The last week or so have been spent in the Northern hills and mountains of Spain.

We have been to Parc Natural De La Zona Volcanica De La Garrotxa, Parc Nacional D’Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, Benasque, Parquae Nacional Ordesa Y Monte Perdido and Vallee de Hecho.

Parc Natural De La Zona Volcanica De La Garrotxa

This is a small Parc Natural which contains 40 extinct volcano cones, the last of which erupted some 11,000 years ago. We camped in the heart of the parc which meant we were able to do a circular walk from the campsite which included the circumnavigation of one of the cones and a climb down into the crater. Amazingly just walking around the general area of the parc you come across pyroplastic bombs dotted around the landscape.

The heart of the crater

Parc Nacional D’Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici

We then moved into the Pyrenees proper for some walking and biking. We spent a couple of days in Parc Nacional D’Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici where we did some walking along the GR11 footpath (which runs for something like 520 miles, includes 32,000 metres of climbing and takes 45 days to complete). We are finding that we are between seasons and that the campsites are deserted with no more than three other campers  at the sites we have stayed at so far.

The GR 11

Benasque

We stayed in Benasque for 2 days and did some walking along another part of the GR 11 footpath. After leaving we drove up to the Baqueira-Berets ski resort which looks like it could be worth a visit in season.

Top of the world

Twists and turns

Wish I had brought my board!

Before we left we decided we would take the bikes for a spin so we headed up the valley and then rode down on the GR 11, should have realised that riding down would mean that we would finish the ride by riding up!

What comes down must go up!

Snowmelt has swelled the rivers

Made it back!

Parque Nacional Ordesa Y Monte Perdido

We stayed at a little campsite (Camping Rio Ara) just outside the village of Torla and this turned out to be probably the best campsite we have stayed on all year. The site was run by an old guy, Fernando, who never seemed to have a fag out of his mouth, although he did seem to be keeping well on it!

When asked what the weather was going to be like he replied “complicado” and didn’t expand further. He was right! The mornings were glorious sunshine with violent thunderstorms in the late afternoons and evenings, however we managed to complete the walking we had planned without getting too wet.

Torla

Vallee de Hecho

This is our last stop in the Pyrenees before heading across to the coast and back up through France, and our campsite some 7 km up the valley from Hecho probably claims the prize for being on the roughest road in Spain. Generally the roads in Spain have been some of the best we have encountered. However this one was full of massive deep pot holes, the options being a) veer left (luckily a quiet road), b) veer right, unprotected drop having passenger going for grab handles and imaginary brake, or c) slowing to a crawl and dropping a wheel slowly in and out. We tried all three and were rewarded by a campsite in the heart of the mountains, also deserted – the owner says lots of people have cancelled their weekend as apparently there is a massive storm due tomorrow!!

There’s a storm coming! (and it did!)

We are now on our way back north and so far have stopped off at Valencia, Barcelona and the Dali museum at Figueres.

Valencia.

We were impressed with Valencia and in particular the cycle ways which made it easy for us to get from our campsite some 10 km to the South into the city centre / port area. They were all well designed separating cyclists completely from the traffic.

Infinity pool cycleway

We particularly liked the science park area which was like some sort of Utopian city as seen in 1960’s Star Trek episodes.

Valencia Science Park

Barcelona

After Valencia we headed directly for Barcelona where we spent 2 days, one day exploring the sights with the aid of a travel card and the second cycling along the beach front area from our campsite on the coast north of Barcelona, a round trip of 45 km.

Work in progress!

Street acrobat

Tanning bottom bracket -Barcelona Beach

Figueres

We went to Figueres as a detour to see the Salvador Dali museum which is said to be the 2^nd busiest museum in Spain. We can confirm this would appear to be the case as the place was rammed, and whilst the museum was good the crowds did detract from the experience. Anyway we have now headed for the hills where we will spend our remaining time in Spain before making our way up through France.

Dali Museum

Veleta Pass

After leaving Tremelez we headed for Granada for a couple of days before heading to the North side of the Sierra Nevada via the ski resort. The road up to and beyond the ski resort is purported to be the highest mountain pass road in Europe at 3380 m, unfortunately you can’t drive over the pass now however we did make it up to the highest point possible at 2600 m.
We  eventually ended up at Jeres De Marquesado, which whilst only 25 km as the crow flies from Tremelez  across the spine of the Sierra Nevada, is actually 180 km via the road.  This location is in the low foothills just where the plain starts to rise to meet the mountains and therefore slightly less steep for cycling!

Great backdrop to a days cycling

We found some great trails straight from the campsite and have spent the day exploring locally. We did have a route of sorts but it was a photograph of a 40 km ride on a smart phone so not ideal for navigation! Particularly as there did not appear to be any landmarks on the route apart from trees – so I think our exploring approach / mindset worked best!

The singletrack goes on …

and on …

and on …

and on.

The weather turned wet in Grazalema so we decided to head over to the coast until things improved before heading back inland. We ended up staying one night at Torre Del Mar, a typical Spanish seaside resort and not really our thing, but at least it was dry. On the morning we left we had a quick spin along the promenade (10km or so) and in my mind Torre Del Mar was redeemed by the excellent churros shed that we came across. Churros are a Spanish donut  but served as a long strip, rather than round with a hole in the middle, and are excellent dunked into super thick hot chocolate – the breakfast of champions.

An excellent find!

Master churros maker in action

Looking at this photo not sure that I have the churros to riding ratio quite right

On the subject of donuts the best donuts can be found at the beach side cafe at Dunwich in Suffolk – perfectly fried dough balls crisp on the outside cut half through with a generous dollop of jam – worth a detour!

With the weather improved we headed into the Sierra Nevada mountains and in particular to Tremelez reported to be the highest village in Spain at 1460m. It was a great drive up from sea level with the last 30km on a narrow twisty road with plenty of unprotected drops to focus the mind. We arrived at the campsite a further 2km up the road in bright sunshine and snow! Luckily not prolonged or settling at campsite level.

The campsite owner is into climbing and has loads of information on local walks and rides etc. all relayed verbally but with an eye for where navigation can get tricky and useful advice on how to find the correct trail. So armed with the knowledge of a 5 minute conversation and our stated desire to do a high level route we set off on our trek. The directions and advice were spot on and we climbed the 1000 m from the campsite to the top of the ridge with excellent views over Tremelez below. We started off with the sun on our backs but as always in the mountains the higher you go the colder and more changeable it gets and by the time we crossed the snow line we were in hats, coats and gloves. The round trip was just less than 15 km and took 5 ½ hours so now time to retire to the bar from where we are sending this update.

Tremelez far distance below

The climb to the top

Not so warm up here

Snow and mist

Mission complete

We have done a couple of touristy things over the last couple of days that didn’t exactly go as expected but worked out ok in the end.

Can you spot the sea mammal

The first was to go whale watching off Tarifa in the Straits of Gibraltar where we spent the first 1 ½ hours trawling up and down the Straits and along the Moroccan coast without hide nor hair of a dolphin, whale or any other marine life! We were just getting to the point where we were thinking this was a waste of 60 euros when we spotted a school of 30 striped dolphins, shortly followed by two pilot whales and finally topped off by a sperm whale sighting.

After the whale watching we found a great little campsite which seemed to be totally occupied with wind and kite surfers and came complete with beach side bar.

Campsite bar

Our second was a visit to Gibraltar which we figured as we were so close would be worth a look. We parked on the Spanish side and walked across the border with the intention of getting the cable car to the top of the rock. Unfortunately due to high winds the cable car wasn’t operating, so we decided to walk up the 426 m.

Top of The Rock

Don’t leave your bike in the wrong place in Gibraltar!

You have to cross the Airport runway to get in

Whilst  in Gibraltar we stopped off in Marks and Sparks to buy socks (a few more days without the need to do washing!) , W H Smith to buy an English paper and then had fish & chips for lunch.

From Gibraltar we have headed inland to the National Park of Grazalema and are currently camping just outside the town of Grazalema with a contingent of the Spanish Army, who arose a seven this morning with some regimental chanting.

We spent today walking along a goat track between Grazalema and Benocaz and then got the bus back. It was a great walk and was reminiscent of Derbyshire in places with rolling hills and limestone, The Quaraing on Skye with high inland cliffs above the trail and The Alps with alpine type meadows – a bit of everything combined with kamikaze goats and donkeys who sought pleasure in having standoffs with walkers.

A great walk

Cabo de Sao Vicente – The most South West point in Europe

After leaving Lisbon we headed down to the extreme South West corner of Portugal and in fact the extreme South West of Europe and into the Algarve.

We managed to negotiate Portugal’s new motorway tolls – in 2012 all motorways became toll roads with ANPR cameras installed on all motorways which were previously not covered by tolls. The system was introduced to raise additional revenue in the light of the recent financial crises, however not sure how successful this has been as most of the motorways we saw were practically deserted, we spent over 1 ½ hours on one motorway and I doubt we saw more than 50 cars in that time!

We also noticed a large number of storks in Portugal which seem to nest in some strange places, including motorway gantries, power pylons and factory chimneys.

High rise living

In the end we decided that the Algarve was not for us so after a couple of days we headed back into Spain.

We are currently camped up between Jerez and Cadiz where we have enjoyed a fiesta in Jerez, lots of flamenco dress and sherry (not me on both counts), and a good day strolling around Cadiz. We finally understood the need for a siesta after a couple of sangrias with lunch.

Party time

We have just spent 3 days in Lisboa and are about to head off further South down the coast.

In some ways it is a bit of a strange place for a capital city with what appears to be no iconic sights. However it is definitely a lived in city and the feel at street level with lots of small bars, restaurants and local shops is great.

Free runner

The town is built on a series of hills linked with a variety of trams, cable cars and elevators. We stayed at the main city campsite some 5 km from the centre, a 40 minute bus ride using 6 euro travel cars valid on all the local transport for 24 hour period.

Cable Car / Funicular

We spent most of the time just wandering around stopping off at the small bars to grab a Ginjinha (cherry liquor) from time to time. Some of the bars are so small in fact that there is literally only room for 3 people to stand inside so everyone spills out onto the street.

Ginjinha Bar

Also went to the Chiado district and went to a excellent Fado concert.

Definitely a good town to return to for a weekend break.

Throughout our trip(s) we have done little pre-planning, however when I knew that we were coming to Portugal there was one place I knew I wanted to fit in and that was the place of the big wave, Nazare.

I am not really into surfing in fact only attempting it once at Bigbury Bay in Devon some 30 years ago, most notable for getting badly sunburnt. As friends will know big waves and I don’t go together – broken shoulder Maracas, Trinidad comes to mind!

However I have always admired big wave surfers after seeing the likes of Laird Hamilton on the Extreme Channel, surfing the Jaws break in Hawaii with jet ski tow ins to get sufficient speed to catch the wave.

Back in January this year Garret McNamara rode a 100 foot wave off the Portugese coast at Nazare. So as this was on the way to Lisbon we went to take a look.

As you can see conditions at the time we were there were slightly different i.e. flat calm.

Garret McNamara – 100 ft wave

… and today!