40 Km MTB trail in Cuanca Alta del Manzanares

Today I cycled approximately 40 Km´s with some friends just north of Ciudalcampo, in an area known as Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Fairly easy terrain wihout too many long climbs, but it was a nice work out. Amazing I even made it, we set off at 8:30 AM and had some difficulty getting out of bed after a rather pleasant and late BBQ party last night. I managed to drag my ass out of bed though, and drove the 25 or so kilometers just north of town where we were supposed to gather to push off. My breackfast consisted of a delicious and large piece of left over home made tortilla, breakfast of kings.



I forgot to bring my GPS, but of you want to have an idea of where we cycled, I drew up a quick mock-up on Google Maps. Will make sure to register the trail on GPS next time.

On the way we crossed an MTB race, which looked real cool. Kind of triggered me to look at entering a race after the summer holidays. Some time to get fit still..;)

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

Back in the pool

The pool season in our neighborhood, and therefore also in our building, started a few weeks ago. Great for cooling off of course with temperattures that are already high as it is, but that are looking to get to around 40 Celsius the further we get into summer. Also perfect for some exercise, especially as I have decided to do a mini triathlon on 4 July. For more information, check it out.

It is indeed a small triathlon, so nothing to get worried over. But as it will be my first I thought it wise to get back in the pool for some training. I used to swim competitively and played water polo, so the technique is still there. Now for some more endurance. Swimming, cycling and running I have all done to more or lesser extents. It will be interesting to combine the three in a row. We´ll see...

70 kilometers on the race bike

I dusted off my race-bike yesterday and figured it might be fun to go out for a bit of speed for a change. So this morning I took it out and pushed of to Colmenar Viejo. There and back is some 70 kilometers and there are frequent ascents and descents, not very steep but enough to break a sweat.

For those of you interested in cycling this route, which can get you as far as Soto el Real, there are various comprehensive Spanish descriptions on the web: Here is an example. The bicycle lane takes you right along the M 607, so is not the prettiest of routes, but if you are set on cycling a long stretch without having to cross busy roads and deal with the dangerous Spanish motorists, than its perfect.


I left home at around 6:30 AM, right around the time that it started to get light out. There was a fair amount of wind, luckily frontal on my way out which gave me confidence of an anticipated tail wind for the way back. The other way around would have been much worse. My usual route to the Colmenar bicycle lane is by taking a bit of Madrid´s so called green ring, or anillo verde. Essentially this is a bicycle lane that acompanies the M40 ring road all around Madrid. It is not bad for easy cycling, but as there are many crossings and thus places where you need to stop, it is not that well suited for a bit of racing. At this ungodly hour in Madrid however traffic is very light, so was able to make my way to the Colmenar lane quickly.

The weather was stunning and once on the Colmenar track you are immediately awarded with a very nice view of the mountains, the ones I was cycling in only yesterday morning. I pedalled quickly and soon found myself at Colmenar, figuring that it was probably a good idea to turn around.

I really enjoyed being on a racer again for a change after having had my ass firmly planted on an MTB for the majority of my trails lately. The first few kilometers took a lot of getting used to, but after a bit I was flying down the streets and the bicycle path. I do believe to have a preference for mountain biking however, which if done well gets you to the most beautiful and remote places. What struck me as odd was that a large percentage of the cyclists that I encountered on the bicycle lane were actually on mountain bikes, what´s the use I thought... off road with an MTB is so much more fun.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

La Pedriza, an amazing 40 Km trail

The alarm clock woke me at 6 AM this morning, I had plans to do a trail early in the morning at a time that the temperature would still be bearable. Pedriza was my destination, a name for part of the nature reserve Cuenca alta del Manzanares. I got there a little before 7 AM and set out on a stretch that is actually part of the Camino de Santiago, I was here a week earlier on our way to Santiago.


The trail, including a little stretch leading up to where I had parked my car, is about 40 KM. I opted to ride the trail clock-wise and started with my climb, which promissed to be an aggregate of a little over 1 Km. I had done the Pedriza before with Frans, in fact it was the first training run for the Camino. When I look back at it that now, and remember where we decided we had had enough of the climb, I now realise that we actually only climbed 1/3 of the total. It seemed so heavy at the time, but I now know how heavy this trail really is. I was glad that I had set out at such an early hour as the 18 degree temperature was great and I was dreading having to do this in 35 plus degree weather. At the top of the regular trail there is an extra run up a peak called La Nava. It looked amazing, but I figured I would keep that for another day. I did the entire trail within three hours which I thought was pretty good. During the descent back to Manzanares I passed loads of MTBers that were working on their first ascent.

I will definitely come back to this amazing trail again soon.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

We are checked in and ready to go

Amazing, seriously the first time ever for me that I have experienced an effortless check-in with Ryanair. Usually it's a big pain and they make you go back an forth to another desk for previously unadvertised extras you never thought you needed. It must be our Pilgrim karma that paved our way through what's usually a Ryanair hell. Perhaps I am jinxing it by being this positive before getting to Madrid and picking up our bikes from the belt in good condition. We'll see...so far so good.

As we entered the airport we saw a couple of Dutch pilgrims fannying about with Iberia bicycle boxes, desperately trying to get their bikes to fit whilst working towards a check-in deadline. We looked at each other and agreed that we did ourselves a great favor in preparing as well as we did.

Hasta la próxima, in Madrid
Douwe


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Preparing for our trip back home

We have a semi early flight back to Madrid tomorrow, so decided to prep all we can in terms of packing up our bikes. Knowing how the luggage Neanderthals throw around luggage, including items marked fragile, we made a trip to Decathlon for travel bags and the next door DIY for half a mile of bubble wrap. We wanna make sure our precious gear gets back home in one piece.

We are nearly done and than it's off to a nice terrace for beer, general relaxation and extremely bad jokes.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We are official

We just queued for nearly 2 hours, but have our document confirming our pilgrimage. Filling out the form you could state the reason for your trip, religious, other and religious, and non-religious. As Frans took the second category and I the third, we soon discovered that the nicer document is definitely for the religious types. Go figure.

We are off for some beers.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Santiago, we have arrived?

720 Km's
Approx 100 Km's per day
173 hours in total
About 8 hours on average on the bike per day
Effectively 57 hours on our bikes
4,5 liters of water per person per day
Frans used 4 liters of factor 50 sunblock
500 grams of pasta per person per day
4 pieces of fruit per person per day
7 cups of coffee per person per day
3 liters of sweat per person per day
25 swear words on average per person per day (with peeks on the peeks...;)
10 ML of blood in total (Frans)
25 liters of beer in total
And 25 stamps each

Just some of our trips statistics in case you are preparing a Camino of your own. We arrived safely, and are queuing for our official Camino document. It is quite busy, heaps of Pilgrims. We smell so badly that what must be a stench does not even faze us. The clean everyday tourists passing by however are giving us wide birth.

After we are done here we will find our hotel, check in, shower and plant ourselves on a terrace somewhere.

More later.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Getting ready for the last 36 km's

It is a little foggy outside, but we are up and getting ready for our last bit on the Camino. We think that it might be a tough last 36 k's as it pretty much is up and all the way with a number of steep climbs. But, all in all nothing we have nor already conquered earlier on this journey.

So, more from along the route and of course from Santiago.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Arzua, our last watering hole before Santiago

We made it to Arzua, our last stop before we set off on our victory sprint to Santiago. We toyed with the idea of continuing on to Santiago today, but decided against it as we entered Arzua. This was our scheduled stop, and we wisely chose to take it. Checked into our hotel we are now enjoying a bit of a beer and just realized that leaving Madrid seems like ages ago, while we only left last Saturday.

Frans had a minor crash today, see bloody knee photo. It is nothing serious. If you ask me it is God's way of telling him that he should not have taken as many short-cuts on the Camino as he has. At one point Frans calls me explaining that he accidentally took the wrong turn, I guess the yellow markers were not obvious enough. Consequently Frans awaits me, feet-up on a terrace as I arrive just after completing the most horrific and muddy stretch of the actual Camino. Need I say more. But God is forgiving, it was only a warning, a mere flesh wound. So mom and dad of Frans: He is OK.

We find ourselves having beers on a terrace right on the busiest street of Arzua. So after we finish up here we will see if we can find something more in line with our mood: Chill.

More tomorrow, as we embark on our finish to Santiago.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Having a quick bite to eat in Portomarín

What an amazing ride. From Sarria we headed deep into the wilderness, where the Camino took us through some extremely muddy terrain.

In one of the villages we were greeted by two very chirpy French Bulldogs, who were snoring of delight as we stopped to pat them. My parents had French Bulldogs in the past, and I can tell you they are as friendly as they are ugly. The French might want to follow their namesake dog's example, some of the French Pilgrims on the route are downright bitter. It is interesting to see how different the reactions are from some of the walking pilgrims. Most are actually fine. What's striking is that the Spanish tend to react with the most enthusiasm, especially when I sound my Camino horn. The Spanish love any kind of noise ;)

We decided to stop in Portomarín for an early lunch, as we already completed 50 km's. We parked our somewhat sore asses on a terrace for some pizza and general relaxation.

The weather is actually perfect for cycling, overcast, not too warm and dry.

More from our next stop.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Sarria, a good place to break for coffee

We just wizzed from Triacastela to Sarria, a little over 25 km done. It's a little foggy in the mountains but we are pretty sure to have great weather further down as the mist settles. It's just passed 9:15 am and we are making good progress.

The next stretch will be a slight climb to Feirreros, after which it's pretty much up and down all the way to Santiago.

We might actually decide to go to Santiago today, we'll see how it goes.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Goodmorning Triacastela

Once again we slept like babies and are completely refreshed after 8+ hours of comatose sleep. Frans jumped into his jeans and ran to the hotel garden where we had locked up our bikes for the night. Turns out he had a nightmare of our bikes being stolen and us having to catch a smelly bus to Santiago. Luckily also in this case dreams don't always come true :-)

Our hostel is right at the 129 Km marker, so no guessing how far we have left. Today we will see how it goes, but we want to do a minimum of 100 km, such that if we overnight before Santiago that we have little left for tomorrow morning. The plan is to have at least half a day there before we catch our Sunday morning flight back home.

It's been an amazing journey so far, a lot of which we captured on video. As soon as I will have had a chance to edit them, they will feature on this blog.

Time to get ready for what will be a tough day. More later from along the trail.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We arrived in Triacastela

We arrived, after the climb we were able to descend pretty much the last 20 km's. Pretty spectacular, the views as much as the descend it self.

We found our hotel without any problemsn, and have a room that thus far is the most kitch of all places we have stayed at. But, a room, a hot shower and some restaurants at spitting distance.

Now for a hot shower. We have a pretty heavy day ahead of us tomorrow, a little over 100 km's.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Resting our legs in El Cebreiro

OMG!!!! We are on what is most likely one of the toughest trails this week. We just climbed from 500 to 1300 m altitude, after already having climbed some 750 meters on this mornings track.

But, we made it: "con dos cojones" as the Spanish would say.

The weather is great, a little hot (35 degr.) so we are taking in simply liters of water. A lot of it comes back as sweat, and quite a bit we cop-dust along the route. What's remarkable is that when we relieve ourselves, it sort of stains the grass a similar yellow as used for the Camino markers. Hope we're not misguiding too many fellow pilgrims with our urine graffiti...

El Cebreiro is a little hippie place on the edge of the Galician border. We are indeed in Galicia!!!! Getting pretty close now.

Ok. More when we get to Triacastela.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Having lunch in Villafranca de Bierzo

Another 20 km done, which puts us at 50 for the day. We decided to break for lunch in Villafranca del Bierzo as we have a rather heavy trail still ahead of us. We are facing a 750 meter climb. Triacastela seems another world for us now, but I am sure we'll make it.

Bierzo is a lovely district, also known for its amazing red wine.

Lunch is mediocre, Frans his Cordon Blue is deep fried it seems. But the sun is shining and we are enjoying actually sitting down on something other than a saddle.

More after our monster climb.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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A coffee break in Ponferada

We just cycled to Ponferada, 30 km's. This puts us at the 200 minimum for cyclists, that is if you want it all to be official. From here we need to get the minimum 2 daily stamps. We will get our first of the day here at the Ayuntamiento which is right at the terrace where we stopped for some coffee. Well, tea for me actually, as I woke up last night and projectile vomitted out my supper. Am pretty sure it must have been the Gazpacho that was dodgy. In any event I was not in my best form this morning. Cycling seems to be going alright, but I will have to watch what I eat today.

The first part of today's trail so far was made up of a relatively short climb, and a spectacularly long and winding descent towards Ponferada. It helped us get here relatively quickly. We need it as we have another 60 km to go today, which includes a tough and long climb.

After coffee we'll go and visit the castle of the Knights Templar. After that I am sure we'll need to make our way towards Triacastela, our target town for today which is in Galicia.

Meanwhile we are enjoying the sun and resting our legs.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We made it to Rabanal del Camino

We made it, a cool 70 km's, it turned out slightly more than anticipated. But the weather was amazing, and all the rain and ugly weather preparations were unnecessary in retrospect. Hind sight is 20 : 20, and we learned earlier on the Camino that preparation is of paramount importance. It's all tough enough as it is.

The B&B we just checked into is more like a country manor. It is amazing and we have not one but two queensize beds in our large room. The bar is great and Heineken flows gently into pint-sized glasses whilst we come to the realization that we have only got some 240 km's to go until we are knighted über-pilgrims as we enter Santiago de Compostela.

During our previous stop, as Frans was fixing his bike, we caught up with two fellow Dutchmen who actually started in Groningen. OMG!! They left mid May and made sure we knew that they actually sleep in a tent. When we mentioned our accommodations along the route, they frowned and we tried to break the ice by admitting that we are in fact Camino Preppies (or Camino Kakkers in Dutch..) I was quick to add that I am from Groningen originally, which seemed to help a little bit. In the same town, the pueblo known as Astorga, we stocked up on water and chocolate. Astorga is known for its chocolate, no doubt through some Belgiam pilgrim that got stuck and never left. It was lovely and a great energy boost.

The scenery from Astorha to where we are now has greatly improved from near-motorway and strip-mall suburbs of León to a countryside that more resembles the highlands of bonnie Scotland than your stereotypical Spain.

We are off for a much needed shower and a dinner that is served at an un-Spanish early hour. (Kitchen closes at 10) Just as well as we have a killer program ahead of us tomorrow.

Hasta la próxima.
Douwe


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Another flat tire...

Hahaha, we have another flat tire, Frans to be exact. So he is fidgeting around with his front tire and this time inserting our miracle working anti-flat protection along with the inner tube.

Once he's done we'll find a cafe for some light refreshments. We just obtained our second stamp of the day, and the sun is shining at the Puerta del Sol. It was meant to be.

Looks as though Frans is wrapping up the fight with his front wheel, time to schlepp our sore asses to a terrace.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Just passed Hospital de Orbigo

We have cycled some 35 Km's which puts us over half of the total 65 we have for today. Rabanal del Camino is our target for today, where we expect to land in the next couple of hours.

It's striking that we have seen loads more cyclists on the Camino today, we figured many of them probably chose León as their starting point.

This morning we ran into some people we had met before. Over breakfast by chance the Dutch woman, and her Swiss toy boy she picked up along the way, walked into the same bar. We are likely to run into them again I'm sure.

Couple of cyclists that just passed us, as we stopped for a picnic, are doing a Camino light. All their luggage is hauled by a mate in a van, as they lightly pedal over the trails. Such blasphemy.

The weather thus far has been very nice, we were able to take off our rain gear and go at it short sleeved.

More when we get to Rabanal.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe





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In León getting ready for the cold

We have our feet still firmly planted on Leónese soil, and have made some preparations for the cold weather. Extra gloves, some protective clothing. In addition we passed by a bicycle store where we bought some tube protecors, shields that you put inside the tire and will help prevent flats. A fellow MTB pilgrim let us in on this public secret yesterday. Anybody need any spare tubes? We have plenty. :)

We are getting rady to leave, just a couple more stops before we head into the wilderness. We need some bread and SD cards for the camera as I am shooting quite some footage for our upcoming Camino podcast.

We have 65 Km's ahead of us today.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Just arrived in León

Frans and I just checked into our hotel in the beautiful old centre of León. The last 20 km's were pretty uneventful, besides a nice off-road downhill into the city. We had to make our way through the outskirts and were able find our hotel real easily. Google maps on the BlackBerry is our friend.

We had little in the way of pilgrim traffic into León, kind of get the feeling that many may skip it and head straight for the mountains.

For tomorrow we have a fairly easy route planned, as we want to make sure we can take in some of León before we wizz off again.

No doubt we'll have another amazing dinner tonight, already spotted a few places on the way that look like very good candidates.

We are well on our way now. One thing is for sure, from a nature and outdoors perspective the Madrid Camino before Sahagun was much nicer. Let's see how it gets once we head into the mountains of León and Galicia after that.

Now for a much needed shower and quick siesta.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Lunch at Mansilla de las Mulas

We cycled an aggregate 80 Km's today, and have just 20 to go until we will reach León. For the overall trip we have already completed more than half, from here we have another 320 to go until sainthood.

We thought that our Camino was quite tough, until I passed a couple on bicycles just before lunch. One of them had just cycled from The Netherlands, and the other was on his 21st day from Switzerland. OMG.... Impressive stuff, respect.

Another funny occurrence was a father and son on horse-back. The Australian couple we met yesterday had mentioned they met them on way, and indeed after chatting with them they were the same horse people. We had been following hoof tracks along the camino yesterday afternoon and this morning. Now we passed them and we are on the lookout for a supposed Jesus freak who is traveling by donkey and cart. Have not spotted him yet, but there are plenty of crusty unshaven Jesus wannabees along this stretch of the Camino.

More later from León, now for relaxation and a tiny drop of red wine to get the blood flowing again...

Hasta la próxima
Douwe




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In Sahagún for a coffee break

We made it to Sahagún, a cool 40 Km's already behind us today. No rain yet, and a pretty good tail wind made sure we got here relatively quickly.

More importantly, we are now on the most official part, the Camino's of all Camino's. Also known as El Camino Francés. What's striking is that we have already seen more crusties (smelly pilgrims) in the 10 minutes that we got here than the three previous days on the Madrid leg. I am sure my horn will be useful to draw attention and help dodge the odd crusty. Only another 50 or so Km's to go to León, our target for today.

Bread with tomato and olive oil just got put in front of me, so....
Hasta la próxima

Douwe


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We have arrived at Villalón de Campos

We have had an extremely relaxing day today, well... compared to the past couple of days anyway. We arrived in Villalón de Campos, which meant a total trip of some 70 Km's. We got a little lucky as most of the way we were supported by a fairly strong back wind. We did get our fair share of rain, but it did not bother us as much as perhaps the first day. The sky was scattered with rain clouds and both Frans and I thought we could outsmart and bypass this one particularly dark and nasty one. We failed miserably, an consequently got drenched to the bone. We looked for some shelter in an old ruin, something that used to be a church in a small village called Moral de la Reina. As if things were not bad enough, I decided to relieve myself against the ruin. Naturally the rain started coming down even stronger. Such blasphemy. Frans had to change back to his rain gear, but luckily by this time we only had some 15 Km's to go.

The B&B we checked into is out of this world. A complete contrast to last night's "hotel". We were thinking of displaying our new found skills of burping family tunes like "She'll be coming around the mountain.." but we figured our host might not be too impressed.

For those of you that have been a little concerned with yesterday's picture of me, in which I looked exhausted: I am actually doing quite well. See above picture of my freshly shaven face basking in the sun.

On the map you may be able to see where we are. Villalón is just north west of Palencia.

Frans and I are enjoying a wonderful and rich bottle of Ribera de Duero on the terrace and I decided to re-read Catcher in the Rye, but the Spanish translation which I quite like.

Tomorrow we are heading to León, quite looking forward to that as I hear it is an amazing city.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

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We are in Medina de Rioseco

Medina de Rioseco is an amazing and historic old town. The river is far from dry however, must be some sort of myth. The town is known for its old smuggling routes, and the locals look as though smuggling might still be a large source of their income. Ever so friendly and approachable though.

The trail from Peñaflor to Medina went like a dream and I just devoured a slice of fresh tortilla. It is coming up to lunchtime and we decided to hang here and eat. We cycled an aggregate 45 Km already and have another 25 to go to our B&B. We double checked, it is indeed a B&B and not a truck-stop. We hope to be able to have some laundry done and get our well deserved rest.

The bicycle/electronics shop in Medina was well stocked with inner tubes, we bought six of them just so we don't taunt faith too much. Sure enough we will need a few before the much desired finish line.

Now for lunch, let's see if they can serve us something semi healthy. Spaghetti as a first course and Bacalau as a main sound fair enough to me.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We are in Peñaflor

Heavy rain and very Dutch landscapes swept us to a pueblo called Peñaflor. We are warming up in the local bar chatting with the locals, over a heart-warming carajillo. The bartender just stamped our credentials and gave us his blessing. We are feeling great, have already done 20 Km's and will do another 24 to Medina.

At Medina we will break for lunch and will be on the lookout for the bicycle shop that's supposed to be there. We need to stock up on spare inner tubes as we have only got 1 left. Knowing our luck we need not taunt the almighty too much, you never know what he has in stock for us.

In the village of Wamba we chatted with a couple of Australian pilgrims, more or less our parents age, who are also doing the Madrid camino. It's their third Camino, respect!

At the moment we are chatting with the local farmers, who are hiding out in the local until the rain stops. They need the fields to dry out, such that the immense quantities of barley we just cycled through can be harvested.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Victory, we landed in Simancas

We made it, albeit on our last legs. So arriving in Simancas was a feast, except for discovering that our hotel for the night is actually a truck-stop. The hotel all in all is not that horrid, but it is right on the main freeway to Valladolid and its clientele looks as though they all know how to burp the entire alphabet.

But hell, we have a shower that works, twin beds, a lovely view of the countryside (see picture) and we'll be able to mingle with some real interesting characters.

Tomorrow we have our sights set on Cuenca de Campos, some 65 kilometers from our truck-stop from hell. I think we will have breakfast somewhere on the way.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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