Cycle Touring

Cosio to Santa Maria la Real de Nieva – near Segovia

So four days of riding, the start of which all seems like a long time ago now! The day out of Cosio took me over the mountains – an amazing day with breathtaking scenery going up and down rocky gorges. Steep wooded valleys with birds of prey circling overhead. The highest altitude was 1609m, at which point the scenery changed from the moist green to the dry scrubland. From here didn't lose much height but a lot of rolling 'hills'. That night i camped rough at a secluded spot, which turned out to be somewhat busy! After this I was now on the plains of Spain, where it doesn't rain – much. Also not too good for wild camping. So a campsite in Castrojeriz followed by a rather posh hotel in wine country – lots of rolling valleys – at Quintanilla de Onesimo, and now in another hotel which is a bit more real on the outskirts of the town (Santa Maria la Real de Nieva). The mountains around Madrid are now looming!

Santander to Cosio

My first full day of cycling in spain – and what a good day it has been! Getting out of Santander was not too complicated apart from being honked at for nearly going on the Mway! The roads are generally smooth and wide and the scenery has been spectacular. Lots of steep green hills covered in foliage, punctuated by pretty villages. Well certainly the last section anyway. Initially I was on the route of the Camino-de-s but veered off that as I headed south. No campsites now so found a quiet spot off the road near a river. And next to a sweet chestnut tree, which are ripe and often fall alarmingly close to the tent. So some of those have gone in my dinner as extra flavour! Quite a long day – 70 miles – with a fair amount of climbing.

London to somewhere in the Atlantic via Winchester and Portsmouth

All is well so far! The ride down to Winchester went well albeit fairly
long. From North London I headed north west to avoid London itself, and
then headed south crossing the Thames near Maidenhead but avoiding as
many main roads as possible. From there it was on, down through Wokingham along quieter roads avoiding Basingstoke. In Micheldever they
were having some sort of scarecrow competition – as there were quite a
few scattered about the village. But it was starting to get dark so I
sped on through, eventually getting to Jo and Dan's at almost 8pm.
Although they were out they'd v kindly left me pizza, beer and homemade
biscuits – fabulous!
The next day after saying bye and thanking them for their hospitality I
made the last leg to Portsmouth – more quiet roads rollercoasting their
way over the South Downs. Then busy roads to the ferry.

Spain - here I come

 
Tomorrow, I’m setting off for the next trip - cycling
to Portsmouth via Winchester
(to stay with Jo and Dan) and then on Tuesday evening I set sail for Santander arriving some
24hrs later. It’s all very exciting but with the usual last-minute ‘tour
nerves’ – making sure that I have all I need and nothing
else. This time it’s more of a road trip and I’m coming
to the understanding that Spain
is not exactly the flattest country!