It's autumn in Spain, we're on the road again

[jumar]

Minus 1....it sure is normally these temperatures would make this Camperstop less attractive...but with the current situation, many folk have no alternative...
Hopefully as the weeks progress we will get chance to explore further afield again into neighbouring regions..until then our home region provides...
Now my bike forks have been sorted, it's good to get some riding done on my #1 bike...yesterday was a good test on its versatility, handling everything in its way..

 

[Helen Ariel]

Eek that is cold! I thought it was cold here in El Chorro. It was about 5 overnight and then lovely yesterday once the sun got up. Probably only 15 though. We did the Caminito del Rey in the morning and had a giggle at some people who arrived off the coach in shorts and t-shirts as the walk deep in the canyon is pretty shady.

Today we are heading across to the Viñuela area to see if we like the area and then will stay a little north of Competa and do a big all day wikilok ride tomorrow. We've not done enough riding on this trip for our liking but we've done a lot of travelling (Morocco not great for riding), scoping out new parts of Spain, some rainy and windy days and had a couple of illnesses to contend with. Hopefully the final few weeks of our trip we can get more rides in.

Enjoy the new bike and try not to break it again

 

[jumar]

Eek that is cold! I thought it was cold here in El Chorro. It was about 5 overnight and then lovely yesterday once the sun got up. Probably only 15 though. We did the Caminito del Rey in the morning and had a giggle at some people who arrived off the coach in shorts and t-shirts as the walk deep in the canyon is pretty shady.

Today we are heading across to the Viñuela area to see if we like the area and then will stay a little north of Competa and do a big all day wikilok ride tomorrow. We've not done enough riding on this trip for our liking but we've done a lot of travelling (Morocco not great for riding), scoping out new parts of Spain, some rainy and windy days and had a couple of illnesses to contend with. Hopefully the final few weeks of our trip we can get more rides in.

Enjoy the new bike and try not to break it again

Me...break a bike...no way, I'm very gentle....actually it arrived with a small oil leak on the forks...so I took them off and they went back to Sram...all FOC of course...these are 900€ forks on a fairly expensive bike...so off they went....which put me back on last year's bike....hard times...but manageable...
Just planned today's route...but don't do all day rides anymore due to...not being able to do all day rides...

 

[jumartoo]

Morocco not great for riding

Ha, another reason not to go. As if I needed any reasons.

I've said before, we loved our Anti Atlas trek, but I'm not tempted to go with the van.

 

[jumartoo]

We were having a very pleasant ride today and we'd just got to a part we know well from orienteering there, when we came to signs and taped off tracks. Today, of all days, the whole of the area was closed to allow hunters to cull the wild boar. We tried to get around the area but we found ourselves, once again walking the bikes down a river and through the bullrushes. Once on an obvious track we stuck to it and eventually exited around the side of a private gate.

We eventually picked up the via verde and had an easy ride back.

The bikes are charged and put away and we've been pondering our next few days. We're thinking that on Monday we can go back homewards and collect Martin's new specs and then carry on to another area. It's a pity the coastal strip is so busy, we'll have to come back inland and even some of the places we'd quite like to visit are full. We'll make a plan eventually.

Last time we rode through there they'd just planted the seeds and some had been washed away. It's looking lush now though.

The bit we pushed through. It was steeper, amd wetter, than it looks.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jumartoo]

We're having our last night of this trip at Caravaca (maybe). Today's ride wasn't disrupted by hunters and it was a nice variant of a ride we've done before but ridden in the opposite direction. We took a side detour to visit an ermita and some Roman quarried areas.

Anyone fancy buying a ...... Wall with holes in it?! Part of an old mill maybe.

Tomorrow we head past home to pick up Martin's new specs and then our plan, atm, is to drive to Velez Rubio for a few nights.

 

[Helen Ariel]

We're having our last night of this trip at Caravaca (maybe). Today's ride wasn't disrupted by hunters and it was a nice variant of a ride we've done before but ridden in the opposite direction. We took a side detour to visit an ermita and some Roman quarried areas.

Anyone fancy buying a ...... Wall with holes in it?! Part of an old mill maybe.

View attachment 1007820View attachment 1007823View attachment 1007824View attachment 1007816View attachment 1007821View attachment 1007818View attachment 1007819View attachment 1007825View attachment 1007817View attachment 1007822View attachment 1007815

Tomorrow we head past home to pick up Martin's new specs and then our plan, atm, is to drive to Velez Rubio for a few nights.

I do love a Roman ruin. Are there any particular days of the week hunters tend to be out? We were doing some trail riding near Poblat last year and were following a trailforks circular route when we encountered the dreaded tape and shooting sign on a narrow trail halfway down a steep mountain side. Paul was pushing for us to ignore but I put my foot down and we were able to find a diversion that didn't leave us with no battery but it's a worry when riding out in these really hilly areas that a diversion could see you stuck on the wrong side of a lumpy bit with not enough battery.

We did an epic ride yesterday from the Aire at Canillas de Albaida up the mountain to over 5000ft alt with ice and snow at the top. It was a wikilok route of 30 miles with just under 5k ft of climbing and we had to be quite careful with our SL levos to manage the battery usage. I did start to get nervous imagining what could happen if there was a problem with the route due to landslip or hunting but it was all clear double track.

 

[jumartoo]

Hunting?

I'd just read on the Podenco rescue group that it finished on 1 Feb so it was a surprise to see so many. Thinking back though, we had to change some of our orienteering events in February to avoid hunting, so .... It could be different in regions.

 

[Peavy]

I do love a Roman ruin. Are there any particular days of the week hunters tend to be out? We were doing some trail riding near Poblat last year and were following a trailforks circular route when we encountered the dreaded tape and shooting sign on a narrow trail halfway down a steep mountain side. Paul was pushing for us to ignore but I put my foot down and we were able to find a diversion that didn't leave us with no battery but it's a worry when riding out in these really hilly areas that a diversion could see you stuck on the wrong side of a lumpy bit with not enough battery.

We did an epic ride yesterday from the Aire at Canillas de Albaida up the mountain to over 5000ft alt with ice and snow at the top. It was a wikilok route of 30 miles with just under 5k ft of climbing and we had to be quite careful with our SL levos to manage the battery usage. I did start to get nervous imagining what could happen if there was a problem with the route due to landslip or hunting but it was all clear double track.
View attachment 1007923
View attachment 1007925



View attachment 1007922

View attachment 1007924

Here in Tarragona, wild boar hunting seems to only take place on specific weekends between September and March.
But this is a specific activity controlled by the regional government, trying to reduce the wild boar population (I don't know about normal hunting).
Amazing views.

 

[Orion]

I do love a Roman ruin. Are there any particular days of the week hunters tend to be out?

In Portugal it can be any day of the week, particularly in the run up to the end of the season nationally at the end of February, but the Spanish regions appear to be more autonomous with some ending one or two weeks before that as we would have an influx of cazadores coming across from Badajoz to Alentejo for the last week.

I don’t think it’s a problem in Spain and other Mediterranean countries as yet, but Central and some Western European states are having major issues with outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the wild boar populations. They are rightly petrified of it being transmitted to the domestic pig industry, (Denmark is a prime example), so out of season eradication programmes are sometimes in place.

Getting back on track (pun intended!) we are looking at riding some sections of the Via Verde de los Ojos Negros in May, anyone done it?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jumartoo]

"our" hunting was official. Official signs and a uniformed Guardia rural who we spoke to who told us we couldn't go anywhere in the forest on Saturday.

Sods Law at work again. We could easily have ridden that route on Friday or Sunday!

 

[jumartoo]

Getting back on track (pun intended!) we are looking at riding some sections of the Via Verde de los Ojos Negros in May, anyone done it?

Yes. We have. Surprise . We did a bit around the start last year and did from Teruel to Valencia some years ago when riding the Del Cid from Burgos.

 

[gus-lopez]

and, for some reason, most of the vehicles are Spanish registered. We don't know why it's so popular with Spaniards right now.

Same around here especially up at the parque almenara overnight.

The first time, ever, we've seen free ranging cattle in Murcia.

I've seen it twice locally. One has only one cow and another has 6 but grows and tries to keep watered some grass

is to drive to Velez Rubio for a few nights.

If you need diesel they have built a new Ballenoil petrol station next to mercadona in puerta lumbreras opposite the tourist office.1,29€ sign said on friday

 

[cyberyacht]

We're having our last night of this trip at Caravaca (maybe). Today's ride wasn't disrupted by hunters and it was a nice variant of a ride we've done before but ridden in the opposite direction. We took a side detour to visit an ermita and some Roman quarried areas.

Anyone fancy buying a ...... Wall with holes in it?! Part of an old mill maybe.

View attachment 1007820View attachment 1007823View attachment 1007824View attachment 1007816View attachment 1007821View attachment 1007818View attachment 1007819View attachment 1007825View attachment 1007817View attachment 1007822View attachment 1007815

Tomorrow we head past home to pick up Martin's new specs and then our plan, atm, is to drive to Velez Rubio for a few nights.

We stopped there for three nights back in May. The aire can be a bit dusty though.