Taking the gravel bike to Estepona in October, are there any decent maps or is it a case of ‘follow your nose’?
Anyone offroaded down that way?

Try wikiloc: https://www.wikiloc.com/
It’s very popular in spain

If digital is in your vocabulary then back country navigator app has Spain IGN Topo maps as an option, we used it to do the bernia ridge a few years ago. For biking, app navigating is much easier than paper map. They have a free trail app you can look at

‘Equivalent’ has to be interpreted fairly broadly if you’re talking about Spanish maps…

yes depends what scale you’re after but worth checking out

Stanfords–eghttps://www.stanfords.co.uk/maps-and-atlases-of-spain?q=&ExistingSearchID=59091093&FilterNumber=1&OptionId=59&NewFilterState=1&viewmode=list&pagesize=20&orderby=0

and

Dash4It

https://dash4it.co.uk/uk-maps./publisher-brand/cnig-spanish-department-maps.html?product_list_limit=28

Bernina ridge is a great day out.

I used paper CNIG maps ahead of a trip to lanzarote recently. Stanfords didn’t seem to have great availability, but mapsworldwide.com had good availability.

Once there we found that the map/route search on Strava was a great way to see what the locals’ popular good routes were, and then use strava to navigate those as well. Mate downloaded to his wahoo bolt….

Also downloaded spain road maps to the HereWeGo app and used those for free mapping on road rides.

The IGN Mapas de Espagne app is good – similar to OS maps or Iphigenie for France. I have them all on subscription – I think it’s under 20 Euros a year and works in the canaries. The main thing is the little arrow that shows where you are. Not as good as OS maps but what is? But still a total game changer as far as I’m concerned.

IGN Mapas de Espagne

“Mapas de España”, and it’s free. I have it on my phone as a backup for just in case, although of course you do need cell phone coverage for it to work. That said, here in Madrid we all just use Wikiloc – it’s not entirely risk free, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been out and the general consensus has been “the guy who uploaded this was lost”… so sometimes you end up doing a bit of hiking / doubling back, but so far we’ve all made it home intact 🙂

So Wikiloc, but check out a few routes in the area just to make sure they all more or less agree. You could also use the Strava heat map (if you have a paid subscription) or the Garmin version (assuming you have a Garmin).

You could also use the Strava heat map (if you have a paid subscription) or the Garmin version (assuming you have a Garmin).

I’ve got neither!
I’m pretty basic*

*Old fashioned.

My mistake – apparently the Strava heatmap is free, but only with limited detail (it doesn’t show street names). It’s a bit useless for planning, but if you find a route on Wikiloc you could at least visually compare it to what the local riders are doing.

https://www.strava.com/heatmap#13.01/-5.21027/36.44044/hot/ride

on the road, then I would go for something like a michelin green/scenic map if they cover your area. I have a couple of the military maps tat pass for OS equivalent paper maps in spain and they are a pain, black and white iirc to start with.

I’ve got neither!
I’m pretty basic*
*Old fashioned

Presumably you’re reading responses on ceefax or something?

It’s the 21st century, strava has been here for ~14years.

Come on EGF,Time to bite the bullet and get with the modern world 😜

Presumably you’re reading responses on ceefax or something?

I don’t even have that! (anymore)
I’ve had Strava for about 8 years but I’m a freeloader & only really use it to log rides. GPX files? Me no idea!
Anyway I’ve downloaded Maps de Espana that Molgrips mentioned, looks like it might be handy. Cheers Moly.

esselgruntfuttock

Anyway I’ve downloaded Maps de Espana that Molgrips mentioned, looks like it might be handy. Cheers Moly.

molgrips…..mogrim….. almost the same, i suppose! 🤣😁😉

I’m not sure whether to be insulted or relieved that I clearly haven’t wasted as much time on here as molly has 😀

molgrips…..mogrim….. almost the same, i suppose! 🤣😁😉

Haha! Apologies Mogrim. Or apologies Molgrips, I’m not sure which!
See what I mean? You expect me to be able to work GTX files & I can’t even get peoples names right! 😂😂🤔🤔

That said, here in Madrid we all just use Wikiloc – it’s not entirely risk free, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been out and the general consensus has been “the guy who uploaded this was lost”… so sometimes you end up doing a bit of hiking / doubling back, but so far we’ve all made it home intact 🙂

Yep I’ve noticed that you sometimes need to rationalize out the bits where people get lost :-).

The strava heat tracks are good to check that people actually do ride the route your are thinking of doing but tbh where I am we have a motorway you can legally cycle on and Strava tries to suggest that.

I use wikiloc and import it into komoot as it gives surface data and height profile and weather temps (as in August it’s a bit hot in espana so the ride home wants to be mostly down hill) or with some handy bars/restaurants/petrol stations strategically placed.

I’m writing this after a glorious ride this morning amongst the wild beaches in the Cabo de Gato.

You could always reach out to the local bike clubs via Facebook someone will probably give you the links to the well known strav routes or wikiloc.

Ah before anyone asks – it’s right grim here you wouldn’t like it.

Ah a usefull tip is the supermarkets do cheap isotonic drinks say 70c for 1.5litre of own brand stuff but it’s very nice and you can get some with a little sugar instead of spending tons on tablets to mix your own.

I’m writing this after a glorious ride this morning amongst the wild beaches in the Cabo de Gato.

I’m just up the coast from you right now, in Torrevieja 🙂

where I am we have a motorway you can legally cycle on and Strava tries to suggest that.

Just in case anyone was wondering, you can only ride a bike on motorways if there’s no service road and no other reasonable way to get to the next town. The only stretch I ever do in Madrid is a km or so between Chapinería and Navas del Rey, and we avoid it as much as possible. It’s about as pleasant as you’d expect it to be – the hard shoulder is OK, but driving past an exit you don’t want to take is scary as ****. Please don’t assume you can a) legally ride on a motorway or b) Spanish drivers are expecting to see a bike on them!

^^^
Yep it’s a funny legal thing and it’s grim, there was actually an accident with a cyclist hit by 2 motorbikes very recently.

TBH Komoot probably needs a checkbox to avoid motorways in Spain 🙂

The other things that are different are drinking and cycling is an offence and speed limits apply to you as well as bicycles are treated as vehicles not fun wagons.

There’s also helmet laws:

“cyclists have to wear a helmet outside urban areas but are exempt during periods of excessive heat, on steep hills or if they are professional cyclists”

And front and rear lights and reflective clothing after sunset and yo gotta have a bell.

No riding in the bus lanes either.

In theory cars have to give you 1.5 metres distance when they pass or move to the other lane if more lanes in the same direction and where I am most people do this:YMMV.

If your planning on wild camping it’s a bit of a no no but is tolerated in some places(yep it’s a funny place),they also do declare areas of interest where you can be fined for mtbing which may be on on wikiloc but not commented as don’t ride this bit.

Camp Fires/bbq are also a big no no during june 1 to Oct 15,they can also shut access to some areas at risk of fire.

Outside these times they do have recreational places with bbqs you can use.

We have hit and miss cycling infrastructure in my area but once out the town there’s millions of quiet roads and via verdes and it’s just great to cycle around the fun’s building the sweet spot rides.

I’m just up the coast from you right now, in Torrevieja 🙂

It’s on my list of places to go, I recently went to Benidorm to savour it’s delights so gradually working up the coast.

I actually enjoyed the few days there.(Didn’t see sticky Vickys daughter thou.)

In theory cars have to give you 1.5 metres distance when they pass or move to the other lane if more lanes in the same direction and where I am most people do this:YMMV.

IME Spanish drivers are pretty good – most of them hang back until they can overtake safely, without squeezing past regardless.

I recently went to Benidorm to savour it’s delights so gradually working up the coast.

We also went to Benidorm recently – it’s a very weird place, 100% dedicated to tourism (and mostly British)… nothing like Torrevieja, for example!

So I got IGN downloaded on my phone (Andyroid) but it’s not showing my location, which is all I’m after.
I assume you don’t need to subscribe because I downloaded it to my IPad & it does on that.
Phone settings?
It’s Moto G7 Power & I don’t think it doesn’t have a compass facility but I though GPS would work.
Any pointers? ( not compass ones obs)