“Down the Spanish Coast, then Turn Right”

Spain has been on our bike touring list for years, but we hadn’t made it here yet. Lots of people ask us why not? First off, much of Spain is arid and sunny, two conditions Cheryl (and I) don’t really like in large doses. Second, bike touring routes and infrastructure are known to be better in Northern Europe, so it’s been hard to pass up easier trips (at least to plan) in Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Chéchia, Italy; Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia.

Last Spring we got so close to Spain, but some nice house sitting opportunities kept us on the French side of the Pyrenees. Finally, I’ve been working on redeveloping my high school French the past few years and didn’t have an interest in muddling my brain with my more recently learned Spanish again. Only one additional language Sim slot in this engineer’s brain!

But this year we were determined to give Spain a try and had a plan to ride the coast via Eurovelo 8 more or less to Barcelona and beyond. And if it started to get too arid or sunny for us, then we’d head up towards the mountains and green Basque Country instead. That’s the turn right.

Near the Spanish border, we opted for the quieter but hillier route into Spain over the Col de Panisares. Officially this seemed to be the Eurovelo 8 route on most maps and is also called the Pirinexus route, part of the Catalan greenway route network. The French side was paved, quiet, and delightful. But as always with bike touring, we were rewarded with some memorable views, and then punished on the Spanish side with more uphill kickers, steep rocky trails and unridable downhills. No cruising down into Spain.

So our entry into Spain was a bit bumpy and we found ourselves at the somewhat grungy and noisy frontier town of La Jonquera at 5pm after just 50 hard earned kilometers. We didn’t have a reservation anywhere as I suspected the day needed flexibility, but there were no good options around. We’ve been without lodging before at 5pm, as it goes with booking on the fly cycle touring.

So we decided to press onto Figueres on the main N-2 (II) road, as the official Pirinexus route had more dirt, hills, and would likely take us hours. We were both tired and a bit stressed, but knew this was just one of those days we just had to rally. To our pleasant surprise the N-II had a generous 6-foot shoulder the whole way to Figueres, and we made it there in less than an hour and a half, after a truck stop soda infusion.  A shower and dinner at our atmospheric old town hotel and all was good.

Although the dirt route was peaceful and had some nice natural beauty, I wished we had just taken the main road route up and over the pass. But again, I could find no info on the pass routes….not even a good blog. Maybe this blog will help people decide.

We soon figured out this part of Spain does not have as developed a bike touring culture. People ride for sport; roadies, gravel, and mountain bikers, but it seems a small number of long distance tourers. We met a few bike tourists along the coast, but most were Dutch, Belgian, or Canadian. (The French were notably absent.)

The first things that struck me in Spain was the lack of useful signage in this area. No map of the border pass cycle routes, a few town directional signs, and just a few randomly placed EV8 route signs. And never distances. Also, no indication how rocky and unsuitable parts of the Spanish side of this route are for loaded touring bikes. If you are riding into Spain on this coastal route, be ready for a significant decline in signage and infrastructure from France. Routes just end and this is the land of random, short cycleways to nowhere.

But Spain brought so much beauty and a completely different feel from France. Our trip has been perfectly timed for peak spring and the smell of blooming flowers, trees, and thick grasses abounded. The fresh Mediterranean Sea air filled our noses and coated us in a comfortable sheen of the promise of Spring and a new year. Forget the chaos of your home country.

The next day we headed to Girona, a long time dream of mine due to its famous road cycling culture. The ride into Girona was nice on self-selected routes, but loaded touring bikes are an anamoly there, and we soon felt a little out of place as we rode into the main square heaving with people drinking, chatting, strolling, and shopping on a beautiful Sunday spring afternoon. Various kitted out roadies wizzed by and seemed unimpressed that we carrying all our gear for 3 months on our heavy duty human-powered transport machines.

We had a nice little apartment to enjoy for two nights in Girona and it’s a beautiful place to explore and hang out. Mixing with the road scene heading out of town was a bit strange, as we’re used to seeing more cycle tourists, and it’s really popular with Americans, so funny to here so much familiar English after so many less visited places.

We cycled towards the coast from Girona and spent two days meandering down to Barcelona. This stretch was not our favorite as the coastal sprawl felt a bit endless and the rail tracks make access between the coast and city sides challenging with loaded touring bikes as some access points are just stairs. But eventually we rolled into the northern neighborhood of Barcelona known as El Poblenou, which is also the core of the superblocks, which cleverly limit through traffic and prioritize pedestrian and bike movements. It was great and such a joy to cycle in most of Barcelona.

From Barcelona, we headed again out to the coast via the EV8, which is a nice route until past the airport, then forces you onto busier roads. It was a tough stretch as I had fixed a flat tire near the airport and then half way through the extremely busy coastal road from Garraf to Sitges, I felt my tire going soft again. Ugh! This time I really examined the tire and found the tiny glass shard culprit. This stretch would be ok on a fast road bike as the cars are very respectful, but on slow touring bikes, the constant traffic and haul trucks made it a somewhat teeth gritting experience. No pictures of the traffic as there are few places so stop and most is guardrailed.

So after a really pleasant night in Sitges, we rolled onto Tarragona, where we spent three nice nights and rested prior to our turn inland. Tarragona is a small and ancient city with Roman ruins, a fascinating history, and great archeological museum by the old port. One of our favorite smaller museums with a great audio guide. It was also the start of the Semana Santa events, so we got to see two different nights of processions, each with a different vibe and purpose in the run up to Easter.