Europe Archives - Page 8 of 15

Archena to Lorca – Lifeday 25,310

Posted on November 12, 2016November 12, 2016

View from Parador of Lorca

Yet another fantastic biking day, perfect weather sunshine and low twenties (apologies to all folks in the north). Lots of cycling groups out, but going the other way 🙂 not a single female in their midst. Cycling in Spain is obviously a very macho activity.

I really enjoyed yesterdays rest day in Archena spending oodles of time in the thermal pools trying to do stretching exercises and using the water jets to pound my aching leg muscles. Plus a lovely walk around Archena admiring property for sale at €39,000 and ultra cheap fast broadband.

Later whilst researching about the pain in my quadriceps an article pointed me to YouTube and how to do a DIY bike fit. Instantly I discovered my saddle was way to forward 🙁 so I unbolted it and pulled it back a couple of inches. Leaving another inch to go another day.

I’m not sure if the saddle position has worked but the legs are certainly no worse today, although it was an easy day Strava says 50.8 miles and 1,571 feet of ascent all at an OK 12.5mph

Arriving at the Hotel Felix at just after 2pm gave me lots of time to explore the ancient city climbing up all the way to the old castle now a Parador which fortunately I didn’t book, otherwise I would have been cursing the steep hill 🙂 It’s also interesting to see how the population is changing moving south, with large numbers of folks from North Africa here. The town itself is a bit run down with lots of properties in need of renovation. But it is surrounded by great scenery.

Really enjoying the ride it’s just so relaxing especially with the numerous bars and cafes in all the villages and of cause warm weather 🙂

The pictures of the day are here

Chinchilla de Monte Aragon to Archena, Lifeday 25,308

Posted on November 10, 2016November 10, 2016

Oh boy what a difference a day makes, America gets Trump and I get the perfect bike ride!

The sun was out and the little wind, was behind me and although I had 2,300 feet of climbing it meant I had nearly 5,000 feet of descent. To top it all the Spanish had not only built the A30 motorway for the traffic but they had also upgraded the N301 road parallel to it 🙂 with smooth tarmac, wide and great bends and no traffic using it except moi.

The icing on the cake came when I stopped in Blanca for a Coke and to inspect booking.com for local accomodation. I discovered just down the road was a thermal spa and hotel offering a great deal for the night 🙂 Of I sped down the glorious Rio Segura gorge a real treat after the last two days of biking across the dull scenery.

The Balneario de Archena, Hotel Termas didn’t disappoint 🙂 in fact I instantly booked a leg massage and another night so I can spend tomorrow languishing in the thermal outdoor pools surrounded by the gorge walls:-)

Strava says I managed, a never to be beaten, average speed of 16.2mph over the 64.3 miles

And here is a picture of my bike handlebar controls:-

Handlebar controls all electronic quick release with bar bag

Finally a link to the pics of today here

Thanks for reading a great day!

Valencia to Chinchilla de Mont Aragon Lifeday 25,307

Posted on November 10, 2016

Apologies for the 22 day hiatus due to my very pleasurable weekend with all the family in Skeggie, so enjoyable I booked it for next year too. A first 🙂
Plus a week of the time was pleasurably spent introducing Sally to the delights of biking around Ibiza 🙂

Yesterday I started my tour again from Valencia,and its excellent Hotel Valencia Center, I liked it so much I stayed a couple of days extra after dropping Sally of at Valencia airport. In fact I could easily see me returning for longer 🙂

It was a very tough day too, with a huge climb according to Strava of 6,423 feet over 67 miles with a wind direct from the West and yes I was heading West 🙁 It was cold too and I was dressed for the sun not high altitudes :-(. Finally arriving at the delightful Hotel Jalance with it’s very steep driveway 🙁 frozen and totally wrecked.

This morning I dressed in every bit of cycling clothes that I had, the wind continued and perhaps I should have stayed, that’s the problem with booking a hotel the night before 🙁

The day was pretty murderous climbing up to 3,000 feet and then, due to the strength of the wind, having to pedal down the hills in a low gear 🙁
The day finally ended with a climb, as the name suggests, to Chinchilla de MONT Aragon and the freezing cold bedroom at El Volante with it’s very tepid warm water shower (I didn’t bother as I would never have warmed up again 🙁 You can view the Strava here.

I think I will be sleeping in my clothes but I guess for €25 what else do you expect. My slowest average speed ever according to Strava of 8mph and not a speck of sun all day.

A visit to Formentera. Life day’s 25,284, 25,285

Posted on October 19, 2016October 19, 2016

The end of the road! Most southerly point in The Baleraics

I’m writing this back in Ibiza Town having just spent a couple of nights on the smallest of the big four Balearic Islands, Formentera.

The island itself is nothing remarkable, although it’s famed for its clear water & beaches which are reasonably impressive. The biking consists of riding to each of the lighthouses and around the lake. A grand total of 36 miles and 1500 ft of climbing 🙂 So not a big island 🙂 Although with an MTB you could do more. It must be chaotic in the summer seeing the literally hundreds of mopeds & bikes waiting to be rented when the ferries come in.

I stayed at the Hostal Bon Sol in San Ferrán de ses Roques a pleasant hostel whose main misfortune is to be adjacent to the huge street cafe outside 🙁 The other omission is no chair & desk in the room hence the delay in this post.

It was pouring it down when I left this morning so another good test for the iPhone 7 it seems to survive although once the screen is covered in water the touch bit suffers and occasionally the phone thinks the rain is me touching it.

The Moves.app is really suffering on the iPhone 7 suddenly turning itself off for varying lengths of time. I think it’s a memory problem 🙁 although why it’s so much worse on the new phone and OS who knows.

There are a few pics on Dropbox here