Lost a card last year on a GR (fell out of phone case pocket when stopped to take a pic) easy fix one phone call to cancel.
How do you do that if phone is lost stolen , and how much hassle getting cash out of a bank abroad.

Online banking,what if you're mugged and phone is stolen, would not like to be in that situation.

500 € notes don't take up much space and lots of places to hide in the bike. Why don't you like debit/ credit card? OK you might loose one and be scuppered, always carry 2 in different places .Other half opened a Santander account as it free withdrawal of cash in Spain. Edit biggest note issued now ...

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 8:23 pm

Sajama wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:55 pm 75% off road you are a bikepacker.
75% road you are a cyclotourist .

That's very precise. By time or by distance?

Well that's immaterial, trouble with the UK cyclists is they the love to invent niche stuff and then have my tribe is better wars on the net

My take on bike travel/camping /bivi /hotel etc. 75% off road you are a bikepacker. 75% road you are a cyclotourist . As for the ultra events, could lead to the routes getting far too popular and ruined . Went down the Great Divide before it was elevated to a bucket list ride. Even then thought it w...

A bit of everything, last year Morocco on the old french military roads and some dirt roads over the hills , later Spain the Empty Mountains and then cycle home via Ireland and Campbelltown .This year Portugal trying to do as many tracks s,GR's and local trail to cut down on the road work . Want a l...

Have been waiting for Cannondale to bring out( if the ever do) a 29er Headshok with the appropriate bosses. Last bike was one of the last 26 wheel Headshok tourers made in the USA before they moved production. Have a nice lefty but the fork can't take a bag or cage ,OK for a day away. Lots say Heads...

The notion that panniers are Taboo is strange coming from the opening post. To me its gone full circle with Tailfin Ortlieb and OMM latest offerings. Never got the high up weight on most bikepacking setups. How many spend day after day on singletrack weaving in-between the trees? Its perfect for the...

Have a trek 920, with 10 by 2 ,flat bars and run Mezcal 2.25 tyres ,its heavy and want a lighter setup. .Needs bosses for my OMM elkhorn racks ,not interested in frame bags as am not into a regimented style of packing. The fork is old style straight steerer and heavy with 2 instead of 3 bosses, need...

Portugal and locked gates, GR's and local walks are fine unless it turns into a hike a bike. Lots of gates locked in the south east, its Strava and Veloviewer heatmaps to the rescue. Met a German bikepacker, said Komoot routes (was trying to link up circular routes ) often ended up at a locked gate/...

Lots of time for it to dry out, some sections have a special mud.
Hope it stays dry and all is well.

Have a good trip, one of the better refugios has a forestry watch tower beside it.. Well worth a stay, and a panoramic view of the vast forest from the top..Some are pretty basic .

Rather than carry cooking gear why not support the local bars and restaurants. It's global warming and potential fire risk, the odd morning or half a day may be away from it all . Nothing better than stopping at bars where open , they can do food to carry and a bottle of wine for the overnights in t...

Had a look for the place names, we are heading north to Oviedo and Gijon. Want to do the Roman road thro the Cantabtian mountains.

Where was the push up, was it in the Sierra Notre park on the track with new gravel chuncks then dirt before Almaden de la Plata? Or further noth of Caceres.

The weather was hot unit 2days ago. Up in Caceres now, dry and hot is ideal. Last 2 days lots of runoffs crossing the track and for the walkers concrete blocks for stepping stones if rain. Its winter now for lots of tourist sights in Merida, just shows that global warming is here to stay .Prefer dry...

Almost? Is that missing a section due to the weather and using the road ?

Malaga to Seville for the route. We are up near Merida. The route is being worked on from Castilblanco da la Arroyos to the entrance of the Sierra Notre park. A gravel wide track to keep the walkers off the road and on the sections up to the top of the climb from after the descent from the old Natio...

This is looking like its popular route, been on quite a few sections as we zig zag our way north. Almost everywhere we have stayed another bike or 2 are in. Up in Molina de Argon a bike is in tonight don't know if its going to the north at Zaorejas to start or has finished. 1st bike in a hotel was j...

Rasta is spot on about the dirt roads disappearing, we were over for a month just back. Took a section out of the Morocco Overland book by Chris Scott. Its out of date now, lots of new tarmac, with the recent floods some of the new roads have been washed away in parts and a few bridges are wreaked. ...