Cycling in Spain

Having left Spain and crossed the border into France, I thought I should publish a bit of a brief summary of my impressions of cycling in Spain.... cause I've got to say - I've enjoyed it!

I mean, from the day I set out from Seville, I can't recall ever once feeling intimidated or threatened on the road by motorists. That is despite probably having held up traffic (momentarily or otherwise) from time to time, because there was no way that they could pass safely as I struggled up hill, because I was trying to find my way through town or whatever....

In point of fact, I'm only ever aware of having been honked (and even then not done in an aggressive fashion) on a couple of occasions, with at least one of them being as a result of my doing something wrong. 

I just wish that Australian motorists were half as considerate.

The other thing that has surprised besides motorist behaviour, is the number of times I have seen some of the locals, on their training rides either individually or in a small group.... Seriously it can & has been in the remotest / weirdest of places...

Sure most of them won't acknowledge or say anything to me, despite my always giving a friendly wave, but that's OK, I suspect that's in part because I'm a 'touring' cyclist, something which seems to be a bit of an enigma here in Spain.

I mean I've only seen a few nutters like myself (mainly between Valencia and Barceona) and perhaps the locals realize / suspect that as a 'tourer', there's likely to be a language barrier...

The other thing which has amazed me is the amount & nature of the bike paths here. They are found in virtually every city / town regardless of its size and what's more, they can run for miles into the countryside... They're generally separated from pedestrian foot traffic and the roads (though not always) frequently by way of bollards, ripple strips or the like. 

Of course they aren't perfect, as they suffer some of the same design flaws as found elsewhere around the world.... They can begin / end abruptly for no apparent reason and aren't always that well signposted. All in all though I've been very impressed.