Toward the South
Valença - Viana do Castelo
22 May 2022
After a few big drops yesterday around 7pm, the storm finally broke during the night. As the French people I met at the hotel breakfast said, it was better not to camp tonight!
I leave quite late (Portuguese time, one hour difference) and with a few rays of sun, then it gets cloudy, then it rains for an hour. Then a very pleasant road to Viana do Castelo.
It’s a different type of route from the previous climbs, with a nice cycle track along the Rio Minho and mostly flat for the rest of (…)
Pontevedra - Valença
21 May 2022
I wake up very late in this really quiet hotel. Not that there are no people in the café downstairs, but the doors are closed.
So I leave a bit late, a bit afraid of the thunderstorms expected in the late afternoon. The sky will remain overcast, I might even catch a drop or two on the way, but no, no storm.
There are three successive bumps at about two hundred metres. I had spotted that the third one had a very steep section but it comes faster than I expect and my meter soon reads 16%. I (…)
Santiago de Compostela - Pontevedra
20 May 2022
About sixty kilometres to reach Pontevedra. Small unlikely roads lead me to the outskirts of Santiago where I have breakfast.
Yesterday I went twice to the Cathedral, the first time just before noon and I had forgotten that it was time for the pilgrims’ mass... Those who are not attending mass are asked to leave, not to take any more photos and to turn off their mobile phones... The cathedral is quite full and I think I’ve noticed that there are 4 pilgrims’ masses like that per day. No (…)
Fisterra - Santiago de Compostela
18 May 2022
Quite a pleasant ride to Santiago de Compostela.
I meet again three French cyclists who are going to go up the Camino del norte and pass by paths I took.
I meet a lot of pilgrims, at one point it’s impressive, it looks like a bus has just left its passengers, there are so many of them!
I have to climb twice to a height of 400m and after this second climb there is a long descent to Negreira where I have something to eat before doing the last kilometres.
When I arrive at the pension, they (…)
Cabanas de Burgatiños - Fisterra
17 May 2022
The weather is rotten this morning, I’m in no hurry to leave. But I have to go: I leave under a real rain this time. I decide to stay on the main road and not to take the secondary roads that the route will offer me as I can’t see anything anyway... Headwind and rain, it lasts for 40km and I find a café open and stop there. It’s national day in Galicia so not much is open, but that’s also why the national road doesn’t have much traffic. I order a coffee and a sandwich and panic: just when I (…)
A Coruña - Cabanas de Burgatiños
16 May 2022
Relatively short stage but with quite a few climbs, especially the two main ones where we climb 200m, the second one having a very steep slope.
Maintenance (continued) I took advantage of the unstable weather in A Coruña to tighten my brakes. They are particularly stressed on the many steep descents, and next time I’ll have to change them. I only took a spare pair of brake pads, so I will probably have to buy some or stop at a repair shop.
Beautiful road that follows the coast or (…)
Vilalba - A Coruña
14 May 2022
The fog prevents us from enjoying the landscape at the start of Vilalba. It will eventually lift but nothing extraordinary in the landscape: a small pleasant road with very little traffic. On this small road I did not cross coffee and I did not drink coffee yet, this morning while leaving I swallowed some biscuits. I finally find this coffee shop that does the trick. Here there are no pinchos but a kind of madeleine is offered with the coffee!
It’s hard to keep an eye on the track and I (…)
Ribadeo - Vilalba
13 May 2022
I leave the hotel quite early because I’m a bit worried about the route: the first draft of the route showed slopes of 19%, I smoothed it out by only taking the national road and not the small pleasant roads but Komoot still indicated slopes of 14%. After Mondoñeno the slope is long and regular but the meter never went over 7%. Mondoñeno: I had decided to stop here to get some strength before the climb. What a nice surprise this cathedral on the central square. I take a coffee solo largo (…)
Canero - Ribadeo
12 May 2022
Departure from the hotel in the clouds this morning... which quickly require the rain gear. After 5 minutes I could take it off... a moment later put it back on... It ends up clearing up a bit, at least on the coast, on the surrounding mountains the clouds seem to be well hung.
I had breakfast at the hotel and it’s confirmed that it’s not interesting to have breakfast in hotels in Spain, it’s better in cafés...
A bridge for the motorway spans the estuary that separates Asturias from (…)
Gijon - Canero
11 May 2022
I left Gijon a little after 8am: the road is going to be long and I want to have some room for manoeuvre. This time I took care to smooth out the route... as much as possible! There are still a lot of sections around 8-9%, some up to 13%... but it passes.
The impression of riding in a cloud since the start.
I had decided to take a break in Muros de Nalon (middle of the trip) and I arrive there a little before noon. I have my first chat in rudimentary Castiillano with two cyclists who are (…)