Tilting at Windmills (or cycling 300km of Don Quixote trails)

[jumartoo]

A year, or so, ago I read, either on here or on a Facebook page, a review with photos, of a motorhome parking next to some of the old windmills in Castille la Mancha, with reference to riding bikes on the Don Quixote trail nearby.

I Googled the Don Quixote trail, and found that there are around 2,500km of marked trails. That was too much, but I found a 300km circular route on Wikiloc, that started nearest to home. A year of, off and on, planning, changing the route, cutting a bit out, all to give us a reasonable distance with a town of a fair size at the end of each day, gave me a circular route that we're starting tomorrow. 5 stages, with hotel accommodation.

I mentioned it to a friend on one of our local rides last year, and she said she'd like to join us, so her and her husband are in the team.

We're leaving home tomorrow morning early, and hoping to be "on the route" by 11 am.

I'll be checking out the motorhome areas that we pass. We've already stayed at a few good ones. There is a network of areas in that region. Fenced, with various facilities. Pay for parking €6.05 and then separate amounts for whatever service you want. There are also a lot of free, public sites. I'll post my findings on here.

The towns in the motorhome parking network.

 

[Nigel Crompton]

May your ride be trouble free.
There will be pix, I hope ?

 

[jumartoo]

May your ride be trouble free.
There will be pix, I hope ?

Thank you, and yes, there will be photos

 

[DBK]

Best wishes for the trip, temperatures shouldn't be too hot.

 

[Grianan]

Great idea for a trip. I’m looking forward to seeing the photos.
One of our best holidays was a 750km cycling trip that we did over 10 days. We carried our tents too - those were the days!

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[bobandjanie]

Hope all goes to plan sounds great.
We have not taken our bikes this time, but it's quite warm walking, maybe we need to speed up a bit and create a breeze. Bob.

 

[jumartoo]

Best wishes for the trip, temperatures shouldn't be too hot.

Thanks. The mornings might be slightly cold starts, but it should be very pleasant for lazy afternoons after eating

 

[jumartoo]

Great idea for a trip. I’m looking forward to seeing the photos.
One of our best holidays was a 750km cycling trip that we did over 10 days. We carried our tents too - those were the days!

Most of our rides have been on traditional mountain bikes and carrying camping gear.

This one is on e-gravel bikes, and hotels

 

[jumartoo]

Hope all goes to plan sounds great.
We have not taken our bikes this time, but it's quite warm walking, maybe we need to speed up a bit and create a breeze. Bob.

It's only 5 days. It's got to go to plan for that short time, hasn't it?

It's much better riding than walking, at least we get a bit of a breeze.

 

[jumartoo]

This will be our first multi day ride since Martin had knee problems and treatment. Five days consecutive riding will be a first for quite some years. Hopefully, all will be well and if so we can plan some more, longer routes.

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[gus-lopez]

temperatures shouldn't be too hot.

you would hope so wouldn't you? Unfortunately here the forecast is lowest 28º with a highest of 33º on wednesday & we are barely in to April.Hopefully going northward it may be a lot cooler
Good luck to both of you for the ride & hope all goes well.

 

[Ridgeway]

Excellent !!!

Can’t wait to see some pics. Sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun.

 

[Grianan]

Most of our rides have been on traditional mountain bikes and carrying camping gear.

This one is on e-gravel bikes, and hotels

That sounds like a good route back in after injury … what e-gravel bikes fo you have?

 

[jumartoo]

That sounds like a good route back in after injury … what e-gravel bikes fo you have?

The are Canyon Roadlight ON.

Ready, and waiting to be loaded onto the car tomorrow morning.

 

[scousebird]

Have a great trip.

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[jumartoo]

Have a great trip.

Thank you, Helen.

 

[steve69]

Wasn't Don Quixote a fictional character?.........in which case, the routes will be fictional too, surely? A bit like doing the "Middle Earth" trails.

 

[Just smiffy]

Looking forward to this as my wheelchair trike now gets me around 25m on flattish paths and I’m hoping to do a lot more exploring on it when I’m out next…

 

[jumartoo]

Day 1 started with a man down. Neither of us two, but the strongest, fittest, never Ill member of our team was floored by a stomach bug (trots). We left as planned and the other two are about to join us, David making a sufficient recovery to make the trip.

Our hotel is basic, to say the least, but we've eaten, showered and relaxed.

The first part of our ride was almost at the limit for our bikes. This wasn't an official stage. Once we got on the marked route it became very enjoyable.

My photos are stuck on my camera. All I've got are ones showing food and drink

Refreshment break

Lunch stop

 

[jumartoo]

Photos liberated. Not an interesting area for tourists but a pleasant area to ride. Better to come as we get into DQ (fictional) country.

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[Grianan]

That looks pleasant and flattish … my kind of cycling territory.

 

[jumartoo]

Today we got onto the DQ trail proper. We were also riding on one of the Camino de Santiago routes. We were buying some water when a guy on a bike from the town hall asked if we were doing the Camino. He turned out to be the guardian of the albergue (hostel accommodation) at both El Provencio and the next village. He rode with us to the first junction to make sure we didn't go wrong!

We got a good coffee after 18km and continued towards our present stop. We passed a lagoon with flamingoes, and then a view point and an Ermita. If we'd visited the two places in a different order we'd have got inside the Ermita. We were 2 minutes too late and the door was locked .

Never mind, we got to our accommodation slightly earlier. Food was first on the agenda and we're now showered and relaxing in our comfortable rooms.

We may, or may not explore the town later. Maybe in the morning!

Windmills tomorrow.

 

[Grianan]

Great photos! Enjoying following your route.

 

[jumartoo]

We did have a wander around the town. We wanted to find an old church Kay had spotted on our way in. A mass was being held so we couldn't have a look around inside.

Our hotel was named after Dulcinea, the love of DQ.

El Toboso is a very nice town, but doesn't have any official motorhome parking, although we passed ample, flat areas just outside the town when we left this morning.

 

[jumartoo]

Yesterday we found the windmills from where this all started. There were four motorhomes in the parking. It's on P4N.

The first section (to Campo de Criptana and the windmills) was lovely riding conditions. On leaving, filled with coffee and a huge chunk of the best tortilla we've all ever had, we had a nice restart. Then ... we turned into a very strong headwind and battled our way for 35 km or so against it.

A stop before finding the hotel was needed, and a bakery cafe in the main square was just right.

Hotel was located, showers and rest taken, then we found a tapas bar for evening food.

Bed at 9 pm and woke at just before 7 am .

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[Kirsten]

Gloriousgreat pics

 

[Littlewheels]

Yes,excellent pictures and they are giving a real flavour to the terrain and architecture, really enjoying your reports.

 

[Grianan]

Looks magical! And you can’t see the headwind in the photos . Thanks for sharing

 

[bobandjanie]

We love anything like that, we have stayed overnight at the windmills. Bob.

 

[Just smiffy]

Are you recharging the bikes batteries at the hotels you stay at each night Judith..

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