Well done PB - glad your stuff is coming together!
Yesterday we had a meeting with our architect, Pedro Miguel. He went over our Building License with us (3 A4 pages of legal Spanish, obviously) to check that everything is in order. There were no surprises. We have to start the project within a year and finish within three years of the license being issued. If we need an extension after that we can apply for one - that's quite common. The property should be built "as shown on our drawings". Published safety guidelines must be followed by the contractor on site. Don't unduly interfere with the neighbours etc.
Of course we now have a fee to pay - calculated as a percentage of the cost of the total works. A percentage of this fee is government tax.
In some cases the percentage of tax can be reduced - "for rehabilitation of ancient buildings that fall within special council guidelines". Our building is not special in that way (although it is very special to us) so we get no reduction. On the plus side though, buildings that fall under that "special" heading with the council can only have certain modifications made to them. We would rather pay the full fee and get the finish we want than pay a little less tax but not be allowed to do "this or that" with our building. . . .
Always enjoy reading these updates. The Zona-Zero video was good too, featured the bridge above.
Yes - the bridge is very close to the deserted village which also features I several Zona Zero videos.
Glad you're enjoying the posts 🙂
We need to take out a loan to help with the building costs of converting our "Barn" into a home and B&B business, so we had to employ an independent financial assessor to assess the property. He looked at the property some months ago but couldn't finish the assessment without planning permission being granted.
Now that we have planning permission he has finished the assessment and we talk to our first bank on Monday morning.
Meanwhile this weekend we must go though the builders quotes we have received and compare them . . . .
🙂
Keep up the good work Spekkie, I read these with jealous interest, se ve fantistico!
Cheers surfer!
It's been a funny old week in Cataluña. The weather has been lovely, clear blue skies but cold at night so the new fire has had a good workout. The house is lovely and warm despite having the insulation properties of a plastic bag. The solar power setup is working well and there's no danger of the blackouts we experienced last winter. We harvested our olives on Tuesday and proudly took the sack to the local moli d'oli where the laughing owner turned it into a whole litre of extra virgin oil.
Since leaving our VW camper in the UK to sell, we've missed having the option of having the odd night away so today we've been to order a new one. The one we've decided on is built about 30 minutes away but they don't sell from the factory so we had to go to the nearest dealer up near Barcelona. They only have 4 allocated to them next year and nothing until May so we took the plunge and ordered one there and then. Hopefully they will ask the factory to make it a bit sooner. It's a Benimar and a big step up being 6m long and based on the new ford transit chassis. It's pretty palatial, having a shower and toilet and will mean we can stay on the huge number of free camper areas throughout Spain which are in great locations but don't have facilities.Can't wait.
PB - I'll message you regarding your heating setup. Likewise here - beautiful sunny days but a bit nippy at night. Still comfortable in shorts though 🙂
Camper sounds nice!
Oh - I thought this was another Buckingham Palace thread.
Spanish builders BTW are a whole new world of pain.
Unless you can find a Portuguese one.
We've had an interesting week. . . .
On Monday we saw the bank and things are looking fine there. The interest rate for borrowing over here is between 1.5% and 2.5% at the moment.
Then on Tuesday Mrs Spekkie found an interesting website that explained and gave examples of typical contracts between Spanish builders and their clients. Some very useful stuff for us to be aware of.
On Wednesday we had a catch-up meeting with our architect to discuss a few things. We also spoke to him about two additional licences that Mrs Spekkie had read about on the "Contracts" website.
The first is called the "License for first occupation" which is where, at the end of the build, they come and check that the building was built according to the drawings you submitted. The second is called the "License of confirmed functionality" which is the one that checks that the rooms we are building for the B&B part of the house are "fit for purpose".
They are both either free or have already been paid for when we paid the bill for the Planning Permission Certificate.
Tomorrow we are looking at builders quotes to compare builders . . . decision time 😉
Sounds good, looking forward to seeing the fruit of your labours.
Amazingly our builders turned up on Wednesday to replace some of the wooden beams that support our upstairs lounge and bedroom. The initial thoughts that 6 needed doing were optimistic, in the end 8 1/2 were replaced. We were shocked at the state of the old beams, some were virtually hollow having been eaten from the inside by generations of woodworm. The builder reckoned we were lucky that the ceiling hadn't come down. I avoided commenting that we had been waiting for them to come since April!
If your plans include having beams, make sure they come treated and give them loads of coats of Xylophene to protect them. A couple down the road from us had a house built from scratch a few years ago and their new beams were infested with worms. They only found out when they started falling out in the middle of the night.
Ainsa Old Town from the Castle Wall. Autumn Sunshine . . .
Will you be submitting that for a Short Film Oscar. More car park next time please 😉 ?
Only teasing, hope all is well. Looks remarkably green but I don't know the area or climate well.
🙂
Just "pointing and clicking" . . .
Soy celosa 🙂
"Estoy celoso" at a guess, I thought you were male?
Anyway, builders contracts: usual sort of thing is paying something like 10%/40%/40% and hold back 10% until after delivery. And make sure you include some kind of penalty clause if they go over the agreed dates - you'll end up going over anyway, but it stops them taking the piss.
You can save money if you provide the materials - a builder will charge you 15€/m2 for tiling (for example) but actually get the tiles for 8€, and pocket the difference. If you get them yourself you could probably get them for 10€. Not as cheap as the builder, but cheaper than the quoted rates.
Get local references.
Cheers Mogrim! Duly noted.
Surfer - you're not the first person to say that 🙂
I spent a couple of days this week working in shorts and a T-shirt with Ramon the Farmer - Splitting and Stacking Firewood from trees he felled and cut up in his Woods at the beginning of the year. The wood had dried nicely during the summer and was fairly easy to split using axes (I bought my big one with me from SA) and a wood splitting Maul (which has a head that is half-axe and half-sledgehammer).
We tractor-trailered the wood back up the hill to below the Farmhouse and stacked it in the wood store. Great fun and very rewarding work. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't done it to try it!
A few more loads to do next week before the weather finally changes for winter . . . .
Living the dream 🙂
Zona-Zero was host to Stage 7 of the Enduro World Series 2015 🙂
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What is Zona-Zero in Ainsa?
This summary from an article on the "BikeMagic" website sums it up nicely . . . .
"There is a small but devoted scene of local mountain bikers, unlike any we are used to in the UK. Riders of all shapes and sizes share the hillside and the sport brings the townsfolk together in riding and maintaining the ever-growing number of trails.
The local government made the forward-thinking decision to signpost and advertise the area as a mountain bike trail centre and it is now growing in popularity amongst Spaniards and foreign tourists alike.
Trails vary from short loops around the town to epic descents from high up in the Pyrenees mountains, which sit as a backdrop to the town. All the rides are clearly detailed on a trail map and are well marked with coloured wooden posts and signs. The longer rides are reasonably arduous but never venture a huge distance from civilisation, so it’s easy to return to town or to a tar road if necessary.
From up high, rocky traces of singletrack negotiate steep mountainsides with an epic backdrop of cliffs and in springtime snow too. These longer trails really are fantastically adventurous and take you on a journey from summit to valley encountering every terrain imaginable in-between, along with tiny traditional hamlets and rest-stops along the way.
Expect dusty rollercoasters down low and sometimes precarious singletrack up high. But above all, be ready for an adventure to remember"
These trails are what we call "Zona-Zero" . . . .
8)
🙂 Hey Tony, we took BikeMagic there to write that article. That was back in... maybe 2010, or 2011? We shot an old video to help promote the area then too, really funny to look back and see that bit of my history. Back then ZZ was pretty much unknown and we were working with the guys to try and help promote it a bit. We did a few days with James there and then some other stuff, including a disasterous trip to "Spanish Utah" where the road was closed and we ended up in a town that was straight out of a B-movie and got ripped off by some hicks. James wrote that up for Dirt in a hilarious column.
Sorry for the slight hijack, a great trip down memory lane! Here´s James shredding. And below a photo (see if you can spot the location) taken back in 2009 on our first trip to the area.
We´ll be there for a couple of weeks in January, hopefully see you for a beer!
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That second pic is not far from my house. I see Boltaña town down there in the middle of the pic and Boltaña Castle up on its hill top.
I was talking to Angel the other day about how the place has developed. New trails added all the time. It really is a great place to live.
Nice that you have history here Doug.
Yeah, not far from your house at all! In fact that day we ended up riding past your house on the way back to Ainsa in the near dark because we´d stayed out so long. Or I think we did, if my memory serves me right.
The place has changed so much over the years. More trails, and more people. I´m delighted that they´ve made such a success out of it, they deserve it. I´m proud that we´ve been part of it too, even if it´s just a small part. You´ll be making your own history there too I hope, it certainly seems like you´ve made a fantastic start.
Bookmarking as I think a lot of whats been covered will also be of use to me down in Estapona 🙂
Doug - Once we're finished we'll arrange an afternoon coffee & cake stop at our place for you guys 🙂
Palmer77 - the coast is nice down that way. They are having huge floods at the moment though, in and around Malaga. Shout if you have any questions . . .
Today has been our cycle club social event. Met in a very foggy Mora D'Ebre at 9am then 20 or so rode up into the mountains for about an hour. Once up there a hill climb had been arranged over a 3km gravel and Singletrack course rising about 250m to an ermita. It was a mass start and I was quite pleased to come in 5th. It was quite chilly at the top so we rode a few metres down to a little summer house owned by 1 of the club where we had hot chocolate with cake and biscuits, followed by coffee and Brandy! 1st prize was a cured ham joint that you see for sale everywhere at this time of year. The ride back down to Mora was a bit hairy but incident free.
We've been really lucky to find a group of riding buddies to show us round and accept us even though our grasp of Catalan is still poor.
Last week we were both presented with trophies by the local village ajuntament, me for my exploits on the CAT700 and Mrs PB for coming second in the area Trail Running champs.
Tony, what is the likely timescale for your renovation, are you hoping to be operational next Summer?
The plan is to be open by the Spring PB. Meeting with Bank, Architect and Builder this week to put the final plans in place.
Coffee and cake in spring. I´ve got that in the calendar!
Re the above tile prices recified porcelain i paid c 9e m2 in spain, i am in uk at the moment and seeing the same for about 30 gbp m2. They are made in castellon so i suppose transport must cost a fair bit. If you want a lot best speak to the factories direct. Be aware of adhesive costs too, only 4e per 25kg bag but you get through loads.
Good luck in the refurb btw, i really fancy a cycle tour of the area so will keep in touch on fb.
spekkie - Member
Doug - Once we're finished we'll arrange an afternoon coffee & cake stop at our place for you guysPalmer77 - the coast is nice down that way. They are having huge floods at the moment though, in and around Malaga. Shout if you have any questions . . .
Tell me about it 🙂 We've been here since the end of August, and the last two weeks have been very wet!!! I've not been out on the mountain trails yet, as I sold my MTB before we moved here, doing loads on the road though, much hillier than Bedfordshire lol
I recognise the trail in the lower pic, it's not far from French guide Pierre's place. Advice to anyone riding there: Leave the hartail at home, 150mm is not too much travel, take plenty of water and expect to feel thoroughly rattled at the end of the day. The first pic is unusually smooth.
We were there for the Enduro in September 2015. I first rode across the Sierra de Guarra in [b]August[/b] 1995 - not a good idea.
The Estate Agent, Pilar Maria, who showed us the property that we ended up buying, shares an office with an architect (Pedro Miguel) who gives advice to people like us who buy properties that need either restoration work (as in the case of someone buying an old house in an abandoned village) or, as in our case (with it being a barn conversion) - a major design change.
When we first saw the property with Pilar Maria it was a Tuesday morning in June 2015. I fell in love with it when I saw it and so she arranged a meeting for us with Pedro Miguel for the next morning so that we could discuss what was possible "design wise" with the property. Wendy and I went back again to the property on our own that evening to have another look at the property "before tomorrows meeting" and we actually decided that it was too bigger project - too much work - and that there were too many obstacles in getting it turned into something we could live in and use for the B&B business that we wanted to start.
The next morning we met with Pedro Miguel and we went through our long list of reasons why we should not buy and renovate the property. One by one PM was able to reassure us and dismiss our problems with sensible answers - not as someone who was desperate to "push a sale through" but as someone who really wanted to help us get to where we wanted to go.
This week we have had what was probably our last meeting with PM before the building work finally starts after Christmas.
As well as producing a full set of around 30 construction drawings/plans for the property and a 138 page "Execution of Project" document that covers literally every aspect of the project - from the exact details of the very first old existing wall that needs knocking down to the quality specification of the final coat of paint in the kitchen, and everything in between - PM has assisted us with a myriad of other things . . .
He and Pilar Maria helped us find somewhere to store our furniture before it arrived. When the furniture truck turned up he was there to help us negotiate with the driver to take our belongings to a different location than the one on the shipping contract and then he helped us unload the truck and store our stuff. He has acted as translator for us dozens of times - when we've had difficult meetings with neighbours to sort out various issues that have come up and for things totally unrelated with our project. He has checked and translated official documents for us, he came to the bank with us and he came to the council with us to help push our planning application through. He has been the "calm person" standing with two quite often not very calm people (even more so as time plodded on and we seemed to be getting nowhere!) and he has managed to slowly but steadily get us to where we are now.
It's easy to forget how much help someone has given you - above and beyond anything they were ever obliged to give you, but I was reminded of it this week at our final "pre-build meeting" when an IT chap came into the office to sort out a computer problem and PM introduced us as "my friends, Tony & Andrea". . . .
🙂
This thread is always an enjoyable read
Totally agree about going above and beyond. When we had the solar power upgraded, I asked the guy if he could recommend someone to fit a tow bar, he has a friend with a garage and we got a price which was the most competitive by some margin. When you have a tow bar fitted in Spain, the car has to go to the MOT station to have it checked and the log book is amended. This isn't really a job for the garage that fitted it but he came with me, together with the solar guy as translator, and spent 2 hours sorting out the paperwork to get the matriculation. I would be really struggling to do this myself.
It works both ways. Back in the spring, we lent a friend of Mrs PB her TT bike to do her first Ironman, every time we see her parents in the village, it's hugs and kisses, they own a Moli D'Oli and we often get gifts of Olive oil, honey and suchlike. I don't think Catalans do standoffish
Thanks Jamba.
It's nice, isn't it PB.
Good news building is starting. I will be back in spain mid jan i will deffo cycle your way when the days get a bit longer. It will be road touring though. Good luck wth the builders.
Keep me posted Poolman.
It’s been a busy week and sadly I’ve been neglecting my riding and trail maintenance lately… .
On Thursday I did manage to join Angel from “Zona-Zero” though and we did some trail-clearing out near Route ZL-004, which is one of the “Light” routes. This particular one is near the “Muro de Roda” which is a very old castle up on a hill. The plan is to clear several old paths and cut a few new ones in the area to form a network of trails with Route ZL-004 as the “Base route”.
Our first Christmas in Spain . . . .
It's been nice. We've been well looked after (and very well FED) by our neighbours, the families of our neighbours and by the British couple who live in a town 60km away but have a weekend place in our village.
Christmas and New Year have been pretty much as I expected they would be, because I've had many years of Christmases in the UK - but for Mrs Spekkie it's been very different. Coming from South Africa she's used to Summer at Christmas! This Winter weather is killing her and she's a long way from family. Face-Time has helped us keep in touch though 🙂
We had supper on Christmas Eve in a nearby town with family of neighbours. The meal started at 9pm and finished at 2am. Some of the other guests arrived just after midnight!
Christmas day was a huge meal with Ramon the friendly farmer and his wife Rosa & some of their friends. Many varied courses and much wine!
Boxing day with the British couple and they did a traditional Christmas roast. Very nice.
New Years Eve was quiet and then on New Years Day we were invited to our local church up on the hill for the "blessing of the New Year". It was all in Spanish and the church is Catholic - but I think I got the gist of it . . . .
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2017 is a good one for you all!
I really enjoy reading this thread although I have no specific vested interest.
I did suggest way back in the thread that 'Driving Over Lemons' was a good book to read with very similar circumstances to yours.
What appears to hold true from the book and the last few pages of experiences now that you have settled in is that it is all about community and helping out your neighbours.
What a fantastic place and way to live.
🙂
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2017 is a good one for you all!
You too. Enjoying following your adventure!
Cheers PJ!
First week of January and between around 11am and 4pm the weather here really is beautiful!
Checking out more local trails for the bike and soaking up the winter sunshine . . . .
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8)
Hope you've got provisions in, snow tomorrow on this side of the hill and on your lump of limestone too I guess.
The winter weather that a lot of northern and eastern Europe has been experiencing over the last few weeks was headed towards the Pyrenees yesterday and got there last night.
Up in the Alto-Pyrenees - places like Bielsa & the Ski resort of Benasque - nearly a meter of snow has fallen and the tunnel from France that our friends from the UK came through when they visited us back in the summer is currently closed, as is the tunnel at Somport, north of Jaca.
Ainsa has a bit of a cold wind blowing through it at the moment but sunny skies - no rain or snow here and it was up around 11 degrees when we popped to the shops earlier.
Cold but certainly not too cold.
Guaso today was sunny and fairly warm if you kept out of the slight wind 🙂
We can see the snow that fell on our nearest mountain, the Peña Montañesa, last night but it's all above about 2000m. You can see the bad weather behind the mountains but, despite the snow blowing towards us from France, it's not making it as far as us.
This is the sort of "bad weather" I don't mind - when you can just see it in the distance . . .
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This picture of Ainsa "Old Town" being used in the latest tourism initiative from our local area council.
(From Facebook)
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Corona de Aragon
22 November 2015
Hello. Very good morning. We want to collaborate from crown of Aragon with this initiative of treasures of Aragon to publicize locations of our land, Aragon. We need your help. The shape is very simple, give the likes and / or share this message. The first town we want to make known to the whole world, is Ainsa. Help us, we want to reach 25.000 people reached. Thank you.
It's been a little while since I updated our "Buying & Renovating" thread properly . . . . . . things did not go as planned for us at the beginning of the month and we've consequently found ourselves being kept busy with all sorts of things we didn't expect!
It's sometimes been difficult to stay positive but we're still alive and kicking and not ready to give up just yet . . . .
Over the next few days I'll post updates on all the ups and downs 🙂
Vamos! "next few days" have come and gone - hope things are looking a little more positive now?
Spekkie I know it will be on a previous page but do you have a facebook linky?
surfer - look for "Tony & Andrea's Big Adventure" on FB.
mogrim . . . .
As anyone following the thread will know, we've had lots of delays during our first 12 months here - slowly but surely we've plodded on and as I've said before, there are worse places than here to be stuck hanging around, that's for sure. It is all taking it's toll on us financially and mentally though.
The latest problem we seem to be facing is courtesy of our Bank. Originally they liked our ideas, approved our business plan and agreed (in principal) to lend us the "top up" amount we required to pay for the building work needed to renovate our property into a B&B. Nothing could be finalised until we had planning permission though.
In the (very long) time it took us to obtain our planning permission the EU Court ruled that Spanish Banks had previously acted unlawfully when granting mortgages with "minimum interest rates" attached. Long story short - Spanish Banks are going to have to pay back around 5 Billion Euros between them to customers who were granted mortgages with these minimum interest rates set. As an example, the plumber quoting our heating system was reimbursed 30 000 Euros by his bank recently.
This ruling and the subsequent payments the banks are having to make back to customers seems to have changed the landscape in terms of who banks will lend money to / how much they have available to lend and they are not as keen as they were to lend to us. We are currently waiting to hear from our bank as to where we stand, but in the meantime, we can't sign contracts with our builder . . . who was expecting to start in the second week of January . . . .
On a more positive note - I was wearing shorts up until a week before Christmas and this week I've started wearing them again.
6 weeks of Winter I can live with 🙂
I think you should quote temperatures rather than whether you can wear shorts. I'm only just over the hill where I have seen a couple of runners in shorts but the rest of the population is in jackets and coats..
Just do it all yourself. On n'est jamais mieux servi que par soit-même.
No shorts here on the coast so you are brave up there. It is going dark now at 7ish so the longer days are coming. The wind here has been gusting v strongly over a week now. Yesterday i was walking at 700m and nearly got blown off my feet, days are c 18 degrees so out of the wind you can sit in shorts in the sun.
No shorts here in Madrid but then I'm a big wuss 🙂 Snow forecast for tomorrow, and a biting cold wind today are my excuse.
the EU Court ruled that Spanish Banks had previously acted unlawfully when granting mortgages with "minimum interest rates" attached.
Ah, the "clasulas suelo". For better or for worse I didn't have one of those, so my bank doesn't owe me any money 😕 Sorry to hear that's affected your plans, first I've heard that that particular ruling was affecting consumer credit. I'm sure you'll get there in the end!
It's nice, when things are crawling along at a snails pace and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be on a dimmer switch, to be given some professional reassurance 🙂
When our first choice of bank seemed to be dragging it's heels with regards to our top-up loan, we started talking in tandem to a second bank. One that specialises in loans for properties in rural areas. The manager there loved our ideas and our business plan but before he could consider our application his risk department needed us to have a "Viability Study" carried out by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services, who are based in the nearby town of Huesca. It's a free service that takes about 10 days to complete. We sent them everything we could - business plan, the architects project, a dozen emails with lots of "extra" ideas we've had . . .
We met with Susana, the lady from the Dept of Commerce, this week and she gave us her report. We're thrilled to learn that according to her, based on everything we gave her (and we gave her a lot!) and everything she knows about the expanding tourism and investment in the local area etc etc, we will be successful with our venture 🙂
Of course there will be hard work and long hours, but we can manage that - the view out of the window will remind us why we're doing it.
We've passed the report on to the bank manager and I think he's as happy as we are.
Now we just have to wait . . . for a change.
I’ve been working here on a side project for a little while now that we thought we’d keep to ourselves until we were sure I’d understood our neighbour “The Friendly Farmer", correctly. As it turns out, we both understood each other fine and it’s “all systems go”, so here’s the story …
When we were looking for a place to set up and run a B&B we concentrated on looking at places that we thought would appeal to cyclists. We want to cater for everyone but we would also like to have a reputation for being somewhere that can meet the specific needs of cyclists.
We started looking along the Pilgrimage route “El Camino de Santiago de Compostela” but finally settled on the village of Guaso just outside Ainsa, Aragon, in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.
With its network of well kept local roads threading their way between the mountains and with the hundreds of kilometers of amazing world class Enduro and Mountain Bike Trails of “Zona-Zero”, this place is almost perfect. The only thing we really found lacking in the area, and this was bought to our attention by several families that we got chatting to last summer, was mountain bike rides suitable for mums and children… .
During our first year here we’ve got to know our old “semi-retired” farmer neighbours very well and it became apparent that they own quite a bit of the local countryside. The full extent of which I didn’t appreciate until one day I offered to help the Farmer cut some trees down for next years firewood and he took me on a tractor-tour of the farm to get to the woods where the trees were.
Standing there in the middle of what felt like nowhere, but was actually not too far from our houses through the trees, I was stunned at how big and how beautiful the area was. Amazing views, private woods, streams, fire roads, sheep paths, abandoned houses - you name it, he’s got it. More importantly, I was impressed with how much of the area was relatively flat. I complemented him on his land and told him that it would be amazing for cross-country mountain bike cycling - and perfect for the families of guys who came to stay with us to ride the fairly tough “Zona-Zero” routes. He smiled and said “You are welcome to use this land anyway you want”.
So (and THIS was the bit I needed to make sure I’d understood correctly!) he was allowing me to build what would essentially be our own private mountain bike park, suitable for the families of our guests (and Mrs Spekkie) on his land - right outside our own back door!
I’ve now been trail-building for three weeks. I’ve shown the Farmer the trails I’ve cut so far and he’s very happy with it all. He’s used his tractor to help me clear the main dirt road that goes from the top where our houses are down into the center of the flatter area - the rest I’ve done by hand myself. It’s hard work but it’s very rewarding.
I tested out the first 3km of twisty-trails on Saturday and I’m happy with what I’ve done so far …
We’re amazingly lucky to have been given permission to do this and I’m loving every day of building it.
This picture outlines the rough boundaries of the land we will be using . . .
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Some pictures of work on our own personal "Bike Park".
Ramon the Friendly Farmer helped me with the main dirt road from our houses down to the flat area in the middle of the farm.
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This looks great. You taking bookings for 2018…?
Not quite yet. I'll let you know as soon as we are 🙂
Well Done Spekkie!
Looks great, keep up with the updates!
The other day I skipped doing any work on our "Bike Park" and took Ms Spekkie for a look around. We walked some of the trail I've done so far and then we went a bit further down the farm to see an area that I haven't really explored yet.
As you can see, there's a lot to do yet!
Looking forward to doing more work soon - I want to get at least one basic circuit finished asap.
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Cheers Clobber!
A bit more work on the bike park . . .
The Bike Park and the Farm above it are all on a hillside so whenever it rains, even if it's only a light rain, you end up with quite a bit of water coming down and funneling into a few specific places. No problem for the tractor but not so good for cars or bikes.
I diverted the water away from this access road further up the hill and now Ramon is using the tractor to level off what was previously was a "part-time river" . . .
Really pleased with my old car. For a quite heavy front wheel drive station wagon - it can get almost anywhere!
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I've obviously checked the drive time from Paris, looks more like a flight to me !
I suspect it's 9 hrs from Paris Jambalaya?
Today I walked the entire length of the Mountain Bike Trail that I've cut/cleared/built so far. From our house in Guaso, through the farm yard and down onto the farm land.
I took tools with me because I knew I had to widen a couple of corners that I had thought were ok but turned out to be a bit too tight on a bike (I'm on a 29er) when I tested the trail the other day.
Aside from that it was just a case of trimming a few bushes and kicking a few stones out the way as I walked - most of the trail was good. I'm pleased. It's only about 3km long so far but it's a good start. More trail building tomorrow 🙂
For the last week or so I’ve been splitting my time between working on the first section of Bike Park MTB Trail - which is now complete 🙂 and working on the main dirt road that goes down onto the farm.
I’ll test the newly completed first section of MTB Trail on my bike tomorrow to see how it feels.
The dirt road, which needs some serious re-modelling to try and prevent it from flooding and becoming waterlogged for a week whenever it rains, is more of an ongoing project. It’s about 1000m long and has several sections that turn into quite a muddy-stream when it rains, so I’m trying to slope it into waterways I’m cutting beside the road. The first dodgy section is done and we will see next time it rains whether I got it right or not. The other problem areas will be dealt with one by one … .
Mud-fest part one - before and after pics …
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"Zona Zero", the name given to the world famous Mountain Biking Trail Area that we live in the middle of, has been given the "Seal of Tourist Excellence" for the third consecutive year 🙂
Well done to everyone involved. These are the trails that I ride every time I take my MTB out and the award is well deserved!
Summer and Winter water levels at the local “Mediano” Reservoir . . .
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Brilliant.
I was only telling the missus the other day about your thread & how it would be a lovely region to visit.
I'm also interested for 2018. 😀
[i]Brilliant.
I was only telling the missus the other day about your thread & how it would be a lovely region to visit.
I'm also interested for 2018.[/i]
Cool!
The riding is amazing and it's a beautiful area with lots of "non-riding" stuff to do and see.
Keep watching this space 🙂
Enjoyable read and nice to see your keeping it updated. It's appealing to see you throw yourself into this, learning new skills as you go along. I wish you good luck too !
[i]Enjoyable read and nice to see your keeping it updated. It's appealing to see you throw yourself into this, learning new skills as you go along. I wish you good luck too ! [/i]
Cheers!
I'm enjoying it.
🙂
I reckon those new skills should include DIY. Clearing trails is all very well but it's time you could be using to do stuff you'll be paying slow-working tradesmen to do when they feel like it. Your priority should be getting rooms ready to let and people in them. Get stuck in! Both of you.
The nearest road-climb from my house (and there are many, believe me!) is the climb from just outside Boltaña, up to the village of Campodarbe.
It starts about 6km from home and is a 7km climb that ascends around 450m (1476ft). You can go up it as many times as you like and every time you go up you get to roll back down again.
What more could you ask for?
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