This spring Joe and I cycled off-road from the bottom to the top of the Iberian peninsula, a distance of around 800 miles.
Here is part one of the journey - from Faro in Portugal to Seville in Spain.

http://www.weirdosonbikes.com/2018/05/20/spain/

Edited to add: Link to Part 2

http://www.weirdosonbikes.com/2018/06/0 ... o-astorga/

Part 3 (for what it's worth)

http://www.weirdosonbikes.com/2018/06/0 ... o-frances/

Parts 4 and 5: http://www.weirdosonbikes.com/2018/06/0 ... -salvador/

Enjoyed that! .. "The best wild-camping spot is always 50m further on than the one you settle for when you are tired late at night" - BP truism #4.

Thanks C

Nice write up - the graffiti (done by the local council in Olhão) is great including that Munsters house.
The N125 along the coast is a bit of a trial on a bike (it's bad enough in car)... brave cycling on that!
Nice ideas for a ride - thanks

Nae bother, glad you enjoyed it. More to come....

Good adventure that... looking forward to the next episode...

PS - get Joe to take a picture of you, just for a change

There's a couple in part 2

Here you go.... Part 2 - Seville to Astorga the Ruta via de la Plata.

http://www.weirdosonbikes.com/2018/06/0 ... o-astorga/

Fantastic! What a great trip

Thanks A wee bit more to come yet.

"More"?! Stunning write-up. I've had to go back and read it again carefully to take it all in. Fried Egg flavoured crisps, good grief. The 'proper BP off-road' aspect certainly threw up (that'd be those crisps again) some entertaining and challenging situations that you probably wouldn't have had when 'just touring'. I know many here don't subscribe to the 'a bit of suffering makes a more interesting ride' philosophy, but as you pointed out the pilgrimage is meant to be just that and you certainly proved the point. I'm not qualified to comment on any religious angle, although BP pretty much qualifies as one in my book. Discuss. (In the same way some voters bung 'Jedi' on their ballot, I might put 'BP' next time). To deal with all that happened whilst having a youngster in tow takes some strength of character I must say. Lucky Joe!

RIP wrote:"More"?!

Yeah - we need to get to the north coast for a proper C2C, so there are a couple more bits to come. Actually the worst is to come, but I won't spoil it

Thanks C. It was a lot tougher than I expected alright. I agree with you that most of what we bikepackers do could be filed under 'suffering cure' right enough - it was just novel for people along the way to really appreciate what it was that we were going through. A lot of the folk we met working in bars and so on had done a camino at some time in their lives, so they got it. One of the reasons I take Joe on these trips is because I don't want him to grow up part of the 'snowflake generation'. Although I don't deliberately seek out tough times, they will occur anyway at some point and I think it is good for him to carry the confidence of being able to deal with adversity with him into adulthood. I think we bikepackers all stand a little taller as a result of some of the tough times we have endured along the way.

I don't know what time you read the article this morning, but I updated it to include a bit about the man and his blind wife we met along the way. They didn't take their tandem through the worst bits right enough but still - that's strength of character alright. They win.

Nice write up, shows the value of a positive mental attitude (dare I say in contrast to the other recent Ruta report) Can I recommend an alternative Spanish C2C which I devised that runs from Tarrgona to Bilbao. As Easter is pretty late next year, the weather should be an improvement on this year. It's exactly 600 miles, uses trails that are largely deserted but there are enough resupply villages not to go hungry. Lots of castles, canyons, wide open spaces and medieval villages. The only encounter with the Camino de Santiago is in the middle of Burgos and it starts and finishes close to airports served by UK budget airlines. PM me and I'll send you the route and info.

Thanks Pistonbroke, I will do that. If that's the same ride Dave did with you last year then it looked good - a friend sent me a copy of his article.

Great trip and tale

Thanks Phil

A great read B , and another youngfella with great character

Cheers. He is definitely a character alright

Full on that last bit, and good on you both for sticking at it...

The things you can do when you don't know what you are letting yourself in for.....

Absolutely amazing. thank you for the read

Cheers

Bravo. Sounds like a grand trip and a good read. Thanks.

Really enjoyed that again, thanks for sharing!

Thanks guys