Staying here in sw France and with my favourite of my 3 bicycles I decided to go south to a part of Spain I wasn’t very familiar with, Andalusia. Amongst ancient Roman and mediaeval Christian the great Muslim sites from the 7th to 11th century when most of Spain was a great center of culture and learning with great monuments still standing.
I did my usual ultra-light travelling, probably the most minimalist of any of my trips, relying on hotels and credit card and washing clothes regularly in hotel sinks.
I usually booked a hotel room the night before because during this prime vacation period hotels could get full. I aimed for a distance of around 100 kms. and consulted my valuable partner Google Maps to find places. Spain, unlike France, India etc. is quite empty between cities in the interior of the country and that affected my route to some extent. I had to be able to find some place to stay for the night.
My first day was from here (Latoue, Haute Garonne) was into the Val d’Aran to the mountain sports town of Vielha, and I was in Spain. The next morning was a very big climb up to the 5 km. long Vielha tunnel. This has been organised beautifully for the security of cyclists and I will write more about that in a post on tunnels I will soon be writing.
This day’s riding ended in Benabarre in a hostal which seems not much different from a hotel. This was a beautiful place.
There was really no alternative to the main highway from Vielha but after Benabarre Google Maps (the bicycle routing feature works in Spain) recommended an alternative. It was glorious- for a few kilometers. Then, the recommended route turned onto a gravel road (part of St. Jacque de Compostelle Camino route according to a small signboard). I was not ready to go off-road; I have previously had some unpleasant surprises following such routes.
