Thursday, 1st October
In autumn 2020 I had the short noticed idea to ride the TET Spain and Portugal. The weather forecast was ok’ish and so I started around lunchtime from Austria and crossed Switzerland. All went well but there are no pictures as it was all boring 2 lane highway. Crossing into France was happening at Geneva. It was getting dark as I approached my destination for tonight the town of Grenoble.
A roadside hotel was my choice, but the ride on the city highway has been very slow. So it was quite cool and fully dark when I finally rolled onto the parking lot. The hotel staff was very friendly and offered a free parking in a secluded garage for the bike. This was appreciated a lot as it saved me from removing all my luggage from the bike.
A beer and some cold food was the only option, as there was no restaurant open nearby. No problem, the goal is to get to Spain asap and that means roll as long as possible and whatever it takes.
For a better overview, the route:
Red is actual ride in Spain,
Blue is actual ride in Portugal,
Green are the sections I have not done
Note: This was the route from 2020, the TET has changed since this ride.
Friday, 2nd October
The hotel had a small buffet breakfast included. Soon I was back on the highway, just the foggy and cold morning was not enjoyable so much. Fuel and highway toll are very expensive in France, but going to Spain it is the fastest way for me to ride through Switzerland and France.
On my initial prediction I thought that my already quite worn tire will hopefully last till Perpignan close to the Spanish border, where I planned to install a new tire which I had strapped to my bags.
In Perpignan I left the highway. After checking my tire I found that the 1100km (680mi) motorway didn’t have a big impact on the wear situation so I skipped the changing business for now. Let’s see how far it will last. As this freed up some time, I crossed the border into Spain and left the motorway shortly after the border close to the TET.
The beginning of my TET journey was easy gravel and had some nice views.
After some nice riding, the road become deteriorated more and more and it started to drizzle.
As it was already late afternoon, I searched for a campground. According the map there should be a few of them around the town of Camprodon. Unfortunately I didn’t think that they could have closed up for the season or potentially due to Covid.
So it became late on my search and as the upcoming route was leading back into the mountains I had no choice other than taking a hotel for the night. Again the bike got a place in a Privat garage.
Due to Covid the restaurant of the hotel and around where closed as well and I had again a cold snack dinner from the supermarket. It was raining all night and I was happy that the campground didn’t work out.
During a nice breakfast I checked the weather. It didn’t look very promising, but there was no rain yet.
Leaving town on a short stretch of pavement before climbing towards the clouds on gravel.
Those clouds quickly blocked all the views and mend for me to ride slowly and carefully on the mountain roads. The rain didn’t hold back long and with the rain it became much colder.
This was no nice riding and during a fuel stop in the village of Alp I searched for a hotel to stop for the day even it was very early.
I arrived soaking wet and very cold at a hotel in Bellver de Cerdanya. There I got a good deal for a room including dinner and breakfast.
The room didn’t had heating working and I couldn’t get warm again. I took a hot shower and lay down on the bed, covered with all blankets found, but it did not help.
Finally I gave up and asked the reception for a mobile heater which did the trick. It was raining very hard for the rest of the day which made me feel not so bad that I had stopped so early.
I even used my motorcycle cover and it worked out well.
For dinner the staff lite up the fire place and served the menu which included a bottle of wine.
As I was feeling much better, I enjoyed the atmosphere with a good book until the bottle was finished.
Sunday, 4th October
The day started overcast but some blue spots could be seen. And it was cold!
Right after leaving the village the route lead up the mountains and allowed a nice view back.
Often the houses where clustered together on a small area and looked beautiful with the sunlight glancing through the clouds onto them.
The road was narrow but paved until I passed the last small village, from there on it became gravel with rocky sections.
Some of those where quite tricky.
Climbing higher and higher getting closer to the clouds, I hit more gates which were there for the grazing animals.
Some of those where just drive through ones, others where you need to get off the bike to open/close it.
After several gates I approached a saddle which was just below the clouds and sure enough it started to snow lightly. The rough road didn’t make it easy either.
A short stretch down in the valley gave me a break before the final pass towards the Andorra border.
This climb started nicely. Again I climbed higher and it got colder. Soon there was snow in the trees and the road become muddy.
I had a few close calls for dropping the bike but got lucky.
As I approached the Valley of Andorra the weather improved and the temperature was going up.
The route was following an older gravel road with many switchbacks all the way down to the main road. There I was welcomed by a huge traffic jam where a lot of cars were waiting to cross the border into Andorra.
I followed some bicycle rider to skip the long waiting line. Andorra was very busy and nothing I enjoyed. As you might know, Andorra is a very small State and has their special tax rules.
It felt like riding just through a city, but they also have a skiing arena where I was now heading to. Refueling was done before climbing up the mountain again.
Down in the valley it was even sometimes sunny, so I wasted no thoughts on the weather which turned out to be a mistake.
Soon the snow in the trees was back.
I approached the summit and with that the clouds which welcomed me with snowfall. I didn’t know what to expect as I didn’t research really the route, so I have been surprised when the paved road ended in a small parking lot.
From there was a muddy and almost snow covered track leading forward. This is the Coll de Cabús, which is an unofficial border crossing to Spain.
Thankfully the road was only downhill although the snowfall caused the road to become a very slippery mud track. Sorry for the snowy lens.
In the mini Village of Tor, which was formerly a place where much tobacco product cross-border smuggling took place, I met two other adventure riders.
They where on their way to Morocco. After the usual short chat we all moved on.
As I was getting down to lower altitude the temperatures where going up again and the snowflakes changed first to rain and then stopped all together.
I followed the single lane road to the main valley.
In Llavorsí I joined the main road heading north until Escaló, where the road leads again up into the mountains. A small road is built into a very narrow valley to reach the tiny village of Escart. From there on it was again a mountain gravel road.
Despite the fact that it started again to rain I was willing to give it a try.
Soon the rain become snow and I got defeated by the low temperatures and the snowpack buildup on the road. Sorry no pics and no video.
It was simply too cold to bother. I turned around because the route would go even higher up and stay there for many kilometers. So I headed back down into the main valley which I followed further south to the town of Tremp. Here the temperatures became ok again and I took a campground just outside of town.
In the evening I took a closer look on the route and the upcoming weather. The forecast was not bad but cold. I looked if I could skip a small section of the high mountain crossing. The TET made a big loop of about 80km just north of my location and came back down south just roughly 20km in the west.
Monday, 5th October
The following morning was cold but clear sky.
The shortcut is going across the Coll de Montllobar on a very nice and winding road until I rejoint the TET.
The TET here is a zig zag route towards the Parque natural de la Sierra y los Cañones de Guara. The terrain and road condition varies a lot.
Despite the blue sky in the morning the weather changes quickly from brightest sunshine to heavy rain and back.
In the early afternoon I stop at the Camping Alquezar just south of the Parque natural as the weather predicts rain for the rest of the day. Sure enough shortly after I pitched my tent between a lot of olive trees, the sky dumps on me.
Tuesday, 6th October
I leave the camp in northerly direction on paved twisties. The view point of the Rio Vero Caynon next to the road offers impressive perspectives of a deep and rugged canyon which is famous for a big population of vultures and eagles.
The canyon and the parc are also popular for outdoor activities like hiking, rafting, kayaking ad several more. For me the view must be enough because my agenda is riding the TET and in the distance I can see more snow covered mountains.
Before I get too close to them the route turns off to the west again along the northern edge and around the parc.
As the pavement ends the road becomes deep and muddy which makes the bike keeping upright difficult.
It runs through old farmlands and remaining’s of several buildings are scattered around.
Finally out of the mud. A small river puddle is used to clean of the sticky dirt from the boots.
Soon I hit a paved mountain road which invites to ride fast, especially after the very slow progress through all the mud.
But not for long, a roadblock in a different manner is stopping my eagerness to make progress. It seems to take no end with them.
The road goes up a mountain with a gentle slope and then through a valley. All is paved but feels very remote. After passing a short narrow the valley opens in to a fairly big open space which is obviously still used for agriculture. The ‘main’ road is turning north but I’m going up a desolate hillside. I wonder where this will lead to and I’m surprised as I approach an interesting rock formation which doesn’t look so big from the distance. But as I get closer it becomes impressive.
The now good gravel road passes close to this formation which even has the very old Castillo de Sen from around 900 AD on the top and the view opens to some of the last hills before flat land in the south.
From the flatland the road goes via the Foz d’Escalete to the Mirador de los Buitres.
This route is very nice and remote. Once reached the mirador, a fantastic view opens onto the Mallos de Riglos.
Those sandstones are popular with climbers but for me they are just nice to looked at.
From there the trail follows on a high elevation towards the east where some castles are overlooking the flat land.
One of those castles are the ruins of the Castillo de Marcuello sitting on a prominent location.
The state of this castell is very poor and it looks like it will not stand for much longer due to the erosion of the sandstone fundament.
The other castell is the Castillo de Loarre overlooking a village with the same name. That one is in very good condition and can be toured when open.
Just below the castell is a very nice campground located at a ridge which allows a prominent view of the Loarre village.
After setting up my tent I rode to the village for some supplies. That was not so easy as the shops where either no longer existing or they where closed. The only shop with a small selection of everything has been a gas station.
Cold dinner again but with a local bottle of wine it was still good. In the evening I could also enjoy a phantastic sunset from the camping spot. They even had some small art installations.
Wednesday, 7th October
In the morning I rode past some of the sandstone formations from the previous day. After that the route felt very remote. Mostly farmland with occasional hillside rides.
On the way, I passed the remaining of an old aqueduct structure.
This was not like the ones I know, where the entire structure is made out of stones, forming pillars with arches and the gully.
Here have been no arches and the gully had been mad of wood.
Not much left but still impressive in the middle of farmland.
Later that day I noticed sometimes a squeaking noise from the rear brakes. As I was just riding a long downhill section I thought that I overheated them. Where I joint a main road again, I took a closer look as the noise became loud and basically happened all the time using the brakes. Simple but surprising to me was the find, fully worn brake pads. I was in disbelieve as I thought that those pads have been replaced just recently. Until I realized that was on a different bike. At the campground for my overnight stop I ask if there are any Yamaha motorcycle shops in the area for some new pads. This was not easy as I don’t speak Spanish and English is not very much used around here.
After a lot back and forth and some phone calls the very helpful staff found in the next bigger town about 40km away a Yamaha dealer which has pads and will be open till 22:00. Score!
The shop was in the middle of the town and unfortunately half the town was on a different map section of my navigation system which I had not downloaded. Of course the shop was on the one I did not have. Thankfully I got from the staff a route description and with some trial and error I found the shop. Replacing the pads in front of the shop was uneventful. On the way back to the campground it was getting dark quickly.
No big dinner but the bike was ready for the next day.
Thursday, 8th October
The following day starts with a short ride through some vineyards. This area is known as the Rioja wine region where this great wine is grown on both sides of the Ebro which is the second largest river in Spain. This river has several hydroelectric dams which creates some interesting body of water. The TET route runs for a short time along one of them situated in a narrow valley. This was paved but nethertheless a very nice ride.
Just west of the small town of ‘Medina de Poma’, which I passed on the south, the TET splits up into two separate tracks. One runs more in the north and the other turns south. As I’m late in the season I choose the southern route. NOTHERN ROUTE DESCRIBED LATER
This runs across hilly mountains where you pass through small villages nestled in the valleys and a lot of wind generators.
Later in the afternoon the trail is running through a valley which is situated at a higher altitude and only used for farming. The ‘road’ become more and more deteriorated. The valley was a dead end the track let onto a field. I questioned if this will make me turn around, but after crossing the deeply rutted field the track ran up the mountain side on rough, rocky and steep kind of road.
After the rather difficult climb out of the valley, the search for a campground was successfully completed close to a lake, next to the town of Aguilar de Campoo. Unfortunately the lake caused the temperature to be a lot cooler but with a nice meal at the onsite restaurant and a Rioja, inspired from the vineyards this morning, in the belly the night sleep was great.
Friday, 9th October
The lake was also the reason that the morning was very foggy. Thankfully the route climbed out of the valley and the view back showed the layer of fog down below.
Autumn is in full swing and the plants delight with colorful leaves and nice fruits and shapes.
More and more the farmland is replaced with sylviculture.
The roads used by harvesters are at one stage taken over by water and create a riverbed with baby head rocks.
This is not only difficult to ride, it also makes me feel bad for the bike.
Back to farmland for a short period and some aggressive dogs.
One of them had even a bloody snout.
He tried to bite me several times and only let go after I kicked him a bit.
More mountain roads followed until I came to a canal. As I started to ride along that, I had a flat tire. The nice temperature made it nice to take my time for repair. After that I started my search for a campground. The Covid times did not make it easy and I ended up in the town of Vilela just west of Ponferrada. There was a campground marked on my GPS, but as I rolled in it was closed.
At the gate where some guys working on cleaning up some overgrow. I asked them if they know any other campground in the area. After a bit back and forth it turned out the owner of the place was among the guys. He initially tried to help me by calling around, but there was no place open or had any vacancy. So he allowed me to stay at his also closed campground. He even came back later with some beer and house made wine. Let’s say, I was not going to bed sober.
Saturday, 10th October
In the night the temperatures where fallen significantly. Although I stayed low in a valley it was really cold. Straight after leaving the campground I rode on a small track up the mountain side. The clouds hanging low but you could tell that higher up it will be sunny.
There were some hikers with big backpacks on the trail. I stopped and chatted with them to find out that this was actually the Camino de Santiago which is a very popular long distance hiking trail in Europe.
The more west I got the more hikers I saw even during this strange times. Soon I was high enough and the sun warmed up the air a bit.
In the shade was still a lot dew. In some areas the road was overgrown and I got totally wet.
I crossed the Rio Miño, which becomes later the border river between Spain and Portugal, at the famous village of Portomarin.
This was an important location since around 800 A.D. and the lower bridge initially build by the romans was used by the early Jacob pilgrims. This is still today the case but now they are using the higher bridge, which was necessary because the Spanish Dictator Franco let 40km away build a dam 1956 which caused the old village and the bridge to be flooded.
Nowadays the ruins are revealed whenever the water level is low.
As I was heading towards the coast the area becomes more populated and the track less interesting.
The area is nice but the route just zig zags most of the times through the woods on dirt road instead of following the ‘straight’ paved road.
The riding is not so interesting but hilly landscape is beautiful, looks a like Ireland.
I skipped Santiago de Compostela (too touristic) and headed on the main road to the coast. There are many campgrounds listed. Unfortunately they are all closed. It becomes late and I struggle on the search for a place to stay tonight.
Soon I realize that I have to skip part of the TET and just go north, hopping form village to village until I found a campground almost 15km NE of Faro Touriñan, the most westerly point of Spain.
Sunday, 11th October
First order of the day on the following morning was to reach Faro Touriñan also called the end of the world.
This is a remote peninsula and a bonus goal for the Jacob pilgrims after reaching Santiago de Compostela.
After checking the box for this bucket list item I headed via Santiago de Compostela towards the border of Portugal. Across the mountain and passing by more wind generators in chilly temperatures.
The border crossing was less than eventful, there was just a small sign, not even the standard European Union Sign, no border control, …
The rote runs on the northern edge of Portugal to the east through remote but nice countryside.
According the TET description is one potentially difficult water crossing to be mastered today. The water level is low, so I have only to handle the very slippery rocks. I can see how this could be a problem with more water.
In the NE corner of Portugal is the Montesinho Natural Park. It is situated on a surprisingly high altitude and that makes the temperature, let’s say interesting. I stop for the night at a nice campground right on the edge of the Park.
Monday 12th October
The trail hugs the border to Spain, sometimes actually on the border which makes fast riding, and leads also to the most easterly point of Portugal. A short hike gets you to a viewpoint where you overlook the river Duoro and a power station which is actually in Spain while you stand in Portugal.
The trail continued along the border with occasional steep descends and climbs which were a bit tricky but grand interesting views. They are marked on the GPS and could be easily bypassed, but I wanted to give them a try. Some ancient roads have been also in the menu.
Also a lot of farm roads.
On the way you could see a lot of history.
I only got a small glimpse here and there as you could spend many days to explore.
Riding through villages feels like a maze.
Most of the villages have some kind of Fortress. More and more tree plantation of some sort are along the route.
And as I approach the lake next to the village of Montargil the sandy sections become deeper and longer. Nothing which cannot be handled. Unfortunately I come from the wrong side of the lake and have to ride all the way around it to reach the village where I camp for the night.
At the campground stays another ADV rider with his Himalayan. We had a nice chat over a few drinks.
Wednesday, 14th October
The first interesting thing this morning was the Cromeleque Monte das Fontainhas.
This Granit Megaliths are apparently from around 3 thousand years B.C. ago.
I knew that Portugal has a very long history but I was not aware that it was that old.
Everywhere are cork oak plantations and you can find stacks of cork along the track.
Sometimes they are just loaded onto trucks.
In between are old and sometimes new casa de campo and religious buildings in the typical color schemes.
The space between the trees is used for gracing.
The closer I got to the sea the more the landscape looks manicured.
The houses are painted nicely and everything is well looked after.
Friday, 16th October
Southern Spain is flat. That’s what I was thinking the next day. Ok, ok, I didn’t ride the loop along the Portuguese border. Mainly because the first part of the TET today where hit and miss. The trail often runs through farmland and those tracks where often not respected by the farmer. That means the track was overgrown by whatever the farmer has planted or even worse there were buildings.
But mostly it was fast dirt road.
Until my fast moving pace came to a halt just south of Sevilla at a river crossing. Here I had to wait for the ferry.
Saturday, 17th October
The night was not very quiet. Despite the curfew and the quiet hours on the campground the Spanish families were partying till almost morning. So it was not surprising that I got a late start to Tarifa, the most southerly point of Spain.
Bad preparation was the reason that I didn’t know anything about the famous Bridge of Ronda and so I rode along the town outskirt following the route.
Little did I know at that time, that I will be back here about one year later.
Again on a nice mix of gravel and paved roads before I get to camp close to the town of Pizarra.
At the small campground was also a shop included where I scored a nice bottle of wine and something to eat which I enjoyed until it was dark.
On the other side going down was less rocky but offered equal impressive landscape.
The last stretch before I stopped for the night near Órgiva, was on fast paved road.
On my search for fuel I passed by the Castillo de La Calahorra which is situated in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a bit off the TET.
This castle was built in the short timespan between 1509 and 1512.
I made a small shortcut and joined the TET again just north of the village.
The landscape stayed try just sprinkled with some trees.
The road winds through the desert and I’m thankful that the temperatures are nice.
Where the valley bottom is wider it is used for some tree plantations. Those trees are very colorful at this time of the year.
Tuesday, 20th October
The weather this morning is not too promising. And the variation in the landscape are little. My general direction is towards Valencia, but of course being on the TET, I will not going into town.
As the route leads into mountains it passed by old remaining of mines. There is not much to visit but many small items let you imagine how busy this place once must have been.
Nearby are villages where the workers families used to live. Now they are used just like most other places although there are signs of mining activities. Don’t know if those are still active.
After passing through, the track went further up. When looking back you could see still mining overburden dump.
In the middle of nowhere I met other riders.
They were not riding the TET but up here are many different possibilities. A nice short chat and we split ways.
Before heading down into the valley I passed buy a radio transmitting station. Up here is also a skiing area.
The plan was to stay in the village of Aliaga. As I rolled down towards the place a young Iberian ibex almost took me out.
Sunday, 23rd October
Today the weather was good but cold. The first stretch was again farmland.
Then I had come into some woody area with patrial terraced sections.
At the ridge where several wind generators sticking out of the low clouds., and did I mention that it was cold?
As I approach the big valley east of Lleida the track had a lot of paved road.
At the next gas stop I reevaluated my plan. I looked on the map trying to understand the bigger picture.
The remaining route would be a loop north into the Pyrenees and then back down towards Barcelona.
I always had planned to skip the very last part from the main road to Barcelona. So there is left only the loop which would last me 1 or 2 days more max.
This meant the weather forecast for the timeframe of my trip home become worse. That and the low temperature brought me to the decision to skip that.
So I hopped on the motorway and continued all the way to the French border. I knew that the COVID rules allowed only the transit through Switzerland. The French border crossing was uncertain but transit should always be possible. The plan I came up with was to ride the entire stretch from Spain to Austria in one go.
My chosen hotel was a huge truck stop in the last village on the Spanish side. The view was not great but the sky had been interesting.
Monday, 24th October
I got up early and packed my bike in the very cold morning. At 5o’clock I was rolling through the darkness. Man it was cold. The highway speed was not helping. Thankfully the rain didn’t come as forecasted, but the ride was a torture. On the last stretch in Austria it started to rain and I skipped the last mountain pass which would have been 1793m and opted for the tunnel. I got home at nine o’clock in the evening.
Aftermath and the story continued
I realized that I started too late in the season.
As I mentioned during the report, I skipped some section of the TET due to snow and/or temperature and technical problems.
The first bigger skip was just west of Andorra.
The second was more a choice to run the southern part roughly between Bilbao and Leon.
The third section was in the southern part of Ronda.
The forth part the Loop at the Spanish SE coast to Almeria.
And finally the loop mentioned in the second last day of the report, which was by coincidently just south of the first part skipped.
That means basically, the green segments are the sections I still needed to cover.
The good news is that nobody knew that COVID will take so long and that I would have in 2021 again time to ride those missed/skipped sections.
This time I have chosen an earlier travel date. September 2021 was the selected month to miss the high temperatures of the summer. As the weather forecast was looking good I loaded my bike into the newly acquired Van and started my trip to Spain.
Using a Van causes also the need to setup basecamps from where I would ride loops.
At the same time as this caused some limitations on how much ground I will be able to cover on the TET, it also allowed me to ride without the main luggage.
Day 1
The drive through Switzerland and France was uneventful and done all on the motorway. I was listening to an audio book and took it easy.
As finding a place to sleep was no concern I drove as long as I felt ok with it.
Somewhere in Southern France I stopped at a rest area and set up my sleeping arrangement in the van, next to the bike.
Here the rest areas are quite nice. The passenger cars are physically separated, usually by a hill or at least some trees from ever present trucks.
That worked really well and I had a good rest. The next morning I had a croissant and a coffee to get going.
Day 2
The night was short, but it was nice that I didn’t have to search for a place for my tent and in the morning I had no problems with packing up a wet tent.
I was not in a hurry and that’s why I took the scenic route to the town of Tremp, west of Andorra.
The plan was to stay at the same campground as the last time and make two loops from there.
The route was more narrow and steep than expected. And so I arrived in the afternoon. This still gave me time to setup my place and make a more detailed plan for the next day.
Later in the Afternoon it started to rain pretty hard.
The weather forecast for the next day was ok in the south and still some rain in the mountains.
As I planned to do two loops from here, one in the south of my location and the other one in the north, I decided to ride the southern one first. This was the last missed section of the 2020 run.
Day 3
The day started cold and with some rain. So I took it easy and waited for better weather.
As soon as it cleared up a bit, which was almost lunch time, I started on pavement south.
In the last village before I hooked up with the TET again I refueled the bike to be on the safe side.
Soon I felt to be in the middle of nowhere. Old roads with broken pavement altered with farm roads. Up and down it goes, passing by some old villages.
Than the route climbed up towards a wall of rocks. It was hard to imagine where there shall be a road passing through. But there was one.
I wanted to fly the drone and realized, that I forgot my mobile at the car. That’s the disadvantage of having a base and no need to pack up all my belongings.
So no drone footage for now.
The following road was winding through valleys until it directed me towards a dead end. At least the valley had no pass on the end of it shown on the map. After a short paved section I hit a village squeezed in between steep mountains. And on one of these steep walls was a ‘road’ build, doing up with one after the other serpentines.
Steep gravel, no rail guards, I felt quite exposed.nSometimes you could see that landslides have damaged the roads and it was only repaired poorly
On the other side of the mountain I went down back into the valley which was going to lead me back to the campground, just in time for more rain.
Day 4
Today it was foggy and cold, but forecast was good so I started on my northerly loop.
Riding in the valley north, I realized how much it climbed, although it felt like staying always more or less level, because it got really cold.
The fog was blocking the sun and with it the warmth of it.
Just before I left pavement to climb finally the mountain road which I was defeated by last year, I broke free of the fog.
Passing some old structure on the small one lane road I knew already I headed to the last village. Sunshine made it much nicer and the temperatures at least bearable.
Soon I was above the tree line and it opened up great views. The road went higher and higher. Now I was more than happy that I had turned around last year. There would have been no way to make it.
There were some small clouds hanging on the mountain and that made it even better.
The road stayed up on the high elevation for quite some time before I reached another small climb to a pass into the next valley.
There was also a lookout conveniently located there.
While I was enjoying the views, 2 Swiss BMW bikers came up from the valley and stopped. A short chat later I hit the road again.
I thought that I have made some kind of accomplishment until I passed on the way down guys on bicycles riding up the steep road.
After a short stretch on pavement the route turned back up into the mountains. Small group of houses are scattered in the landscape.
Those are very small villages which are really remote, sometimes on a little peak.
The way back to the campground was again across the Coll de Montllobar which I knew already from the last TET Spain trip.
The road across the pass is a very nice winding well paved road.
At the summit is a ruin of a castle with the same name as the pass.
Day 5
Today was sort of an off day. I just needed to go to the next base camp. Before I could leave I needed to pay the bill. Unfortunately the host had left to do some organization things, so I had to wait for them. No problem, the only plan was to drive to the village of Riano next to an artificial lake.
The selected Campground resides above the village which granted a view. The only downside was the cold wind.
Day 6
The night was cold and the clouds are still hanging in the mountains.
Still I planned to run the northerly loop through the mountains.
The first pass is all paved, but at the summit I’m above the clouds. It looks like a lake in the between the mountain peaks.
After getting across the pass and a short stretch in the valley below, the route climbs another mountain.
In between the barren landscape is a chapel appeared close to the gravel road.
On the other side of the mountain range this road followed down a strange valley.
The center of it was filled with something looking like a dam, running along the valley and the road sitting on top.
Many rocks were scattered on the pasture used by some cows and a few donkeys.
One of the gates was ‘guarded’ by a cute donkey.
Shortly after that the road becomes deteriorated more before it first improved and then changes back to pavement. The now well maintained road follows down the rest of the valley.
Despite the beautiful morning, the rain was due to come. First it is gentle and I was not worried when I climbed on another dirt road the next mountain range.
Unfortunately I learned the downside of travelling without luggage. I crossed several mountains in heavy downpour and a few times the farming trails were so rough and slippery that I almost didn’t make it. If I would have had my stuff with me I would stop somewhere for the night. I’m very thankful when I reached the concrete slap which leads me down into the a valley to the main road.
The last pass back to my camp would be great fun to ride if there is no rain and the temperatures a bit higher. This time I didn’t see anything and the heated grips where running on full power.
Day 7
My original plan was to do another loop a bit more to the west, but due to the low temperature and the fact that most of the route would be again just pavement, I decided to skip it and drive to the next base camp.
That one was close to another artificial lake. It was still early after setting up my things at the Camp Rio Luna, so I went for a ride.
The first long stretch to reach the TET section I wanted to ride was across a mountain pass on a heavily travelled road and the main highway. No fun.
And then the route leads through forest working roads. Very rocky and also no fun, especially as the landscape of harvested woods are not nice. Sorry that there are no pictures.
I made two mistakes. One was under estimated the time needed for the planned route and the second was that I expected mostly nice landscape on the trail. I still found some of it but I felt down and made very few pictures.
The second part of my figure 8 route I couldn’t do as the daylight was running out.
So I cut short via the AP66 back to the campground.
Day 8
In the morning the place was covered in thick fog. But the forecast was good so I got ready for the southern loop.
Shortly after leaving the camp, I climb up and got quickly above the fog.
A blue sky and sunshine welcomed me. The meadows where still covered with dew and I felt really good.
The villages are mostly nestled down in the valleys.
Great gravel roads leading through the hills. This area used to be mined and remaining can be seen often.
Sometimes the route runs through non active mines which clearly helped that we have today those gravel roads to use.
Talking about planning, todays route took me much less time than expected.
After reaching the southern end of my loop, I decide to go north differently to ride some of the route which I missed yesterday.
Some stretches this alternate was running on paved road but they are always fun and granted nice views.
The last pass today was the Puerto de Ventana which I joined from the gravel road. It opened another great view.
A short stop at a local shop for food and drinks completed a successful day and I reached my camp in a happy mood.
Day 9
Plan of the day, driving across the country all the way south to the town of Ronda close to the Mediterranean coast.
Most of the route was to my surprise no longer a toll road. The weather was great and I made good progress on the Motorway until I noticed a strange vibration on the car.
As I stopped and checked the tires without findings I noticed that one of the wheels was a bit loose. Good that I caught it before any damage or worse had happened.
I made it without further incident to the campground of my choice, just outside the town.
Day 10
The planned route was leading me on tarmac but a nice winding road to Marchenilla, where I have planned to join the TET and had back to Ronda.
This meant to ride some of the road twice and if I would have known things ahead of time I wouldn’t have done it in this way.
The road itself was great passing the village of Benadalid with its interested used Castillo. I enjoyed that ride very much until all traffic had been stopped for a bicycle race.
Initially the information was for 30min. After almost 2 hours people started to creep forward although there where participants of the race still coming.
Being on a bike allowed me to follow others while hugging the edge of the road until I came to the village of Gaucin.
There all roads in and out of the village where blocked by the race organization. Not that this would have been necessary but they did the track layout in such a way that nobody could find a way around it. And believe me, I search for any roads leaving that village. So no other option than to wait there.
A few hours later the police finally permitted the traffic to go.
Not in the best mood I rode along the nice road to Marchenilla and hopped onto the dirt road of the TET.
This was a short and fast section until I came back to the road I just came down the mountain.
I didn’t think that there could be further roadblocks ahead but I just made it back to the village of Gaucin and got stopped by this bicycle race again.
Now all the riders came the other way and all the traffic was blocked again for several hours.
Because I had to ride this stretch to reach the village of Agatocin, where the TET leaves the main road, I had no choice other than to wait again.
I did not enjoy that and wished to have chosen another day to do this ride.
It was difficult to see the road as the fun it is after we finally let go by the police.
Soon I was back on a dirt road which was winding down into the valley. At the bottom where some palm trees and you could see that there was a flood no too long ago.
This part of Spain is surprisingly filled with fairly steep and big hills. Others may call it even mountains.
Villages are usually on the ridgeline, but you can find also remote houses in the valleys.
Big areas have been destroyed by wildfires. At the same time you could see that almost every little creek was a very wild river not too long ago.
Landslides, piles of rocks and recently repaired roads showed that.
The TET route leads also through big chestnut plantations before it climbs towards the A397.
That was the winding road I have taken last time from the coast to Ronda. This gravel road was initially the reason that I wanted to come back because it runs on the opposite side of the valley and looked promising. In the end it was just a gravel road. Maybe the disappointing timing of the day played also a role in my feelings.
I still wanted to see the famous bridge of Ronda and rode to town after a quick stop at the campground to get rid of the heavy armor to be able for some hiking if needed. I made it to an area below the bridge and enjoyed the view very much. Surprisingly flying the drone was not prohibited and so I could spare the hike.
The bridge is still in normal use and I crossed it while I had a stroll through the town. It would have been nice if there would not be so many tourist.
So my visit was brief and I just stocked up on beverages and food before heading back to camp for a relaxing evening and great conversation with the neighbors.
Day 11
The goal of the day was to reach a campground near the TET loop at the south-east corner of Spain where Almeria is located. Note that this part does no longer exist on the official TET-Spain.
Google maps offered me basically 2 options to reach the campground Almócita. One was driving along the coast and the other one was running inland.
Despite the longer stretch I opted for the inland route. This was uneventful and less scenic than hoped. Only the last stretch, which was across a mountain provided beautiful views along a narrow and winding road.
The campground is situated just outside the village. The road which the navigation system showed was very narrow and I asked myself if this is the correct road. How shall camping vehicles get to this place? Well, later I found out that there is a wider and better road coming from the other side.
After settling in I went to the restaurant where I enjoyed a selection of Tapas and a few drinks.
Day 12
The morning started with a great sunrise although the temps were low.
I planned to run the loop (red circle) clockwise because I had no idea how long it would take and the southern part could be easy cut short.
Please note that this is no longer part of the official TET route.
After a very short ride on pavement the track lead into a riverbed/gravel road winding through the heavily eroded land.
Many of the riverbeds where totally dry and tracks running along, crisscross and sometimes it is difficult to choose the right one.
Soon a gravel road climbed out of the main valley up into the mountains with barren landscape. It is quite cold and so I’m happy when I descended finally down along a old and narrow ‘road’.
Here are some small houses and it is hard to see what would bring someone to live here. Even when there is a village with more houses it looks no fun to be there.
The stretch into Almeria would run in a dry riverbed and I opted to go the quick way through town on the highway. Long stretches of greenhouses on both sides of the road made it not desirable to stay longer than needed. Soon I was through and climbed out on a rocky track.
The track met after a while a paved road which ran through the hilly landscape. Still no lush landscape but not as barren as earlier on.
An old road leading me back down into the valley where I started this morning granted also great views.
You can see the village with all the white houses in the distance. My campground was on the outskirt of it.
Day 13
That was the End of my TET-Spain adventure. Now I had only a long ride back home to Austria ahead of me, or so I thought.
I didn’t really look forward to the more than 2000km drive, but nevertheless started very early in the morning and was pleasantly surprised with great weather, no road tolls almost all the way to France.
During the drive I got the information that the BMW XChallenge in Italy, near Monza, which I was interested on is still available. So I changed my plans and instead of driving through France and Switzerland I turned towards Italy.
To make this story short, after 2 very long days with little sleep I made it back home at almost midnight with two bikes in the Van.
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