From Camping Hell to Camping Heaven!!

We were up and away to Madrid by 8.30am defying the Satnav and taking the quieter roads to the motorway thereby reducing our journey by a good few miles, sometimes  it can pay to do your own navigating! We arrived at the Camping Arganda and if we weren't on a mission (and if we had somewhere else nearby to go) we would have turned around and left. The campsite was abysmal, full of scruffy static caravans, right on a busy main road and the facilities were appalling, but we wanted to cycle the Via Verde Tajuna, we have all our own facilities on board so we pitched up and stayed.

That afternoon we had time to go out and see if we could find the start of the trail and it was a good job we did as it took some finding, once again the signposting could have been much better. But once we found it, the trail was as described - well surfaced in red Tarmac and once on it, you couldn't get lost (luckily - we do seem to be quite good at getting lost!)

 So, Sunday morning we packed up our lunch and set out on our third Via Verde climbing steadily through the olive groves to the summit of a hill (and a huge cement works!?) before going down to the town of Montana. The trail then undulated along to another village where we stopped for our lunch, the only thing missing from our journey being a suitable bar for a coffee, but that's what you get when you stray away from the usual tourist track.

Although the trail continued on, we decided to head back to the campsite where we took our showers in the van rather than use their awful facilities! The worst thing about the campsite was it was the most expensive place we have stayed at 24€ a night when we would normally expect to pay 16 or 18€ for a good quality campsite! But it served it's purpose and we were able to cycle another Via Verde.

We didn't wash our dishes here.....

Or take a shower here....

The next day we headed away from the pollution smog hanging over Madrid into the mountains and the National Park de Cabaneros and the most wonderful site at Horcajo de los Montes - Mirador de Cabaneros. 

The view from the restaurant

The site boasts a bar/restaurant, a swimming pool, excellent (and sparkly clean) facilities. We leave our Via Verde mission for a while and spend a few days here out exploring the area on our bikes

Much better facilities! Sparkly!!!

Along the Camino.....

The journey to Castrojeriz was eventful in as much as travelling along the roads we were buffeted by very strong gusty winds, we felt that the wind would get under van and blow us right off the road! The whole of Northern Spain was battered by storms and we wondered how one couple we met at Hora were getting on - they were sailing from Santander that day and had a large caravan - not a good day for towing or sailing across the Bay of Biscay. We hope they made it ok and weren't seasick!

The town of Castrojeriz is dominated by the massive remains of the medieval castle perched on the hilltop and the beautiful old churches which line the route through the town for the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, the medieval pilgrim route from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in the North-west of Spain where tradition has it the remains of the Apostle James are buried. Over a quarter of a million people walk the route every year either as a tourist or as a religious pilgrim. My friend Bridget walked the Camino with her cousin a few years back, all 500 miles from the Pyrenees, it was quite an experience and a wonderful achievement, she is still in touch with some of the people they met along the way.

The campsite where we were staying is right on the Camino and has cabins and camping for the pilgrims, it also has a very good and reasonably priced restaurant which we sampled on two occasions during our stay. We like it there because it is a small family run site - Roberto, the son, speaks good English and checks all the campers in, waits on table and is general dogsbody, Mama works in the kitchen and makes delicious Paella or roast lamb and Gabriel the Dad sits about and tells everyone what to do! Whilst we were there pilgrims of many nationalities arrived to stay overnight including Russians, Americans, French and Japanese, we also met a couple who were there to administer first aid to the footsore travellers.

Another reason we like Camping Camino is for the wonderful roads in the area for cycling, over the few days we were there we ventured out to a few of the villages and towns in the area. The area is mainly flat grassland, wide open spaces mostly turned over to cereal crops or sunflowers, their faces once following the sun now dipped down as they die off ready for harvest. The few hills are all crowned with Wind Turbines and add interest to the flat landscape.

The villages are quiet and sleepy, few people to be seen and not many places to be found for a coffee and cake - our favourite stop enroute! Even the tiniest of villages has a massive church.

The roads are wide and smooth with very little traffic, we got the impression it is a very underpopulated area compared to south of England where we come from, a real joy to cycle around.

Having endured some rather low temperatures whilst staying at Castrojerez - the temperature dropped below 10*c and we even had to wear our cycling tights and gloves on our first day! So we planned our next stay on a campsite to the east of Madrid in a town called Arganda del rey, hoping for hotter weather and our next Via Verde cycle route.

Just a note to finish, I have now amended the settings for this blog and you should hopefully be able to make comments on the posts. So, make a comment and let me know you are reading my blog please!
We would like to hear from you!!

Moving on......

It was time to leave the Basque region and move on to our next stop which was the town of Hora only about an hours' drive from Vitoria. Hora is the centre for the vineyards and bodegas of the Alto Rioja region. The clay soil and the climate create the conditions to produce their famous wines of the region. 

The campsite was on the riverside on the edge of town and had quite a number of people from the UK either on their way up to the ports on their journey home or travelling south like us. The facilities on site included a swimming pool but it was just too chilly for swimming!

After our experience on Sunday with the Via Verde trail being under construction we were a bit worried that it might happen again but the cycle ride to Casalarreina where our  track started was an easy 4 miles and once we found the cycle way ( with the help of one of the locals!) we headed out across the open countryside with a clear route to Santa Domingo where we intersected with the Camino de Santiago. 

The ancient town is full of historic buildings and the old hospital for the pilgrims is now a Parador, sumptuously decorated and the place where we stopped for a coffee and a bocadillo (sandwich!). The cathedral is famous for being the only one which houses a live cock and hen as tribute to the miraculous life giving powers of Santa Domingo.

After lunch we decided that we were too cold and the weather too threatening to carry further on so we headed back to the campsite. The wind was getting up as we headed back and we only just missed a dousing by a heavy shower! 

Still, at least we have cycled on another of the Via Verde trails despite the weather being against us ( I have to say we weren't really expecting the weather to be so cool and unpredictable!) 

After two nights at Hora we headed off to a place we had visited last year - Castrojeriz and Camping de Camino.

Basque-ing in the sunshine

Having landed at Bilbao on Wednesday afternoon after crossing the Bay of Biscay when it was like a millpond, we set off eastwards along the coast to a campsite perched on a cliff top near the town of Itziar, the campsite had beautiful views along the Flysch Coast - cliffs and beaches made up of stratified stone formed 60 million years ago - a wonderful place for any geologist!

Sadly we were not blessed with blazing sunshine but the kind of weather typical of the surrounding mountains - unpredictable. After a night of rain we set off on our bikes into the mountains, stopping along the way for a coffee in a seaside town.

We cycled 23 miles but most of it seemed to be uphill and I learnt a new technique to long steep climbs - bottom gear, pedal slow and steady and don't look up too often, the top of the hill eventually arrives. The scenery was worth the hard uphill slog, the northern coast of Spain is stunning.

After two nights at Camping Itxasia we headed inland to the town of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque region and a splendid Spanish city with an ancient centre of rambling streets filled with crowded tapas bars, quirky shops and ancient buildings including a majestic cathedral, ancient churches and medieval mansions. 

There was even a moving walkway to take the people around the city attractions

The modern city surrounding its ancient heart was clean and modern with hundreds of apartment buildings - not a house to be seen!

The city also had wonderful cycle lanes on most of the major roads and a good Tourist information to help us find our way to the starts of the cycle trails 

Basque-ing in the sunshine (Part 2)

The city of Vitora-Gastiez did not have a convenient campsite so we stayed on a Camperstop on the outskirts of the city - a designated parking area for Motorhomes with basic facilities to service your van. No toilets or shower blocks here - you use your own!

From here we were able to cycle to two of the sections of the Via Verde 'Vasco Navarro'. So our first expedition on Saturday was on the section heading northwards out of the city and the track certainly lived up to our expectations! 

The surface was good - either Tarmac or compacted gravel and the trail took us out into the countryside to a beautiful lake where we took a diversion to sit on a bench and have lunch sitting on a bench looking out across the water. 

By the time we got back to the van we had cycled 32 miles but apart from a few potholes the way was smooth and the inclines were gentle (which was lucky after all those mountain climbs on
Thursday

Sunday was not such a good day, the weather was cloudy with showers threatening and the start of the Via Verde trail was on the other side of the city, we had cycled 5 miles just to get there only to find the start of the westward trail was under construction after a couple of false starts we found our onto the trail having already cycled 9 miles. Once on track we headed out into the countryside with snow capped mountains in the distance and the occasional little village along the route. After a couple of miles we took a detour up to the religious sanctuary of Estalabliz where we stopped and had our picnic lunch under the trees  - assisted by an inquisitive peacock.

The less said about the rest of our day the better - we took a wrong turning, got lost and after faffing about trying to get back to the track decided just to cycle back to the city on the road, heading into the wind with squally showers to add insult to injury. Hmph! Maybe we would have had a better day if the trail and its detours had been better signposted!

Ah well! Life is not always perfect and we eventually got back to the van, the sun came out and we made more plans for hopefully better days on the Vias Verdes!!

On the trail of the Via Verdes....

Our journey begins on Tuesday 8th September with the alarm at 5.30am, not that we needed it, neither of us had a night of deep and restful sleep when our subconscious minds are all excited at the prospect of another adventure!

We were on the road to Portsmouth by 6.30am. It's a strange feeling shutting the front door behind you knowing it will be 2 whole months before you see it again. But we do know that it is in the safe hands of our neighbours - the definite advantage of living in a close - we all look out for each other, so thank you to all our neighbours - you know who you are!!!

At least we missed the rush hour traffic by travelling so early, we arrived at the Docks at just the right time - not too early that we had to wait for ages but early enough to buy a paper for the journey ahead. We also met a rather vocal Midlands couple who insisted on telling Keith about their smashed wing mirror and how they managed to buy a replacement on E-bay even though we were just about to drive onto the ferry. We heard THAT voice in various areas of the ferry and ended up ducking into any nearby doorway to avoid being drawn into another rather monotonous wing mirror story.....
Anyway, I digress, on with our journey....

"Here's us driving on....." 

We had a nice cabin with a sea view ;-) 

Sunshine up on deck with time to do my favourite pastime!

Said Goodbye to old blighty and we're on our way to Spain in search of some decent cycling tracks.

Let me explain the title of this blog... Over the last few weeks we have been researching the 'Via Verde' (or Greenways) of Spain, these are mainly disused railway tracks, often tarmac or compacted gravel, so ideal for our new hybrid bikes. There is nothing better than decent off-road cycling, exploring the countryside and discovering all the tucked away villages off the well worn tourist track.

So this holiday is all about finding these tracks, finding somewhere to camp and getting out there on our bikes.

Tomorrow we land in Bilbao - let the adventure begin!!