In 2018 I’ve started traveling by bicycle. During 80 days I cycled to Sicily and back again about 3.300 km. See here: www.gerhardhalder.at. This year I decided to go to Spain.
6 degree centigrade at 8 in the morning 🙁 But of course on an altitude of 1.800 meters.
So I dressed warm. Pants, long pants, trousers, warm over trousers, rain suit trousers 😉 after a few kilometers I felt wet and I was accompanied by this feeling until noon. Meanwhile the sun was shining and I started to put off the rain suit and the long pants and zipped off the trousers legs.
Now I am drying the clothes in my room but don’t wash them because I will arrive at home tomorrow evening.
Starting at Gerhard’s apartment. River Inn and clouds. But light clouds from the rain last night that will lift soon and the sun will be going to shine. Zernez. Wonderful mountains with fresh snow on top. Ardez with Castle Steinberg (stone mountain) on this mighty rocky knoll. Scuol. Here is the endpoint of the Räthische railway. Crush with view to river Inn. Urgen next to Landeck with a wonderful view onto the Verwall mountains. Celerina (St. Moritz) to Zams (Landeck) in 10 hours with a downhill of about 1.000 meters and 126 km. GT 4.490 km.
1.600 meters climb using the main road expecting lots of traffic. The aim to spend no (Swiss) money in Switzerland. And switching to flight mode for the whole time in Switzerland 😉
As I didn’t get a room in Chiavenna I had to go 21 kilometers to arrive there. That means additional one and a half hours to cycle.
There I bought cheese and Taralli (special Italian dry bread – I love it) for 1st and 2nd lunch. But no water 😉
I drunk so much water and stopped nearly at every fountain to fill my bottles with these fresh and delicious water.
In the beginning my back hurt and I tried to keep it warm. Later this little pain disappeared.
The femoral muscles felt tired and weak but later I got a rhythm and cycling was easy.
Fortunately I Gerhard gave me a couch for the night at Celerina. I invited him for a pizza and got the Swiss price niveau confirmed again: twice as much than in Austria 😉
Through on of the valleys I have to go. Lago di Mezola in the north of Como lake. A bit cloudy and 15 degrees. An old village. Italian Swiss boarder. Lunch pause and drying clothes. Wet by sweating. The sharp bends start the last 3 kilometers to the pass. Hairpin bends. It’s a wrap! After about 6,5 hours and 60 kilometers and 1.600 meters I arrived. Silvaplana lake. St. Moritz with lake St. Moritz.
The bobsled run is along the road – here the horse shoe. Other well-known curves are named devil’s dyke or Nash-Dixon corner, snake corner or sunny corner, Monti’s corner and Shuttlecock corner.
74 kilometers from Dubino to Celerina and 9 hours. GT 4.372. I can sleep here in my friend’s apartment in Celerina. We had a nice evening with pizza and lots to talk about.
The alarm rung at 04:35 to get the train at 05:12. Everything worked fine and I arrived at 11:44 in Como Lago.
I hurried to the terminal to board the ferry boat to Bellano. The boat was scheduled at 12:00.
There was a 100-meter-queue of people to get a ticket. Normally if I face such a queue I run away 😉
I don’t know why I lined up. A few minutes later the staff came along and asked the people where to they want to go and whether by speed or slow boat. I told him to go with the slow boat to Bellano and he said I should board and get the ticket on board.
What a fortune 🙂
The Como lake is sooo wonderful. And I enjoyed the boat journey very much.
The region is full of tourists at the moment so I was happy to get a room for the night. But 20 km south of Chiavenna so I will have to cycle more on the other day.
Milano Centrale – railway station. Lake Como. Really beautiful. From Ventimiglia to Lake Como by train. With the ferry boat to Bellano and to Dubino by bicycle. 29 km. GT 4.290 km.
No problem to arrive at Menton. I was there at two o’clock. The staff from the car rental arrived at 3 pm as agreed.
He did not check the car. Not even whether I had filled the fuel. What a difference to the day before.
I have eaten the remaining cookies and after starting cycling I went for a cup of coffee.
The 14 km from Menton to Ventimiglia were easy to do although there was a climb to an altitude of 120 meters.
The Cote d’Azur is wonderful. I loved this coast since I was here in 1979 to see the Formula 1 race in Monte Carlo.
I booked a hotel next to the railway station because tomorrow morning I have to board the train at 05:12.
My first destination in Ventimiglia was the railway station to buy the ticket. I had prepared the trip on the Trenitalia App and showed it to the staff. 3 minutes later I had the ticket 😉 and the man was quite friendly and helpful 🙂 thumbs up for FS. Thumbs down for SNCF.
Ford Fiesta from Avis. Rocky Menton 😉 Menton. 🙂 Ventimiglia. The last sea impressions this year 🙂 Full moon in Ventimiglia. Montpellier – Menton by car. Menton – Ventimiglia by bike in 1, 5 hours for 14 km. GT 4.261 km.
I hadn’t slept well always thinking, dreaming on the car I had to give back at 10 am. I dreamed problems will occur.
With this bad foreshadowing I was there in time. The staff was friendly but checked the car intensively. He had a small sheet with handwritten notes of the damages. That looked not very professional. He found two scratches that seemed not to be on the list and he took photos and said he to send the photos to the colleague in Huelva who has to confirm to close the contract. That will need a day or even more.
So I left the office and started cycling heading for Hendaye railway station.
It started to rain and I put on the rain suite and started to sweat 😉 after a short while of cycling I was absolutely wet inside. The t-shirt and the primaloft. I was dressed warm because there were only 15 degrees.
Sunshine, rain, sunshine and so on.
Only 12 km beeline but the area was like a labyrinth. Different types of streets, bike paths, rivers, railway, sea, hills and tunnels.
Finally I got there and was happy to get shelter in the railway station.
The SNCF fulfilled all my expectations 😉 No, no, no way from Hendaye to Milano with the bicycle. Only to Bordeaux was possible.
I took a brunch at 2 pm because I hadn’t got breakfast today. And thought on a way to Milano.
Opposite the station was a car rental where I got a car for 24 hours to go to Menton. The distance is about 920 km.
I drove to Montpellier where I got a room for the night.
From San Sebastian with the bike to Hendaye (30 km) and with the car to Montpellier.
At 10 I was in the museum again. The only thing I saw in Bilbao were Peggy & Puppy but these two guys intensively. Well, and the Norman Foster Metro.
Next destination was San Sebastián to visit friends. But as I asked for the exact address it occurred they live in Santander 🙁
Since they left to Spain I was absolutely sure they are in San Sebastian. Unfortunately 🙁
So I looked for a hotel and a nice bay for a swim in the Atlantic. No sooner said than done!
The first bay wasn’t to go by car despite Google.Maps was sure to go there 😉
The second bay I had to hike. Firstly up to an altitude of 400 meters with the car than hiking down.
Unfortunately I couldn’t make it. In the beginning the path was well prepared and marked. Than I had to take a smaller path. I came down to an altitude of 100 meters. Than I turned. The way was to overgrown and I was scared to go with the short trousers and the thin boots. It was raining in the morning so everything was wet.
Puppy. Puppy. Peggy. Peggy. Fantastic 🙂 Some information at the beginning of the path. It is green like in Tyrol and the sound of cow bells are the same but the sea is different and so wonderful. I heard the waves coming in. Are there traces of Roman roads? Or here? Not the Romans but maybe Charles 3rd’s people? Close up of the english text. A wonderful coast. I want to go along this coast with a sea kayak. This swamp could also be in Tyrol. This bay was my target. Only 100 meters… In the second cave from the right (with the white tongue) the young eagle(s) are waiting for their parents. I heard some screaming but didn’t know what it comes from. Coming closer I knew and then I saw firstly one and the other eagle leave the nest and swan away. I prepared myself in mind to get attacked by the eagles but I believe they knew that the offspring is safe. First I thought wildfires have destroyed the forest but now I am sure farmers cleared woodland. I hurried to the car. 10 minutes later it started to rain. I enjoyed a sandwich and the stunning views while sitting in the car. From Bilbao to San Sebastián. The two hours walk.
Maybe you remember day 41 as I arrived to Amposta I crossed the Ebro from north to south. Today from south to north.
I drove off the highway and a few kilometers to the river head at Fontibre. Absolutely impressive the river starts in the Pyrenees his 910 kilometers of journey to the Mediterranean. What a distance.
Driving towards the Pyrenees I felt like driving over the planes of Kansas and Colorado and the silhouette of the Rocky mountains appeare.
By the way: cycling in Spain’s interior should also be possible in the Spanish summer high. This morning the temperature that the car messuered was 17 and not higher than 25. Okay it was more or less overcast.
I saw the Atlantic at about Santander and turned towards east following the coastline. Wow, what an amazing landscape. Similar to the Tyrolean one but the waves coming into the bays are fantastic.
Mountains 😉 or let’s say Pyrenees. My kangaroo 😉 The source behind the Saint Mary statue. Arrived in the hotel I was due for a shower and took an espresso in the hotel bar and already went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. I was so excited to be there and to see this fantastic architecture by Frank O. Ghery. Puente la Salve over river Nervión and next to the museum brings the traffic to Bilbao. The Matter of time! Steel structure. The tourqued ellipse. A model. View from above. View from the first floor. Walking through these tourqued ellipses I felt a bit seasick. Jeff Koons‘ Tulips. Tulips + Puente la Salve. From the third floor. A riverboat on river Nervión. Every step opens new angles. An installation by Yoko Ono – the whish tree. Of course to build this museum was expensive. Star architect Frank O. Ghery and platinum and lots of steel and this organic form. But you maybe know the so called „Bilbao effect“. It was opened in 1997. From there on Bilbao was and is a touristic magnet. And here Jeff Koons’s PUPPY a young dog with so many flowers. Jeff Koons is the most expensive artist alive. His RABBIT was sold for 91.000.000 USD. And Norman Foster another star architect built the metro. Old and new. Today’s route from Valladolid to Bilbao.
This was a wonderful route. In the beginning a less frequented fresh asphalted Street through a fantastic smelling umbrella pine forest.
Followed by a well prepared bike path through pine trees and lagoons and marshlands with its special smell.
I was ready at the car rental and got a bruised old Renault kango transported. But perfect to load the bike.
Eight hours later at half past 8 I arrived at Salamanca. The first view was impressive. Two cathedrals – the old and the new – on a hill unbelievable huge and golden hour.
The second view was while crossing river Tormes the little floating family boats.
The way there started at an altitude of 0 went up to 1.200 and ended at 700. The temperature correlated from 36 to 27.
The highway is named „de la Plata“. Wonderful highlands even with nice mountains.
Lots of agriculture. And so many water. Most impressive river Tajo from Spain to Lissabons. Shining green amid rocks and dry brown lands and really tremendous.
On the other hand Wikipedia shows a decrease in people in Salamanca (Valladolid the same) from 158.000 in 2000 to 144.000 in 2017. The mechanization in agriculture leeds to a drift to the cities.
Salamanca has the oldest and yet existing university with 40.000 students 27 %. I like such cities very much because they are alive 🙂
Salamanca can be compared to Innsbruck in some aspects but not in economic growth. Salamanca means agriculture, tourism and university. A curious mixture.
Nice title 😉 Old cathedral. New cathedral. New one from my hotel room. To be loyally can bring you great presents. Philipp V first Spanish emperor let build these stunning Plaza Mayor to the people of Salamanca because they gave him total support in the war of succession in 1729.
One reason are the back pain I have since one morning in Estepona so they last now for about 14 days. In the beginning I took pills (voltaren) but I stopped one week ago because I got the impression the pills make my heart beat heavily. This was confirmed by the information sheet I downloaded.
My plan was to stay a few days along Algarve coast and rent a boat and swim and snorkel. Therefore I’ve bought a snorkeling set that I gave today morning a young man in the hostel I stood for the night.
Back pain and cold water was absolutely impossible.
Another reason is that the Algarve is brimful with tourists. I looked on booking.com about hotels for the next days along Algarve. Either 100 Euro plus or shared bedroom.
And another reason maybe is that I am filled with impressions so I got less enthusiastic.
Tomorrow I will take a car at Huelva – only 20 more kilometers to cycle tomorrow – and give it back in San Sebastian on Monday. So I have enough time.
From San Sebastian I believe I will take the TGV to Strasbourg or Milano.
About 10 kilometers I drove through this wonderful swampland with its special smell. From Travia back to Cartaya in about 7 hours and 59 km. GT 4.189 km.
