What a gorgeous day and how I enjoy cycling in the warm sun 🙂 I didn’t even mind the close on a thousand feet climb that starts the minute you hop on the bike! My climb time was 38:30 whereas the KOM is nearly 25 mins faster but then I guess he isn’t lugging the kitchen sink up with him and I would guess considerably younger 🙂 Great fun though
The Giri Cafe guidelines
Then a short descent into the very upmarket Sant Joan town and the lovely Giri Cafe selling its ‘volcanic purity’ water whatever that means – volcanoes to me mean sulphurous smells 🙁
At the top you get the pleasure of the 5 mile descent into Cala Sant Vincent with its huge hotel as a backdrop to the beach 🙁 I didn’t stop but continued along to the Cala Boix hostal where I’m staying for some reason the beach has been left largely untouched apart from a cafe. So I may go for a swim later.
Oh dear lost track of which touring day I’m on 🙂 Senility is creeping in and anyway does it really matter?
I’m now doing a very leisurely tour of Ibiza. The island is about 100 miles around and I have a week before I have to jet back to the UK to take my whole family, 4 grandkids, 3 kids and 3 spouses plus Sally & I, to Butlins for a fun filled half term break.
I’m going clockwise from Ibiza Town which actually in Spanish is called Elvissa. The first stop was at San Antoni which is the second town of Ibiza & famous for its sunsets. With the British its famous for the Irish Bar and other home comforts like Bacon & Egg breakfasts with beer, totally different atmosphere to the more dignified Ibiza Town. For me the most awesome thing was having a true 50MB Down & Up internet at Hostal Mari where I stayed 🙂 I enjoyed the ride, the road was in excellent condition but quite hilly. Strava made it 2384 feet of climbing in 30 miles
Yesterday it was a 800 foot climb straight out of San Antoni on my way to the northern tip of the island at Portinatx with a total of 3143 feet in the 27 miles. I dropped down to Port de San Miguel to get in some more climbing and take a peek at another bay. The roads were good and pretty empty. In Portinatx I had booked into an ‘all inclusive’ Apartamentos Club Paradise Beach. A bit dated place with a pretty rubbish internet connection, especially with 50+ teenagers hanging off it. It must have been a gorgeous cove in the past, think I’m about 50 years late visiting here.
I left Complejo Touristico La Pinada at just before 9am after breakfast. It was a fast ride down to the coast through the gorgeously scented orange groves, the small oranges are a bit sharp to eat 🙂 Valencia seems to starts miles away and has a complex series of bike paths so it was well over an hour before I finally I reached the “Do You Bike” shop.
The guy in the shop said he would replace the spoke whilst I had a coffee across the road unfortunately he didn’t have a spoke the right length 🙁 However, I’ve been carrying a spare spoke for years so one coffee later the job was done 🙂
Next on the agenda was a ferry ticket, so I biked down to the Trasmediterranea terminal to get a ferry.They had one sailing at 10pm reaching Ibiza at 5am unwisely I didn’t book a cabin 🙁
Next job was to find the closest hotel to the terminal as I will be returning with Sally (no Easyjet/Ryanair flights from Ibiza in November) so she will have to return to the UK from the mainland. The hotel closest to the port is hotel Marina Atarazanas so I booked a room for us on booking.com, the receptionist said it was cheaper that way.
I then spent some time biking around the transport terminals of Valencia to see if there is any straightforward way of getting to the Castellon Airport, simple answer is no. Anyway I then discovered that Ryanair also flies from the main Valencia airport with its 15min bus service to the city centre! A wasted 30 minutes on the Ryanair chatline now means that Sally can either fly from Castellon in the morning or Valencia in the late evening 🙂
After all that a visit to the beach was called for and a drink to while away the time before the ferry, Fascinating fact that n Valencia there are several river bridges which no longer cross a river. How weird.
The crossing was smooth but my sleep certainly wasn’t I arrived at 5am to a deserted town, feeling wrecked. I rode around and eventually found the catamaran terminal had a coffee shop 🙂 At 9am I thought I would give the Hotel Lai IBZ a try, amazingly they let me have my room, a quick shower and I was asleep 🙂
Later I explored the old town which is really very pleasant and I found an ironmongers shop as well to get a bolt for my light plus finding Can Manola a bike rental place so Sally can rent a bike when she is over later this month.
The place is winding down for the end of season but I discovered Pacha had a gig on starting at midnight so I bought an amazingly expensive ticket and went to bed again 🙂
Not exactly rammed
The gig itself was disappointing, one thing I can’t stand are bad sound systems, having spent my youth building power amps and sand filled loudspeaker enclosures I just hate resonances when the ceiling starts rattling and putting stuff on loudspeakers so they rattle is just awful. The drinks are a staggering price too. No wonder Pacha own hotels & retail stores.
A late start today due to me not waking up till twenty past eight, the hostel was as quiet as a morgue. I paid my €25 dues and started to load the bike up. When horrors I noticed a rear spoke had snapped 🙁 the wheel still span OK if a bit wobbly, I made a mental note to steer clear of tracks today.
The local panaderia made a delicious breakfast for €3 🙂 So I set of at 9.37 with a view of doing the 100 miles to Valencia, well I had 3,000 feet of vertical descent in my favour so I thought.
First mistake of the day was finding myself UNDER the bridge I was supposed to be crossing, a very fine bridge too. I started climbing on the deserted N234 road when suddenly the programmed Strava route told me to do an abrupt left turn down a track 🙁 and then down a steep 15% descent on loose gravel 🙁 this was then followed by 4 miles of track riding through a forest with only runners looking on bemused. An abrupt left turn up a very steep slope took me onto the old railway line. Followed by amazing viaducts, cuttings, embankments & tunnels. Must have cost a fortune to built in 1907! Even more amazing is a modern railway line runs parallel for most of the way with its own tunnels & cuttings.
The newer the bridge the lower down it is – I’m on the oldest taking the pic
All the time I was ascending upto 4,000 feet on rough ground equals slow going, suddenly Valencia seemed a long way away 🙁 I suspect using Strava for route creation is not sp good in areas of high MTB usage 🙁 The downhill stretch of the line is even more amazing with gradients unheard of in UK railways. Just before Masias I rejoined the N234 and proceeded to bomb down the hills at high pace 🙂
Just before Alger I left the N234, hopped across the tracks of the new railway and rejoined the Via Verde, (I could see a hill coming up). rejoining the N234 before Torres Torres.
It was starting to get late so I got booking.com to find the cheapest and most local place. They gave me the €25 a night Complejo Touristico La Pinada with its 25 metre outdoor pool etc. (water is about 20deg according to my white fingers after 8 lengths). Problem is there is no evening meal as such so it’s a Tortilla for me.
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