Spanish C2C 2019

[pistonbroke]

As thoughts seem to be turning to plans for next year, I thought I'd formalise the dates for next year's ride from Tarragona to Bilbao. Med to Atlantic in 9 days, just under 1,000km on a combination of gravel roads, singletrack and quiet lanes. Next year's trip will run from the 10th to the 18th of May and the route has quite a number of changes to the first 2 runnings, some of which have been documented on other threads on here. Needless to say, if you rode the route last year, you will find next years different on virtually every day.
One notable improvement is the availability of cheap flights to the airport nearest to the start. Both Easyjet and Ryanair have launched routes from several UK airports to Reus which is 10km from the start point in Tarragona. They are both doing flights which allow you to get there the day before, allowing for a full day's riding on Friday 10th. The cheapest I've found is from Birmingham for £22 plus bike but all are under £40. As before, we will pick you and your bike up from the airport and transport your bike bag to Bilbao. Flights back from Bilbao are similarly priced via Easyjet, leaving on Sunday 19th.
Obviously if you struggle to find suitable flights to Reus then Barcelona is only 2 hrs north and train or a bus is easy and cheap.
I won't bore you here with a blow by blow account of each day's itinerary but suffice to say the experiences of the previous trips have been taken on board. There are plenty of watering holes along the new route without losing the remoteness, there are at least 4 places where we overnight that provide showers and recharging facilities but it's still a true bikepacking trip in every sense of the word.
The trip will definitely run next year, health permitting, I'm really pleased with the improvements. There are also a number of keen participants that I have encountered in my other biking trips this year so this post is really aimed at bringing together any 'Boners who are wanting to join the trip and want certainty before pressing the button on holidays, flights, other half approval etc
Camino del Cid https://imgur.com/gallery/evZtV

You know you want to

[Richard G]

Alas, I'll be riding with friends in France at the start of that. Would have been tempted otherwise!

[HUX]

Possibly up for another bash at this Duncan. Really enjoyed the 1st trip. Not sure about the leave yet but will have a look.

[pistonbroke]

You'll be very welcome Leigh, the flight from Birmingham to Reus is on Wednesday so we could pick you up and you can kip here if you want. £22 plus bike is hard to ignore.

[pistonbroke]

Bit of an oops moment the other day.
As a couple of this year's participants were readers of the Cycle (CTC) magazine that DaveB's write up appeared in, I thought I'd put a note re the upcoming ride on the CTC forum. Unfortunately I linked to the report he wrote on his blog which rips the piss out of that venerable organisation Needless to say their mods took umbrage and insisted I remove the link and rewrite the post, they also consigned it to a backwater of the forum which seems to have new posts and replies every 3 months. Seems the Ron Hill Trackster appreciation society is a bit thin skinned.

[Dave Barter]

Lol that explains why I've not had a commission from their mag for a while ;-)

[Bearbonesnorm]

That's cheered me up no end

[pistonbroke]

Just seeing if I've cracked this pic posting thing.

[Scattamah]

Alas, I’m out for this years run. Perhaps next year I can swing some leave with the new mob.

Greetz

S.

[BigdummySteve]

Sticks head above parapet looks like I gained a pass for this

I’m a bit slow (cycling wise!) but I’ll get some miles in before May do you have a GPX for the route yet? I’ll buy some maps, what level detail would you need? ViewRanger has Spanish maps at 1:25 so I could just buy the tiles for the route (whole of Spain is £200+)

Any other sources of mapping I should be looking at?

[pistonbroke]

Hi Steve, that's good news, you'll be very welcome. The pace is what we make it, there's plenty of daylight in May and now I've balanced the daily mileage, it's a lot more relaxed, particularly in the first few days.
Don't go spending loads of money on mapping, Dave Barter directed me to Openfietsmap and their Spanish maps are free,well detailled and perfectly adequate for the trip. Alternatively if you want another version, Talkytoaster will supply a micro usb loaded map of Spain for about £20,I'm using both on a daily basis. All this assumes you have a GPS with card slot or decent internal memory capacity.
The route is split into 9 legs which roughly correspond to the start and finish of each day. These are publicly available on my wikiloc page, my user name is DMELLOR and they're on the first page of my favourites. You can download them from there.
I've done a fair amount of research on getting here from various parts of the UK, where abouts are you based? The closest airport is Tarragona/Reus, getting back is also quite straightforward from Bilbao with a variety of airports served on the Sunday after we finish.
Edit, just seen you're in Oxfordshire, there are flights to Reus from Birmingham on Wednesday 8th for £30 + bike or to Barcelona on the 9th for £55

[BigdummySteve]

Already checked the flights, rude not to at those prices.
I’ve spent some time in the Barcelona area, I used to skydive at Empuriabrava also lived in a van for a while bumming around the med. first time I traveled through central Spain I was shocked at how empty it is,always wanted to go back and explore on a bike. I’ll book some flights come payday

[pistonbroke]

If you find it more convenient/cheaper to fly to Barcelona, there's a coach that runs from T1 to the centre of Tarragona and takes about an hour. My brother in law arrived yesterday and used it no problem, the €15 fare is actually less than the cost of motorway tolls in a car, I checked with the driver and they will take bikes. There's about 15 duepartures a day 9am till midnight, 7 days a week, it's much quicker than the train and avoids having to go into the city to change trains.
If you want to bring a decent bike box, we'll transport it to Bilbao courtesy of MrsPB.

[BigdummySteve]

Holiday time booked

[pistonbroke]

That's good news Steve, just for info, I was looking at flights for someone else at the weekend and noticed that the Ryanair flight from Birmingham to Reus on the 8th only had 4 seats left. It may be marketing bs but it's the cheapest and closest option to the start. We can pick you up and you can stay here if you want then kick off pronto on Friday morning. Easyjet will get you back to Bristol on the 20th for about 5pm.

[BigdummySteve]

Cheers, I’ll get on the case tomorrow.

[BigdummySteve]

Booked

[pistonbroke]

Brill!!
Did you get the ones I suggested? Do you have your own bike box or using a cardboard one? If you PM me your e mail address I'll send you the route files and some other stuff. As I've said ad nauseum, the route has changed from the first trip so just looking at my wikiloc files may confuse matters. Do you prefer tenting or tarping? I've always just taken a tarp and found proper shelter if the weather looked iffy but others have preferred the security of a tent.

[BigdummySteve]

Ones? I’ve only booked the outbound so far, contemplating getting the ferry home, I’ll have my 950g telemark with me. You can the routes to my username at gmail.com.

[pistonbroke]

Ah, right, the ferry solves the box thing as well. I haven't looked recently but there used to be a Brittany Ferries Bilbao-Portsmouth service on a Tuesday afaik you can't book online as a solo passenger with bike but ring customer services. It struck me as the ideal finish to the trip if you weren't particularly time limited. So, are you flying to Reus or Barca?

[BigdummySteve]

Flying to Reus for £55 including bike (20Kg) limit

[pistonbroke]

Ok I give in, who with and when? I thought I'd found a good deal but Ryanair charge more than that just for the bike, Unless you've got photos of that nice Mr O'Leary in a compromising position with one of his racehorses.

[BigdummySteve]

Booked Ryanair, 20kg baggage was only £25 extra if booked the same time. The allowed dimensions seem sufficient as well.

[pistonbroke]

I've, not from choice, flown Ryanair many times and I really wouldn't chance it. They will almost definitely challenge you at baggage check in and then they've got you by the goolies. If they charge £11 per kg if the bag is over 20kg, I shudder to think what they'll screw you for for a bike. If you look carefully at the baggage section, you will find a bicycle specifically listed under sports equipment and the extra charge is £60, they also specify that the bike must be in a case or box, not a CTC bag. It would also be a real pisser if they refused to take it which they are entitled to do. Not sure what you can do now you've booked and of course you may be perfectly happy to wing it (sic)
I'll drop the wikiloc files to you via email pronto.
Cheers

[pistonbroke]

Further digging has turned up this

"Sporting or musical equipment including but not limited to large fishing rods, golf clubs, bikes* (bikes have a weight limit of 30 kilos), scooters, fencing equipment, boules, pole vaults, javelin, surfboards, bodyboards, snowboards and skis and large musical instruments including but not limited to harps, double bass and drums are inherently unsuitable for carriage by airlines operating fast turnarounds such as Ryanair. However, these items may be carried in the hold of the aircraft in addition to your personal checked baggage allowance up to a limit of 20 kilos per item. Fees apply, click here for details.

Any sporting and musical item weighing over the 20 kilos allowance will be charged for the excess at the applicable excess baggage rate per kilo.

* Bicycles - MUST be contained in a protective box or protective bike bag in order to be accepted for travel. Electric bicycles cannot be transported by plane."

What this actually means is you have to book the bike as sports equipment and pack it in a proper box or bag with a total weight of 20kg, if it weighs 25kg you pay an additional fee of £55 and it cannot weigh more than 30kg in any case.
I'd hate for this to throw a spanner in the works on the 8th