we decided to cycle the Mosel and also the Sigmaringen/Donauschingen round trip, before travelling through France to Spain. On the way through France we stopped at Carcassonne for 2 nights – a Mediaeval City. Within the walls and turrets overlooking Carcassonne is a citadel. Well worth a visit with a couple of “interesting/expensive” hotels, little shoppes, restaurants, cafes and great opportunities for photo shoot!
As we had no experience of cycling in Spain, bed and breakfasts or language I had www.iberocycle.com provide route details and book rooms for us along the way. We did this as an independent tour although they also do supported tours, including taking luggage from place to place. As we had no knowledge of the area we spent 2 nights in a couple of places.
Our base: Santillana del Mar
A lovely, small, quaint and cobbled town.
Day 1: 35km to St Vincent
A hill to start, which set the tone for the day. It was a good ride through villages, lemon and eucalyptus groves, and leafy glades high above the sea. Today we had our first experience of eating hours. Tapas at 3pm and dinner available after 9pm. This would be OK, but not when the days’ cycling has been tough and bed beckons!
Day 2: 55km to Porrua
A lovely ride “high” above the sea, through alpine, farming country and mountains. Lots of ups and similar amount of downs, not many flats. Stopped for steak and wine lunch at 3pm at Llanes and then onto hotel at Porrua.
Day 3: 25km Porrua
We had a late start, 10am, and spent the day exploring Llanes
Day 4: 35 km to Arenas de Cabreles
After a few km we turned away from the coast and made our way inland. It was a hot day but the climb was gradual to Mare where we stopped for water! There was then a 7km climb to Ortiguero. There were stupendous views all the way down to Arenas.
Day 5: 55km to Potes
The ride today was wonderful, through mountains, along river valleys and a very gradual climb! The scenery was stunning and many stops for photo shoots.
We met an English couple at breakfast who were touring by car and they invited us to join them on a trip to Fuente De with a cable car ride to the top of the mountain from where there were tremendous views, walks, clear blue skies and silence! We met up again with a group of Canadian cyclists who we had met on the road on day 4. It turned into a noisy but very friendly late evening!
Day 7: 53 km to Carmona
We started the day in trepidation!! This was the road the English couple we had met in Potes told us “you cannot be doing this, because we had problems in the car!!!”. We left early and had a super ride to La Hermida, a village that gets no sun for 5 months of the year because of the surrounding mountains! The scenery on the journey to Carmona was spectacular, but except for frequent “water stops” and photo shoots it was head down and hard work. The hair pin climb out of La Hermida went on for a very testing 10 km, but then 8 km down hill. Then 6km up followed by 6km down into Carmona! After drinks, rest and showers we enjoyed a very late lunch! We had the best meal ever of two large entrecote steaks and 1.5 very large jugs of wine and 2 litres of water! We slept well after a day we will never forget!
Day 8: 55km to Santillana del Mar
Again it was a 6km climb out of Carmona and then “downhill” to Santillana. Though not quite as downhill as we’d been led to believe!
We collected the car, packed up and went to a lovely peaceful hotel with pool, mountain views and an excellent restaurant. A perfect place to relax!
After 3 nights we were ready to return to England by ferry from Bilbao.
It was a great 8 days, which we really enjoyed and often reminisce about. But we did not go back! Had we not had the two rides in Germany to warm up before taking on this one I believe it would have been tough, especially for two 60 year olds!!!