Here in sunny Spain, the risk of unnecessary cycling injuries clogging up A&E has been taken out of our hands, all leisure cycling is banned with a fine of between 1,500 and 600,000 Euros or 3 months in prison for breach. Initially I thought it was road only and had devised a local loop devoid of population, gave it a try on Saturday and only saw a goatherd in the distance in 30km. Catalan federation has clarified the situation so it’s no cycling for 2 weeks.

I can help with routes and logistics in NE Spain, we live in Cataluna and do a lot of multi day trips here. Flights still seem to be operating fine, I’m running a 9 day coast to coast trip over Easter which is largely off road.PM me for more info.

jwildcard, I live in Spain and run bikepacking trips from long weekends to multi day epics like the 9 day 1,100km coast to coast trip I’m doing next month. Based in Southern Cataluna which is a perfect area for such adventures. Here’s our website, we hire bikes too,
Casa Tomillo
Pm if interested.

In the early ’90s my father, who had been a pretty good rally driver in the ’60s and ’70s, decided to enter the Rally GB in a Ford Fiesta and run on a shoestring. Pre-event scruitineering was at Harrogate showground and there was a strict order of allocated times to do this. We were rather surprised to find our little car next in the queue to Juha Kankunnen, the current world champion in his Toyota Celica GT4. He was really pleasant, taking an interest in our car and chatting to my father who was then pushing 60. We joked that our entire budget for the rally would just about pay for 1 set of tyres on his Celica.

Where have 25 years gone since Colin’s 1 and only WRC win? Strange Derek Ringer wasn’t interviewed as he was his co-driver not Nicky Grist. I’ve mentioned it on here before but I played a minor part in his win on the Rally GB and thus WRC, I was spectating at a remote section in Kielder when he appeared with a puncture and was 1 of only about 3 or 4 at the spot. We helped change the wheel and get him back on the road, only losing about a minute. As was reported, he won the rally by 30 seconds. I was also on the last corner on the rally in Clocaenog, very emotional. All assumed it was the first of many wins, we didn’t reckon on Tommi Makinen and the Mitsubishi.

It was a short term gig so he could trouser some cash. Allegedly

+1 for Sopelana. Every Spring I do a 9 day Bikepacking trip from where I live in Cataluña to the Atlantic coast. We finish in Sopelana which is a lovely town with a range of hotels and a campsite, it’s also on the Bilbao metro line and costs about €2 to the centre of the city. There’s a great tapas bar overlooking the beach, I guess it gets very busy in the height of summer.

Never mind differences between the same company, they also charge different amounts depending on which country you are in. I’m not talking about differences due to shipping or currency, the basic cost of the item varies if you are ordering from the UK or Spain which doesn’t have such a cutthroat online market.

I always smile at the detergent TV adverts that warn,
“keep away from children”
it’s a maxim that’s stood me in good stead throughout my adult life.

Flights to Tarragona/Reus just over 2 hours from Manchester and usually cheap with Ryanair or Jet2, 40 minutes transfer to us. We have a range of road, gravel and mountainbikes for hire plus me as a guide. Mountain walking up to 1,400m, canoeing on the Ebro, Spain’s largest river or at the coast 15 mins away. Spring is the best time to come, mid 20’s dry and everything in bloom. This is us
Casa Tomillo
You’ll be very welcome

We had a few days there about 8 years ago, staying in our camper at a site on the outskirts of Bellver. There’s plenty of walking in the Serra de Cadi and several bike routes. You’re not far from La Seu d’Urgell which hosted the white water canoeing at the Barcelona Olympics and has a watersports activity centre using the rapids, it’s perfect for all but gets busy. Can’t really remember how pretty Bellver is but the area is lovely.

Bugger,I’m in Logrono riding L’Eroica Hispania, we’re making a long weekend of it so coming back Monday. Sorry, should have checked the GP date. You’ll have to come back in Sept for the Aragon race which is 30 miles away in Motoland Alcaniz. I can give you details of an alternative place in our local village of El Perello if you want to stop over here anyway.

I’d go for the ferry option as well, the new faster ones make it a no brainer. Lovely ride across the Rioja region and down the Ebro valley. Don’t forget to call in after the race, we’re 10 minutes off the coast road to Murcia and 2 hrs south of Barcelona. We do b&b and can sort out a bike freindly route for you. This is our website
Casa Tomillo
Edit. More good news, if you want to get quick miles in, the AP7 motorway between Tarragona and Alicante has been de-tolled so it’s free, you still have to pay around Barca but every litte helps.

Our place ticks pretty well all your boxes. We can flex the accommodation to fit 4. Kayaking on the river Ebro 10km away, biking and hiking from the door and range of good quality bikes to hire. Historic castles and medieval villages nearby.
Casa Tomillo
Pm me for more info and prices.

I hope something can be resolved for you TJ.

(Which one’s the tongue in cheek emogee?)
Be careful what you wish for, you do realise TJ being signed off sick until retirement will leave more time for squabbling on here? We’ll have to change the forum name to tjtrackworld.
The best outcome for all concerned would be a shoulder treatment plan that involves both hands being cuffed behind your back.
Only kidding, hope all goes well.

That Vittoria AKA at £5.99 or 2 for £15 is definitely a PX classic.

Are you a member of a union?

Genuine lol at that, either poster is new or been living in space.
Take early retirement with a neck injury, you’ll never look back.
(I know rotator cuff is shoulder but couldn’t resist)

Or if he lasts the first meeting with Dave, many haven’t.

If you’re thinking of a road trip along the eastern (Mediterranean) coast of Spain, we run an activity based b&b which is half way between Valencia and Barcelona. It’s a beautiful unspoilt area with loads of interesting places sandy beaches and quiet on and off road riding. Climate is perfect for activity or chilling out on the beach. We have both road and mountain bikes for hire and I can show you around or load a gps with suitable routes. Here’s our website
Casa Tomillo

We live in a little Finca near the Spanish Med coast in Southern Cataluna. We have a couple of rooms that we let on a b&b basis but could be negotiable if they prove handy with the various jobs around the place. We’re building a new pool area and have olive and almond trees to prune and older trees turn into fuel for the winter. There’s loads of mountainbiking around here, no uplift-based nonsense, you have to earn the downhills. If they can get themselves to the train station which is about 15km away, (L’Ametlla de Mar) we can pick them up.
This is us.
PM me if you’re interested.

My place? Perfect for what you need, I’ll sort a plan out for you.
Casa Tomillo
22° at the moment, hundreds of km of xc trails to go at.

Back in Penistone on sea for a few days seeing friends, thankfully bikeless but had an exhausting last night in the pub arguing with Brexit Bigots. Back home to Cataluña next week for some of this.

According to the car’s outside temp guage, it was 20° today, it’s a bit windy in Southern Cataluña but planning a day out on the bike tomorrow when it calms down. My poo test came back negative the other day too.

Due to the cr@p way this place updates on my tablet, I regularly miss the last page of threads. I’ll leave this conversation to you gods of IT.

Lord help me I knew 11 without recourse to the internet. Goombay dance band!

PistonBroke, we may know each other?

Bloody hell, if we were that’d be such a coincidence. I remember wearing one of those yellow and blue buffalo jackets, you could clearly see me on the in car camera as that was the only coverage of the events, it was too remote for tv cameras. Derek was running around like a headless chicken while Colin calmly got on with changing the wheel. My father recounted the story when he met David Richards at some do years later and he gave him a rally jacket as thanks. I got nowt and he wasn’t even there!
I now live very near some of the gravel stages of the Rally Cataluna, if you are interested in seeing the rally, we run a b&b. Pm me with your name and I see if I know you, I was a very keen Trailquester bitd.

That takes me back! I helped Colin win his one and only world championship in 1995. I’d ridden into the middle of Kielder and was watching the longest stage of the rally. It was a really remote spot and there was only me and a couple of marshals there. Colin came into view with a puncture that was rapidly destroying the wheel so he stopped to change it right by us. We got a trolley jack out of the marshals’ car and I grabbed the spare wheel out of the Subaru’s boot. Derek Ringer told me to put the knackered one back in the boot, something to do with minimum weight and they shot off. They’d lost about 2 minutes to Carlos Sainz and proceeded to claw back the deficit, winning the rally and thereby the world championship by 30 seconds. Everyone thought it was the first of many worlds but Tommi Makkinen had other ideas.

As you descend from the Montanasvacias route high point, this is what you see.

Central Spain do you? Less than 1 human pre square km is on a par with Lapland but a bit warmer in the Spring. Did this trip in Sept, epic vistas and great riding.
Montanasvacias

You can survive in Barcelona without speaking Catalan but I would strongly advise learning Castilian Spanish. We live out in the country South of Barcelona and Catalan is the main language but people are very friendly and even the most vocal independentista will speak Spanish to us. Castelldefels is a good place to live and commute, depends where you will be working relative to the city centre. We moved here 4 years ago and don’t regret it for a minute. As above, if you need advice on beaurocracy etc, give me a shout.

Come to Cataluna. There’s dozens of bikepacking trips available and it’s not too remote to build a route around B&B’s or hostals. We run just such a B&B from which you can do multi day loops or linear routes.
Here’s our website Casa Tomillo I run a trip in the Spring that goes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coast, write up here
SC2C
It’s a fabulous unspoilt area, we can organise airport transfer, Reus is very cheap to get to, and store your stuff or guide you if you want. Spring is perfect weather wise, long sunny days but not too hot.

Available from PX, who knew?

Hooja,how’s the escape plan going? We’re taking bookings for next spring if you fancy a fact finding trip.

Popped into the local Yamaha dealer near Tarragona about 4 weeks ago, they had a sold one awaiting collection which I was allowed to sit on. It’s bigger than I’d expected and fit me pretty well, I’m 5’11” with 34″ leg and could plant both feet well.Called in again 2 days ago, they now have a demo bike and I’m on a long list of people wanting to try it. Seems the waiting list is about 12 months so I’d better get saving.

We live in Southern Cataluña and at this time of year the woods just by our Finca are full of local people picking Rebollones mushrooms that sell for over €15 per kg. I tried my luck last year and filled a carrier bag which my wife took down to the village to ask one of her friends if they were ok. She was told in no uncertain terms not to eat them and was given a similar quantity of the edible ones to bring home, they were delicious.

When I emerge from the shower I think I’m Frank Sinatra, by the time I’ve dressed and staggered down stairs it’s more Frank Sidebottom

Just can’t get them here, apparently the sentence for illegal import is 13 years for sedition. Don’t get me started on Yorkshire tea!
Buenas tardes Brant

Must be biscuit time? Chocolate hobnobs for me please.

We live in Southern Cataluña so are reasonably qualified to comment on the riding options and climate. Afaik the companies who offer uplift/freeride holidays are based in the Pyrenees which could be snowbound. If you are looking at something less gravity and more cross country then we’d be very happy to host you in our Finca. There’s hundreds of km of trails around here with singletrack to test most skill levels. We enjoyed temps in the early to mid 20’s this January and last, in fact January is often warmer and drier than March or April. I can offer you guiding and we have decent hardtail or cross country full suss bikes for hire. I race in the local xc series so have decent skills and fitness. Transfers from Barcelona airport are very easy, its about an hour to Tarragona where we can pick you up.
This is us
Casa Tomillo

Gave up a 25 year sentence in the plastics industry and retrained to fix bikes which I did for 4 years then buggered off to Cataluña 4 years ago. Now running a little b&b with ride guiding and bike hire with MrsPB teaching English to aspiring University Students 12 hours a week. Wished we’d done it years ago, the climate is perfect for riding 11 months of the year. This is us Casa Tomillo