Home Again... Sort of?

We arrived back in Fernie Tuesday afternoon after spending the evening at Lee's house in Calgary. A big thanks to Lee for picking us up from the airport and putting us up for the night.

Although we are back in Fernie, we really aren't "home".  We are staying with Ruth and Dan for a few nights before continuing in the Kaslo.  Both Linda and I have dentist appointments and Linda has doctor and chiropractic appointments. 

I would like to make a few general comments about Spain and our time there. 

Firstly, I would like to say we really liked what we saw and experienced. We had a very good time. Here are some of the reasons we enjoyed it.

The weather.  The countryside and culture.  Historically interesting towns and areas. The lack of crowds. Easy access to walking and cycling trails. Good quality, reasonably priced food in stores and restaurants.  Clean, economically price accommodation. Clean and organized.

Now to expand on a few of these....  

The weather was, for us, perfect.  Spain is a fairly dry country, so sunshine is the norm. We only experience 3 or 4 days with rain in two months. Temperatures were normally into the low to mid 20s during the day and mid to high teens at night.  We experienced high temperatures in the low 30s and cooler days where the high temperature only reached 17C.  Naturally September is warmer than November but the differences in temperature were minimal. Comfortable, for outdoor activity most every day.

At this time of year, accommodation is inexpensive, especially if you rent by the month.   An important factor, that added to our enjoyment, was the decision to rent a house for a month in the small village of Gaucin. We were in Gaucin for the month of October. This is the last month of the tourist season. At the end of October several of the restaurants, hotels and some stores close for the winter.  It was quiet but we were never bored. It was fun just walking and exploring the town and the surrounding country side.  We regularly shopped at the local grocery stores and prepared our own meals. There was a good selection of fresh reasonably priced food. During our stay we got to know some of the shop, bar / restaurant owners. Every few days we would take the motorcycle on day or overnight trip. It was nice not have to pack everything up and have a place to come home to. 

Most of Andalusia was part of the Roman and the Ottoman Empire, etc, etc.... so the history, architecture and culture is divergent from the Canadian culture. We find it interesting to observe and analyze the differences.  At one point someone asked us if Spain was like Mexico.  We answered.. yes, in a way...  Common language. Common heritage. Similar architecture.  But by comparison, Spain is organized, clean and safe.  Mexico, not so much!

Before leaving Canada, I mapped out a few day and overnight motorcycle trips from Gaucin.   Some were overly optimistic.  From Gaucin, in any direction, the roads are narrow and curvy. A 200K trip is a 5 hour drive.  So we didn't get to visit all the places we had planned.  We did see enough to make us want to go back and continue the exploration of Andalusia.

On two our overnight trips we went to Olvera. We decided that Olvera would be the location of our next longer term rental.  There are several reason.  One is location. It is located almost in the centre of Andalusia. It is at the cross roads of north/south and east/west 2 lane highways, so it has easy access to several points of interest.   1 1/2 hours to Seville, Jerez, Cordoba, Caminto del Rey and the Med. coast.  It is located in a very nice bicycling area. It is attractive but not touristy.  It is not expensive And last but not least... we met some very nice people there.


Till the next trip.....  hasta luego!

To Barcelona and Back to Canada

Last Tuesday we left Valencia mid morning and rode to a hotel near the Barcelona El Prat Airport, about 350K.  We reserved a room near the airport so that we had a place to organize our luggage and prepare the bike for storage the next day. 

The ride from Valencia was quite relaxing. Since 350K is quite a long ride for us we decided to take the pay road... the AP7. This highway follows fairly close to the coast with nice views of the mountains to your left and the coastal towns to the right.  The traffic was fairly light and it was easy to make good time. We cruised about 5 to 10K below the legal limit of 120K. Although the weather was a bit cool, (17 to 19 C) it was sunny and comfortable.   There are rest stops every 50K or so with fuel and restaurant.  About 2/3 of the way along we stopped for lunch and chatted with a German couple on a couple, on two F700GS.   I have to say that in North America we are "language limited".  Most people we meet can get by in more than 1 language.  English is often one of them.

The down side to the pay roads is the cost.  We rode about 300K on the pay road and tolls came to 35E  (a little over $50.) Quite a hefty toll.

The next day we  rode the bike about 12K into the heart of the city to IMT Bike Tours and Rentals. We met Ruben at 10am and filled out the storage paperwork. We also made arrangements for an oil change and to replace the fork seals, one of which had started leaking.  Once we that taken care of, we asked Ruben if we could leave our MC jackets and helmets with him while we explored Barcelona. 

Barcelona has an extensive Metro system. The closest metro station was only 50 metres from IMT Bike location. We purchased a multi-use pass, good on both the metro or bus system. This pass cost 10E and can be shared between users for a total of 10 trips. We used the pass to get around town and back to our hotel near the airport.

There is an interesting pricing policy, if you go to or depart from the airport (Terminal 1 or 2).  You cannot use the cheaper multi-pass. You must pay 4.5E per person for a single ride.   Still it is a good deal considering that a cab downtown would cost 30 to 45E. 

We spent a few hours wandering around parts of Barcelona, then stopped for lunch before heading back to IMT Bikes to pick up our gear and return to the hotel.  Linda finally managed to find the boots she had been looking for! Yahoo!

Below are a few photos of Barcelona . The first two are of Plaza Espanya and the third is of Plaza del Rey

Thursday we arose very early (4:15am) and took the shuttle to the airport for our flight. Our route back to Canada took us from Barcelona to Frankfurt, a short stop then on to Montreal, where we had about 4 hours between flights.

We went to one of the airport restaurants for a drink and a bite to eat.  The prices were quite a shock.  We went from paying 2E or less for glass of wine in a restaurant in Spain to $10 a glass in Montreal!

The final flight of the day took us from Montreal to Hamilton, ON, where we took a cab to a downtown hotel.  It was a long day.  From the time we got up until we arrived in our hotel room we had been travelling for over 21 hours.  It was a long day!

We have a few days in Hamilton to start recovering from the jet lag and visit with Lind's family before flying back to Calgary on Monday.

This has been a very good trip.  Both Linda and I really like Spain and plan to go back again.  I'm going to add one more blog entry for this trip to summarize our experience. Stay tuned....

Valencia MotoGP Race

For the last 3 days we have attended the 18th and last MotoGP race series for the 2016 season. These races known as the  "Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana",  took place at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit located on the outskirts of Valencia. 

For those who are not familiar with MotoGP, here is the primer.  MotoGP is the equivalent of Formula 1, but for motorcycles. The motorcycles used in these series are purpose built, mostly by factory teams to compete on a road race circuit, some of which are also used by Formula 1.  There are 3 categories of motorcycle that compete in 3 separate races. 

Moto3 bikes have 250cc single cylinder, 4 stroke motors. There are lightweight and powerful enough to have a top speed that exceed 200 kph. The rider are all quite young... 16 years old and up.   For hockey fans, think of this series as the Junior A of MotoGP.  These kids (not all boys) are talented riders and races are hotly and closely contested.

Moto2 is the next step up. Moto2 bikes have 600cc 4 cylinder, 4 stroke motors. In this series all the riders use identical equipment, within the rules of the series they can be modified slightly but the limitations keep them very competitive.  Riders generally work there way up from Moto3 to Moto2 based on their success. The riders compete for rider contracts with the established teams.

MotoGP bikes have 1000cc 4 stroke motors. Engine configuration differs among manufactures. These engines produce in excess of 250 horsepower and that are capable of speeds in excess of 350 kph.  Technically, they are at the top the development curve. There are however a series of limitations that each manufacturer must meet. Things like size and weight, fuel capacity, ECU, tires, etc. are the same for all bikes. This is intended to help keep the completion close.

That's it for the primer.

Each race series takes place over 3 days.  Practise, qualifying and finally race day. The whole thing has quite a party atmosphere even though all the beer sold is zero alcohol.  (more on this later).

Friends Gary and Kay, from England came down in their VW van and stayed in the track campground. Linda and I  travelled back and forth from our apartment in Massarrojos each day.  Due to the traffic congestion and the fact that we would be spending time Gary and Kay in the campground, where we might drink the occasional beer or wine, we decided to take the public transportation.   

There is a train station at the track. It is only used for events. The trains runs from the Valencia Norte station near the centre of the city. We had to the Metro to reach the station.  The trip back and forth turned out to be much longer than we thought. It took us about 2 hours to get from our apartment to the track and the same for the return trip.  Even though this was longer than we expected. We didn't have to fight the traffic and it was an interesting experience.

We really lucked in with the weather as well.  The high temperatures were in the low 20s. Our seating location was excellent. We were in the yellow section 22. I had selected the top row in our section. We were able to stand, walk and watch from the open space behind the seats. Easy access to the washrooms and a great view of the track. 

The Ricardo Tormo track is a large stadium track. You can see most of the 4 kilometre track from just about any seat.  Next time we will bring a set of binoculars. They would be useful. Not only to see the action further round the track but also to read the information on the big screens.  Speaking of next time, we are already looking at hotels for next year!   We really enjoyed the event.

Getting back to the beer for a moment...  There was no indication or signage that the beer for sale did not contain alcohol.  All I knew at first was that the taste of the beer was not great but it was cool and refreshing, so I didn't think much about it.  I only had one medium size beer, not because of the taste but because they were so expensive!  9E ($13.50C) for a 12 oz. 15E for a pint.  I guess I can understand the reluctance of the organizers to sell beer, since most attendees are going to ride their motorcycles home at the end of the day.  But I thought that it was quite unreasonable not to advertise the fact that the beer was zero alcohol and to charge such a high price.  You could not bring your own alcohol into the track but you could bring any food or soft drinks, juice etc.  Bags were checked on entry.

Below are a few photos from the event.  Tomorrow Linda and are are heading for Barcelona. Wednesday we will get the bike to the storage facility, hopefully spend a few hours looking around a part of Barcelona. Our flight back to Canada leaves early on Thursday morning.

Linda and Kay on race day

Gary and I with our matching shorts.

Panoramic shot of the track from our seats

Our view or the first corner.

A pert of one of the motorcycle parking lots with the merchant tents in the foreground.

To Mojacar, Cartagena and Valencia

After spending 3 days in Nerja we headed along the coast toward Valencia, avoiding the divided highways as much as possible.  We rode some nice winding roads though several coastal tourist communities.  The coast line here is quite hilly and very dry.  Parts of this area have been extensively used to film western cowboy type movies.

One interesting aspect that puzzled us was the abundance of agricultural crops being grown in large white tents. Large in area, rather than height. The tents were perhaps up to 4 metres high, most a bit lower.  It was difficult to determine what was growing in these tents. It looked like vines or small trees.  We looked for signs and have asked a few people but no one has given us a definitive answer.  We though perhaps that the tents contained orange trees that were sheltered to protect them from the sun and wind (which was very strong, the day we passed through). Also it appeared that irrigation would necessary so the tents might help reduce evaporation. ???? These tents continued all the way to Cartagena.

The first night we stopped in a motel on the beach strip in Mojacar.  This area really reminded us of parts of the Baja California. Similar topography and more rustic than other Mediterranean coastal areas that we have seen. There were also plenty of campgrounds and rows of RV camped along the isolated beaches.  Below are are couple of photos of the sunrise and the beach in front of the motel in Mojacar.

From Mojacar we continued along the beach roads and winding mountain roads until we reached Cartagena.  Cartagena is a mid-sized Mediterranean port with a long history.  We found a nice hotel not far from the centre of town.  We have been in the habit of booking accommodation a day or two ahead of arrival.  At this time of year there are lots of last minute booking deals that are available on the booking sites. We have used booking.com quite often.  As I have mentioned in the past navigation into and through these cities can be quite challenging. One we make the booking I can enter the address into the GPS and we find helps us find the place and reduces the stress substantially. We have been quite happy with most of the places we have booked in advance, with some minor exceptions.

After arriving in Cartagena we freshened up and headed out for a walk.  There appeared to be large crowd on the street toward the old city.  As we came closer we realized that it was a street festival.  There were merchants selling a variety of goods and food. In the plaza there was entertainment for the kids. The entertainment included donkey and camel rides. The festival was part of a fund raising effort to help restore some of the historic buildings.

It appeared that the port is the centre of activity in Cartagena.  We were in town for 2 days an a couple of passenger liners came and went.

On the second day in Cartagena we walked around the harbour to a small bay. We had a drink and snack at the beach restaurant and then relaxed on the beach for while.

Cruise liner leaving the port.

Now we are in Valencia. We rented a small apartment in one of the suburbs, Massarrojos. We are here for a week and will be attending the last MotoGP race of the 2016 season.  On this leg we stayed off pay roads but used the 4 lane highways, for the most part. Approaching half way we missed a turnoff and rerouted onto another highway.  This route was only15 or 20K longer so we decided to continue on this route rather than turn around.  The alternate route was very nice but it climbed over a high pass. We climbed to over 850 metres and it was friggin' cold.   We were very happy to descend back into the warmer air.  Valencia is quite  large city and the traffic was quite busy on our arrival. Thanks again to the GPS we found our apartment without any problem.

We selected this apartment mainly because it was inexpensive and there was not many rentals available by the time we started looking. One of the drawing points was the access to the Valencia Metro.  The station is located about 300 metres from the apartment. It takes about 20 minutes to get downtown and from there we can catch a train to the race track where the MotoGP is being held. (Circuito Ricardo Tormo).  This will save the hassle of riding the bike in very busy, slow moving traffic. It also has the advantage that I can have a beer or two while watching the action.

During the last 2 days we took the metro downtown and explored.  Below are a few photos of downtown Valencia.

The first couple of shots are of the rail station (Estacion el Norte) Outside and inside.   Beside the station, to the left, is the bull ring. Quite an elaborate structure compared to those I have seen in Mexico.

Below is photo of one of the main plazas in the city. 

 Partly because of the climate and partly because of the lack of parking space, there is an abundance of motorcycles and scooters.  Below are a couple of photos of motorcycles parked in designated MC parking areas. They are also allowed to park on the edges of the wide sidewalks.  These photo and NOT the exception. Nearly every street has a row of motorcycles park along it.

Tomorrow the MotoGP event starts. 3 full days in all, 2 practice and qualifying days followed by morning practice sessions and 3 races in the afternoon. I'm about to start packing the back pack in preparation for an early start in the morning.  We are meeting Gary Armstrong and Kay at the track. They are camping their VW van.

To Mojacar, Cartagena and Valencia

After spending 3 days in Nerja we headed along the coast toward Valencia, avoiding the divided highways as much as possible.  We rode some nice winding roads though several coastal tourist communities.  The coast line here is quite hilly and very dry.  Parts of this area have been extensively used to film western cowboy type movies.

One interesting aspect that puzzled us was the abundance of agricultural crops being grown in large white tents. Large in area, rather than height. The tents were perhaps up to 4 metres high, most a bit lower.  It was difficult to determine what was growing in these tents. It looked like vines or small trees.  We looked for signs and have asked a few people but no one has given us a definitive answer.  We though perhaps that the tents contained orange trees that were sheltered to protect them from the sun and wind (which was very strong, the day we passed through). Also it appeared that irrigation would necessary so the tents might help reduce evaporation. ???? These tents continued all the way to Cartagena.

The first night we stopped in a motel on the beach strip in Mojacar.  This area really reminded us of parts of the Baja California. Similar topography and more rustic than other Mediterranean coastal areas that we have seen. There were also plenty of campgrounds and rows of RV camped along the isolated beaches.  Below are are couple of photos of the sunrise and the beach in front of the motel in Mojacar.

From Mojacar we continued along the beach roads and winding mountain roads until we reached Cartagena.  Cartagena is a mid-sized Mediterranean port with a long history.  We found a nice hotel not far from the centre of town.  We have been in the habit of booking accommodation a day or two ahead of arrival.  At this time of year there are lots of last minute booking deals that are available on the booking sites. We have used booking.com quite often.  As I have mentioned in the past navigation into and through these cities can be quite challenging. One we make the booking I can enter the address into the GPS and we find helps us find the place and reduces the stress substantially. We have been quite happy with most of the places we have booked in advance, with some minor exceptions. 

After arriving in Cartagena we freshened up and headed out for a walk.  There appeared to be large crowd on the street toward the old city.  As we came closer we realized that it was a street festival.  There were merchants selling a variety of goods and food. In the plaza there was entertainment for the kids. The entertainment included donkey and camel rides. The festival was part of a fund raising effort to help restore some of the historic buildings.

It appeared that the port is the centre of activity in Cartagena.  We were in town for 2 days an a couple of passenger liners came and went.

On the second day in Cartagena we walked around the harbour to a small bay. We had a drink and snack at the beach restaurant and then relaxed on the beach for while.

Now we are in Valencia. We rented a small apartment in one of the suburbs. We are here for a week and will be attending the last MotoGP race of the 2016 season.

Marbella and Nerja

We spent two nights in Marbella and this is our third day in Nerja.   Marbella was OK. Nerja is better.

The coastal area near Marbella is flat and the beaches are long.  The beach walk, known as the paseo extends for 26 kilometres along the beach. On our full day in town, we walked from Marbella to Puerto Banus along the paseo.  16K round trip.  

Our hotel (Hotel Lima) was nice and in a good location... a block from the beach and one block from the edge of the old town. We had a nice big room with a balcony and good parking for the bike on the street below our room.  The old town area are interesting. There is a selection of stores and restaurants, mainly aimed at the tourists. We found prices a bit higher here than in the less touristy inland towns but still reasonably priced.

Marbella was a fun place to visit but not a location we would want to stay for too long.  We had a hard time leaving though.   Not because we wanted to stay but because I lost the key to disc lock on the motorcycle!   Normally I keep all the keys together but when we went to leave the the disc lock key was not with the others.  After spending a half and hours searching and not find the key we spoke to people at the hotel desk and they called a locksmith for us. 

The locksmith arrived in 10 minutes and 10 minutes later we were set to go.  The locksmith was very nice. He cut the lock off with a disc grinder and charged us 15E  (about $22C).  As we were loading the bike and getting ready to leave a women approached us and told us that the day before she had found a key on the ground by the bike.   When she described it we know it was the disc lock key.  We showed her the lock cut in half and had a good laugh about it!

Hotel Lima, Marbella

Nerja is located about 100K up the coast from Marbella, on the other side of Malaga.  The topography here is a little different.  There is no coastal plain. The hills extend right to the coast.  Instead of a long beach, there are several small coves. 

Nerja has a much different feel than Marbella.  To us Marbella felt upscale. Nerja feels more  bohemian.  We could see ourselves staying here longer.

One of the cove beaches in Nerja

Breakfast sandwich

Coffee with complimentary muffin 

I think that we might stay one more night here before continuing up the coast towards Valencia.  It is cloudy to day and there was a little drizzle while we out for a walk this morning.