Abacist back in Spain

Good to see you have had a good trip following a very bad start....get that sorted and come again....we welcome careing visitors to our adopted country....what we, and many others don't like is those visitors, that take advantage and abuse the Spanish coastline and fail to get to grips that the culture is different....Spain offers so much more than just warm sunshine and cheap beer....
 
Abacist said:
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I haven't see an Adenauer for years. Must be worth a fortune?
Thanks for the thread & photos. Excellent to read & view.
 
Now home safe, thank you all for following. Sea a bit bumpy to start but quietened down overnight and ended up pretty much flat calm.

Did a Tesco shop at Lee Mill on the way home and just crashed with a mug of tea after unloading 90% of the van.

There might be a few final photos when I find them after changing my Spanish sim back which has just expired!

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Reflecting on the trip would I have done anything differently?

Yes, most certainly!

We panicked into booking camp sites about a month before we left home as there were lots of stories of everywhere being full and I booked a week at each one.

No need to book at this time of year!

A whole week in the same place is too long for us so probably 2, 3 or 4 days max.

I need to improve my research on where to stay so that we can get more safe cycling in but we are not serious road bikers or mountain bikers either.

We are probably less beach animals than we thought nowadays.
 
Abacist said:
Reflecting on the trip would I have done anything differently?

Yes, most certainly!

We panicked into booking camp sites about a month before we left home as there were lots of stories of everywhere being full and I booked a week at each one.

No need to book at this time of year!

A whole week in the same place is too long for us so probably 2, 3 or 4 days max.

I need to improve my research on where to stay so that we can get more safe cycling in but we are not serious road bikers or mountain bikers either.

We are probably less beach animals than we thought nowadays.
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Good feedback....of course you travelled during the quieter period....during our wintertime, booking is essential, and you need to be prepared to change your plans...
I totally agree about limiting you stay in one place...however some folk can last the whole holiday on one site, same resort...for example...Beni...
Spain is a wonderful country...there is so much on offer...but you need to research what you want....and dabble here and there...we have just had a month in one region..La Mancha...ok..its Supa large, but provided us with what WE wanted....
So what about trying one of the Camperstops instead of sites....that's what we do....we rarely use a campsite, but are prepared to pay for our overnighter...by doing this you can get closer to the places of interest, as most Camperstops are located nearer to towns or interesting locations...
I believe that what you achieved on your last trip can be used to expand further, experience more and have a memorable visit...🇪🇦👍❤️
 
Abacist said:
We are having a month in Spain looking for some sun and warmth with both of us fed up with all the rain at home!

Normally I run with the gas on for the fridge but decided on 12 volts to get to Plymouth and chill the fridge. Rough crossing to start with and I was looking out of a stern window from the restaurant looking alternately at sea one minute then sky the next as we ploughed through the swell on the Pont Aven.

Seas calmed down in the early morning so calm then to Santander. Arrived 2:30pm Brit time so 3:30pm in Spain. Back in the van to find no Hab Electrics! The 12 volt fridge was left on but I thought it was supposed to be off anyway when no engine/ignition on - well it seems I was wrong - 90% of 300 Amp hours of lithium gone in 22 hours. No water, lights, boiler/heater, radio, reversing camera, fridge, freezer, toilet flush etc! Panic!
We set off for Pamplona to let the B2B do its thing but come 11pm on the Aire in Pamplona still no CBE control unit - dead as a Dodo! Is this a repeat of my last CBE control panel problem! Went to bed but not much sleep worrying about it!
Next morning I find I can get EHU on the aire so plug in and 50 Amps start pouring into the batteries. I get the fridge off 12 volts and onto gas which obviously held us back last evening and night. We go off for a walk around town and when we get back everything has come alive again! Phew!
Driven to Zaragoza today and the sun and blue sky are out at last after as much rain over here as in the UK.
Only one niggle left which was that the N240 between Bilbao and Vitoria has been reclassified as a motorway but with no toll booths, you need a Go- Box and I haven’t got one! No doubt there will be a bill on the mat when we get home!

What a start to a holiday!
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You do not need to use the Paid Motorway! We did not and most of the locals do not
 
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suavecarve on here seems to find lots of cycle routes near wherever he and his wife happen to be and has done reports with photos and all details on the forum. A lot of them all over being along disused railway lines many of them are pretty flat - but failing finding such a thing near wherever you happen to go - the local tourist office are usually quite capable of communicating in English as well as various other European tongues and have leaflets ready to hand out if you but ask!
 
Abacist said:
I need to improve my research on where to stay so that we can get more safe cycling in but we are not serious road bikers or mountain bikers either.
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I find shed loads of bike routes and I am seriously not serious about biking.

A few tips. Get mapy.cz and check areas for solid pink lines. Check alongside rivers for these. These are stand alone bike routes whereas the dotted pink lines are bike routes not totally separated from roads.
There is a via verde website for Spain
There is a voie verte website for France
There are dedicated websites for disused railway lines
Look at the voie vert thread on here for places we have been with an inordinate amount of photos.
FOr Germany they are called Ravel and there are loads and loads of them out there.
There is a search function on mapy.cz for free electric charging.
Take your charger with you and fill up leccy for free at these places
If you have a Bosch there are several more freeby charging places.
In Germany stop along a bike route and have a beer and charge your battery whilst replensihing.
Numerous more free charging points in Holland and Belgium
Luxembourg you can take the free train either to or from your destination (and free electric)
If doing the Danube, get the boat back through the gorges as you could end up piddled when doing the waltenberg monastory brewery

I ve just managed to put lithium into our new van so it is looking like e bikes again for our next venture in a couple of weeks and we should be doing some balcony roads, but I have found a few bike disused railway lines that we havent done in Provence and probably doing a throunal (Journal and thread).

Let me know where you are going next and I ll give you a few pointers for that area for pub crawls disused railway lines
 
Abacist

i didnt have time the other night to provide links but here you go

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/the-disused-railway-line-and-voie-vert-thread.265926/ is a gateway thread to disused railway lines we have done with some voie vertes and via verdes

A quick way to see where these are is to go the voie vert map within journals and clicking the links https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/journals/blog/the-voie-verte-disused-railway-map.307/map

Link to the via verdes map so you can see where they are and quite an informative route including downloadable to garmin sat nav and where free leccy is and I think it shows aires as well https://viasverdes.com/pdf/FolletoGreenwawys2015.pdf

The French version of the above https://en.francevelotourisme.com/cycle-route

E bike charging points on Mapy.cz https://en.mapy.cz/zakladni?q=e-bikes charging&x=6.6741222&y=44.3981463&z=9

Bosch free recharging points in the Luberon part of Provence (Unfortunately they do the maps by region now or I cant find the big Bosch map. Other regions such as Vercors and Brittany also have this system) https://www.provence-cycling.co.uk/charging-bosch/offer-104-2.html
 
That is so kind and helpful - thank you very much!

We are booked on the ferry to Cherbourg early September so will be looking at all of your suggestions when I get home from a week’s target shooting at Bisley !
 

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