Riding/touring Spain.

[Petrus]

Buenos compañeros.

Very regularly I get mail enquiring about a holliday in Spain on a motorbike. Not just from the R18 forum.

As it is all rather different from the UK I want to point out a few generic aspects.

Spain is about square, say 1.2k kms north-south and 1k west-east with that being a simple navigation rule with the sun as a guide.
You can p.e. travel from the northern Pyrennee mountains to say Málaga keeping south and go east when at the med. It is thát simple.
There are restaurants/lodgings everywhere and ditto gas stations.
Bar exceptions good mobile signal and free Wifi.

As to the infrastructure that is véry different from the US. The origins are at least 2 millennia earlier and it is very dense.
Ample EU fundings for rural development result in good maintenane of the secondary and local networks.
Buy a Michelin roadmap of Spain and one or two more from an autonomous state like Andalucia when still planning at home. You will séé how much info there is on the map and they cost peanuts.
It also tells you about the scále of it all. Although 1.2k kms north-south it all is véry ´local´ with a good network of roads all over.
Off the main thrue ways, even the Andalucían provincial roads are like the Californian tail of the dragon with at max 2/3rds of the width.
Yes GPS is usefull but on the road it does not tell you much more than the next bit to the next turn off.

When in Spain do at least trý to speak Spanish to show you want to make an effort.
Also make sure you have cash. Although you can usually pay electronically, rural Spain is still largely cash based.

Avoiding July-August you do not need to book anything in advance. If it makes you feel better you can call the day before of at breakfast/lunch.
Just point you bike somewhere in the morning and meander where the mood takes you.

Enjoy!

Petrus

 

[Petrus]

and thís is my ´back yard´; the village where I reside

When he crosses the bridge entering the village the second time, he inadvertenly records Esmeralda, my emerald green Suzuki WagonR+

Btw a pity he goes back down again when at the top end of the village where the social housing is, because that road goes another 500 meters further to the ´Ermita´; real pretty up there.
Anyway, at the end of this tape where he stops the road continues to Villanueva de Trabuco etcetera, over the Alazores pass, Alfarnate, Puerta del Sol pass, La Viñuelea, back towards the med. A wonderful mc route.
From Málaga up the A-7000, to Rosario et al, this route, stopping for coffee, the views and lunch, will take you most of a day with hardly a straight bit of tarmac

 

[Petrus]

Today stopped for lunch in Villanueva de Cauche, 800 m alt.: 20 houses, a restaurant and a church; the last real feudal ´town´ in Europe.
Btw no creditcard nor bizum; only cash and with the tarta de whisky you get a bóttle of the liquid dressing.