James Stevenson

Chicago August 2024

James Stevenson — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 01:39:10 +0000

I am here for a business visa from the Indian consulate. My fingers are crossed- it would make a positive difference for my future. I have an interview tomorrow morning- wish me well. I had to come a day early to Chicago and I made this video.

My Spanish tour

James Stevenson — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 08:07:22 +0000

Spain is a huge country. Food is excellent- often tapas a very good snack. People very friendly, but almost no English spoken at least where I went. Mountains everywhere.

Screenshot

There are almost no bicycle paths except a patchy Eurovelo 8 sometimes along the coast up to Valencia. Cities have bicycle lanes that are sometimes very good, sometimes confusing, and are dominated now by the ubiquitous electric scooter that is silent and fast. Barcelona in particular with constant stoplights was not fun.

I most often used maps.me on this trip for planning and navigation. Google maps as always is good, but the bicycle routing feature (available in some countries) is not an off-line feature. With maps.me it is.

Komoot I used in Cordoba to find good cycling routes outside the city and it has some features that I sometimes used in route planning.

Spain just has too many cars and too many aggressive drivers. I guess probably not much different from France.

Tunnels

James Stevenson — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 07:49:50 +0000

I had a unique experience this trip in the 5 km. long tunnel through the Pyrenees at Vielha. I have been through a number of tunnels in Spain, Italy, and Pakistan and this was the best- an organised protocol with full security. Congratulations to the Spanish. Cyclists are required to call on the sos box at the entry to the tunnel and someone tells you whether you can go or wait. I was informed that I could go, and one of the two lanes in my direction was exclusively mine. Like all tunnels the noise is extreme but it is a minor complaint.
Now some other experiences. A couple of years ago I was crossing the Pyrénées from Aragon (near Jaca?) back into France. Before I got to the tunnel across I learned that bicycles were not allowed but that there was a van shuttle bus twice a week for cyclists. I only had to wait a day and I was the only cyclist in the van. The driver told me I was the first cyclist she had had in months.
Some tunnels in Spain and Italy have been very scary and I have sometimes been surprised that cycles were permitted. The very very loud noise of lorrys coming up behind, the darkness and only one lane in each direction- all can be almost overpowering.
Another long tunnel in Spain didn’t have the possibility of cars overtaking and after exiting the tunnel there was a long line of cars. I appreciated the friendly salute from the driver of the first car behind me.
In another small tunnel in Spain there were no lights and in the absence of any cars it became completely dark. I couldn’t see one inch in front of me. I had to stop and could only wait for the headlights of a car and the end of the tunnel.
Then there are the tunnels in Pakistan. There were about 5 or 6 consecutive tunnels recently built in upper Hunza. It was fortunate that I had brought a front light with me, otherwise I would not have been able to proceed in the darkness. There wasn’t much traffic and one was very long, but not really very scary.
Below are some GoPro videos.

Barcelona

James Stevenson — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 18:04:00 +0000

What a beautiful city! Of course I have been here before but it is never dull. I particularly love the modernist architecture of Gaudi, Montero, and Sagnier. The great masterpiece of modernist architecture, the Sagrada Familia (cathedral), by the greatest, Gaudi, is nearing completion after how many years? 30- 40- 50? I don’t remember but it will be extraordinary when it is.

Sagrada Familia

The Palau de la Musica Catalunya designed by Montero, a contemporary of Sagnier and Gaudi is exquisite and there was a dress rehearsal of baroque music that we were able to watch and the video of that follows.

Palau de ka musica Catalan

Alsa bus

James Stevenson — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 17:34:36 +0000

After a few days in Cordoba I decided to take the bus to Barcelona and after a couple of days there another bus to Toulouse. I almost wasn’t allowed on the bus. The driver insisted my bicycle be wrapped up. He gave me 5 minutes to find something. I gave up in despair but when I got back in 5 minutes he had 2 large garbage bags and this it was wrapped up adequately. 16 hours to calm down from the panic, and a very pleasant ride.

Cordoba

James Stevenson — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:32:57 +0000

Yes it was hot in Cordoba! The next 3 days I spent here, going out for cycle rides in the mornings and visiting the many things to see here. The must-see is the great mosque upon which was built the cathedral after the Muslims were ejected from Andalusia in the 12th century. How reminiscent of Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Mathura where mosques were built on temple structures. Thankfully much remains of the huge mosque in Cordoba.

Another castle near Cordoba

Famous Roman horse of Cordoba

Roman mosaic Cordoba

Another castle near Cordoba

UNESCO world heritage site of medinah al Azhar

Very old olive tree

Last stage

James Stevenson — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 08:54:30 +0000

From La Calahorra I was headed to Orgiva where I would meet Sam. I didn’t realise that there was a massive col over the Sierra Nevada.

I seemed to be level with high altitude snow that I hadn’t expected so far south and in the middle of summer.
It was down and down but then more and more hills. The day ended with almost 2000 meters elevation gain and just over 90 kms. No doubt it was getting very very hot. I was glad not to have more cycling today.
Sam lives very near the coast which is beautiful except for the ubiquitous hectare upon hectare of plastic greenhouses that supplies much of Europe’s vegetables and fruit.

This post is “last post” because there is a heatwave going on with temperatures in the 40’s. So I took a bus to Cordoba after a day with Sam.

Huelma, La Calahorra

James Stevenson — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 07:46:20 +0000

I was heading toward Granada in Andalusia on my way to visit Dr. Sam, a friend living near there. I still had at least 3 more days.
From Villacarrillo I continued through mountains in the province of Jaen. I stopped for the night in Huelma, a small town.

Some caves along the route

Somewhere along the route I entered Andalusia and to avoid Granada (I have been before) I headed to La Calahorra a small place with this rather spectacular fort overlooking the town. This is most definitely not much of a tourist place and after the climb up to the fort I was unable to go inside.

From Valencia

James Stevenson — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 10:00:32 +0000

After so much cycling already I realised I still had hundreds of kilometres remaining to Andalusia. Not along the coast though, and it was back in the mountains. It most definitely wasn’t the quickest way, but infinitely more interesting away from the tourists and traffic.
After a long day of cycling I stopped in a beautiful place, Jalance.
The next day was more climbing and hills eventually came the flat valley into Albacete. A strong headwind, hot and boring, my morale was low.

Arcade in Albacete

Good rest, good food and a nice city, the next day was fine. After climbing out of the flat valley there were beautiful roads and lovely nature to a small village called Salobre with a very nice small hotel.

Morning outside Salobre

The next night after many hills I was in a small place called Villacarillas in time for a wonderful Sunday lunch and all ready to watch the final of the Tour de France, the Wimbledon final and most important the European Cup final between England and Spain. It was wonderful being in Spain for the Spanish victory. The celebration went on for days.

Onward through Catalunya

James Stevenson — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 11:03:17 +0000

From Gary’s there were more mountains and eventually crossing the Ebre delta and arriving at Vinceros and the Mediterranean Sea.

The coast in full tourist season is very different and I alternated following Eurovelo 8 and the route recommended on my cycling app maps.me. Eurovelo 8 goes from Croatia I believe through north Italy, the Côte d’Azur and down Spain to Valencia. I had followed some of it a couple of years ago in Provence and realised very quickly that it is only partially developed. I ended up using maps.me which took me on interesting rural roads. After the worst hotel and worst meal ever in Vinceros I stopped the next night in Castelló de la Plana at a very nice hotel and an exquisite meal. The next day was the flattest day of my trip from Castelló to Valencia. Valencia is a very big city. The hotel didn’t want to take my bicycle- the first time that has happened to me- but the did relent after I told them my bicycle cost 10,000 euros (a slight exaggeration).

I took this video in a church in Valencia.

How about this in Valencia….