Spain and Portugal; May 2014
Gallery
The Plan
Over the Christmas break 2013 we found out that LD Lines were to start a new ferry from Poole to Gijon in northern Spain. They were advertising an introductory offer of 241 pounds for a return fare for a motorcycle and 2 people. This compared very favourably to Brittany Ferries which was asking approximately double for the same. As we had been planning to tour Spain for a while we jumped at the offer and booked ourselves with LD Lines travelling out 1200 Tuesday 20th May (arriving 1400 Wednesday 21st), returning 1300 Friday 30th May (arriving 1300 Saturday 31st). Unfortunately LD Lines changed their departure time from 1200 to 1800 for the trip out which meant arriving at Gijon 2000 and having to stay in the Gijon area for the first night. Probably not a bad thing given my dodgy sea legs.
Originally we had booked the Blackbird with LD Lines but after getting the new Varadero we decided to take that instead. When I called LD Lines to let them know of the change, the automatic answer I got said that all we had to do was to let the person at the gate know the license number of the new bike when we turned up at Poole. Simples? Unfortunately not. Although we turned up very early we were the last to board the ferry because the person on the gate wasn't too competent at working the LD Lines booking system. Still we don't have any complaints about the ferry which was clean and run by a friendly Portuguese crew. I did throw up as we wallowed through the Bay of Biscay but that wasn't the ferry's fault. It was very rough and I'm prone to sea sickness (despite being a son of Plymouth).
The only stays we booked ahead were our first night just outside Gijon at the Hotel Quinta Duro and our second night on the Portuguese - Spanish border at the Hotel Quinta de la Conception. Both hotels turned out to be nice places. For the remainder of our holiday we either used booking.com or found a hotel along our route.
Cool Crossing
Before we left we had debated about the need to take wet weather gear as it was bound to be warm and dry in Spain? Luckily we took our wet weather overcoats but I only took summer gloves. It's true that most of Spain benefits from a dry and warm climate but not northern Spain. Our route took us from Gijon to Portugal and as we climbed northern Spain's mountains it became progressively colder and wetter. It was comparable to late autumn in Scotland. We stopped put on our fleeces under our jackets and put on our wet weather overcoats. With summer gloves on, my hands got very cold. On the other side of the mountains we stopped for lunch at a trucker stop called Aguas Mansas just south of Viana Do Bolo. I really like those places (cheap) but I think the high meat content of the meal was a little too much for Chris. She didn't touch her big spicy sausage!
Africa
After passing through northern Portugal we re-entered Spain just west of the town of Salamanca where we stayed at the Hotel Quinta de la Conception at Hinojosa de Duero. We were the only ones there. The guy who ran the hotel was very welcoming even though we were drenched. We had a nice dinner there overlooking the valley that separates Portugal and Spain.
We had a travelling day after that and, being a bit lazy, I left it to the Sat Nav to get us to Seville. Bit of a mistake as it took us there via Salamanca and a lot of motorway. We stayed at a hotel just north of Seville which has to qualify as the worst hotel of the holiday. We had a ride around a very busy and hot Seville in the evening getting lost in the red light district. I stop and while I'm consulting the map Chris points out that the street we've stopped in is full of ladies on show to cruising punters. We leave and get some pizzas on the way back to the hotel. Seville's El Alamillo bridge is very impressive.
The next day the aim was to see Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar. We headed to the coast on minor roads stopping at a place called Chipiona where I bottomed out the rear suspension on a vicious sleeping policeman. They do love them in Spain. After that we went to Algeciras via Jerez and Cadiz. It was hot riding around town so we stopped and had some lunch at a place overlooking the beach.
A Near Thing at Malaga
After that we rode south along the coast to Punta Carnero with Gibraltar on our left. Morocco and Africa were only ~14 kilometres away and we picked up the Moroccan mobile network. For that night we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Hotel Castellar at the town of Castellar de Frontera. When we arrived mid-afternoon it was hot so it was straight into the pool. Later we had dinner there. (I'm sure Chris would have been happy to spend the rest of the holiday at the Hotel Castellar.)
The following day the plan was to get to the Sierra Nevada. We decided to avoid the tourist spots along the coast and continued riding inland eventually swinging back to the coast to Malaga. The weather was beautiful and so was the mountainous scenery in the Sierra de las Nieves on the way to Malaga. We went through Los Angeles but somehow we missed the Holywood sign!
When we got to Malaga we needed some petrol and we were hungry so we stopped at a McDonalds and got some petrol. As we were coming off the roundabout by the petrol station I opened the throttle and we had a huge tank slapper that required me to push down with my left foot to keep us upright. Diesel outside the garage I guess? I should have thought of that. Luckily we and the new Varadero got away with it.
From Malaga we had a nice ride along the coast to a village called Pampaneira in the southern Sierra Nevada. A quiet pretty little village of white flat topped houses built into the side of the mountains. We pass the village of Soportujar on the way. It's infamous for witches but Chris wasn't biting.
Sierra Nevada
We had booked two nights in the Hotel Rural Estrella de las Nieves which turned out to be another lovely hotel. It had an underground car park for the bike which was good. We found a very nice little pizza place just down the lane from the hotel run by a welcoming couple (well, the women anyway) and we ate there the two nights stayed. The house wine was cheap and by now we had got into the habit of sharing a litre of the local red each night.
The next day we explored the south Sierra Nevada. I had read that the Sierra Nevada has the highest paved road in Europe at over 3000 metres but what I didn't know was that access was restricted. It was possible to buy a coach ride but the coach turned out to be fully booked for the day we were there. No matter, we had a good ride around in the spectacular scenery of the south Sierra Nevada stopping off at the highest village, Trevelez.
We left Pampaneira heading north but we hadn't given up on getting to the top of the Sierra Nevada so when we got to Granada we turned south west and climbed the road to the huge ski resort of Sierra Nevada. The road is fantastic as is the scenery. We got to 2500 metres and stopped for a coffee. We can see an observatory and a satellite dish further up. We talked to the friendly guy who was serving coffee from his stall and he told us that only the staff can take the road up to them. We had to settle for 2500 metres. It was around 25 degrees that day and the guy told us that in the summer it would be too hot to ride a bike up. What a blast it was riding the road down from Sierra Nevada to Granada.
Back North via Toledo
We left the Sierra Nevada and pushed on north to a town called Valdepenas where we spend ages trying to find the hotel we had booked. We saw a young lad of school age walking along with his mum so we asked them where the hotel is. He answered in perfect English, "take the second turn on the right". It seems the kids learn languages but us lazy adults can't be bothered to do the same. The hotel is nothing special so we wandered into the centre of town. With the help of a Spanish couple at the next table we managed to order some food at a cafe. We discovered tapas and Spanish omelettes. Very nice.
The next day we continued north bypassing Madrid to the east, stopping at Toledo to have some lunch and look around. It's a city with a lot of history and Chris' boss' mum comes from there so we had to go we were told. It was worth it. We avoided motorway as far as possible and go through the impressively walled town of Avila on the way to the hotel Jardin de la Abadia just south of Valladolid where we stayed the night. The hotel was nice enough and we had a good dinner there.
After Valladolid we planned to ride through the Picos. Along the sides of the road there were huge nests built on lamp posts and other highish buildings. These were occupied by big birds which turned out to be cranes.
We rode to Potes, from there onto Posada De Valdeon and finally onto our hotel just north of the town of Villaviciosa. The day started dry but after all the sun we had had in the south of Spain we were back in the north and the rain got harder and harder the further north we went. It also got very misty. The scenery was magnificent but the roads we're extremely wet with mud on every corner and we came across an assortment of animals in the road including sheep, goats, cows and horses. The ride was challenging. Fortunately, the hotel landlady made us very welcome and the hotel Casona de Tresali was very comfortable with a rustic restaurant next door where we had a good dinner.
Next day we rode to Gijon to catch our ferry. We got very lost in Gijon. It's really a commercial port, not for tourists, so there are no "to the ferry signs" to be seen. Eventually we came across the ferry terminal and boarded the ferry home. The trip home to Poole dragged a bit but the ferry was fine (and I managed to keep everything inside this time).
We had a great holiday in Spain. We kept away from the usual tourist places and mixed with the locals who were very friendly despite the fact we couldn't speak a word of Spanish. The Spanish mountain scenery was magnificent, we saw Africa and the weather in the south was lovely. We definitely will be back although we'll have to ride down through France this time as we just heard that LD Lines are stopping the route. We can't afford the alternative ferry company!