North to south through Spain - Ruta de la Plata - 'Historic road'

Just had a look at that. Not a route I would have come up with but one I would like to do.

Thanks for posting.
 
Another vote for the 'Silver Route' and I often recommend it on here ~ the two main draws are it passes through very beautiful, historic towns (by virtue of it being an old trade route) but also a lot of it uses old roads that have now been bypassed by big shinny new roads. As a consequence you can sometimes be the only vehicle on the road for km's & km's :)

Andres

PS Stay away from Madrid, it's a shit hole.......................
 
Definitely a +1 for exploring this remote part of Spain. It's very hard to find camping accommodation but if you start in hotels the (small) cites along the route are fabulous, especially Caceres and Mérida, which was the 'other' capital of Roman Spain - or Hispania as they called it - to Tarragona, where I live ... :)

PS Stay away from Madrid, it's a shit hole.......................

Though you might say that Andes - just check out Real Madrid's fate in La Liga to cheer yourself up! :)

Regs

Simon
 
..........



Though you might say that Andes - just check out Real Madrid's fate in La Liga to cheer yourself up! :)

Regs

Simon

Poor old Real Madrid :D

To be fair, there's a healthy dollop of facetiousness in my comment on Madrid and it's a bit of a long standing wind up of a certain member on here..........having said that, give me any of the Mediterranean cities over Madrid any day of the week; different attitudes/food/way of life etc and all the better for it :)

Andres
 
I have been tipped-off that the route guide page in the website isn’t working.

The route is, for traditional users at least, a pilgrims’ trail, often reduced to footpaths, unsuitable for motorcycles. I don’t think there is one pre-set motorcyclists’ GPS version or at least not one that I can find easily; most just seem to run as closely as possible to the on-foot version, avoiding the motorway. I’ll have a go at creating at least my version of it, using one or more of the sometimes very good articles and websites out there. Into it I will try to build the suggested excursions, too:

http://www.rutadelaplata.com/moto/en/rutas-por-la-ruta/

If anyone fancies a look at a version of the pilgrims’ route in Google maps, there’s quite a good app: Via de la Plata. I tripped over it via surfing around various sites. It works well on a large iPad and, I guess, a phone. Similarly, the free to download app from the website that has a version for ‘on-road’ bicycles (as opposed to ‘off-road’ mountain bikes who follow the footpaths) should I guess work for bods wanting to ride a motorcycle. This app works well on an iPad, too.

I’ll also ask a native Spanish speaker in the office if she’d be kind enough to contact the site and ask them to mend the link.
 
I have been tipped-off that the route guide page in the website isn’t working.

The route is, for traditional users at least, a pilgrims’ trail, often reduced to footpaths, unsuitable for motorcycles. I don’t think there is one pre-set motorcyclists’ GPS version or at least not one that I can find easily; most just seem to run as closely as possible to the on-foot version, avoiding the motorway. I’ll have a go at creating at least my version of it, using one or more of the sometimes very good articles and websites out there. Into it I will try to build the suggested excursions, too:

http://www.rutadelaplata.com/moto/en/rutas-por-la-ruta/

If anyone fancies a look at a version of the pilgrims’ route in Google maps, there’s quite a good app: Via de la Plata. I tripped over it via surfing around various sites. It works well on a large iPad and, I guess, a phone.

I’ll also ask a native Spanish speaker in the office if she’d be kind enough to contact the site and ask them to mend the link.

You're quite correct Richard. The Via de la Plata is an ancient trading route, since before Roman times although they gave it the name after they began mining for silver in the north. I believe that almost none of the original route is doable by motors and it's become a bit more confusing after they named the A-66 motorway the 'Ruta de la Plata'.

When I rode that way last - back in 2012! - I tended to stray further east into the Sierra Morena, which is very remote, and dallied a while in Jerte, which is a good base for exploring the Sierras de Gredos and Peña de Francia, both of which have some of the best road riding in Spain!

Keep up the good work! :)

Poor old Real Madrid :D

To be fair, there's a healthy dollop of facetiousness in my comment on Madrid and it's a bit of a long standing wind up of a certain member on here..........having said that, give me any of the Mediterranean cities over Madrid any day of the week; different attitudes/food/way of life etc and all the better for it :)

Andres

Too right. I friend of mine who lives there has to smuggle bottles of Catalan wine into his favourite restaurant - I'm serious, it's a flash place and the owner would lose business if he had the fabulous Catalan wines on his list - so the Madrileños are stuck with boring old Rioja and Duero wines day in say out ... they are just sooo conservative aren0t they! :)

¡Salud!

Simon
 
Thank you, Simon.

I have created what I hope is a fairly good GPS version of the full route, based on this website: http://www.larutaenbici.com/en/etapas-carretera

https://www.dropbox.com/s/21hm7urtbf9eir7/Ruta de la Plata.GPX?dl=0

Here are some notes to help anyone who might want to ride it:

1. The website caters for bicycle riders, ‘on-road’ and ‘off-road’; I used the ‘on-road’ version, picturing these in my mind’s eye as conventional bicycles, ridden by normal bods, as opposed to mountain bikes, bouncing their way along muddy or rock strewn paths.

2. There were some parts (not many) where the download tracks obviously hacked off down some roads or tracks that are not shown on a Garmin map. These I had to work my way around, using what i hope are sensible alternatives.

3. I have included the website's 12 tracks, which I have coloured cyan. The route, is the usual Garmin default colour, magenta.

4. The website's 12 cyan tracks were created to run south to north, from Seville to Gijon on the north coast. These I have left as they are so that they follow the same order as the website from which they were lifted.

5. To create the single magenta route I have reversed the direction, believing that someone from the UK is more likely to go north to south.

6. As the 12 tracks are aimed at cyclists they are quite short individually. Logically, a motorcycle rider will go further in a day or in a stint. If you do, simply amend the route, dragging it away from any towns or cities that you want to miss out.

7. Similarly, whilst the magenta route sticks reasonably faithfully to the bicycle routes, it might sometimes be sensible to hop on to the motorway to act as a bypass. A good example might be when leaving Gijon itself on day one.

8. As usual, I created the route on a Mac using BaseCamp. I then hosted the file on Dropbox in a .gpx format. This means that it should open straight up in BaseCamp or Mapsource or in any software that is capable of reading gpx exchange files. That being said, sometimes the movement of the file between a Mac and Dropbox changes the file extension from .gpx to .txt This changes it into a text file, meaning that you get a load of text and no routes. Do not panic. Save the file to your computer and rename it by deleting the .txt extension but leave the .gpx bit. All should then be well.

9. Need places to stay? The website has hotel suggestions, as do lots of other sites. The website I have used to create this version of the Ruta de la Plata, is popular with bicyclists, who are really not so very different to motorcyclists....... They are just very often skinier. If a hotel is 'safe' for them - and their several thousand pounds worth of carbon fibre bicycle - it will be just as 'safe' (and friendly) for you on your motorcycle; trust me. Find the hotels here:

http://www.larutaenbici.com/en/recursos - Filter by stage and then by accommodation

10. I don't think there are too many glitches in the route but DO check it before you set off. If anyone spots any, sing up, please. Similarly, if anyone spots something and wants to say: "Mate, you've missed the awesome NS-123! It's well wicked." sing up, too.

Richard



PS The website is available as a downloadable app, too. It works well on an iPad or iPhone. Like the website, it gives a good mini-guide on where you’ll be riding and on things to see along the way.

http://www.larutaenbici.com/en/info-app


PPS If any wants wants to look at a whole bunch of other Pilgrims' Routes, have a look at:

http://www.elcaminosantiago.com/Camino-Santiago-Maps.htm
 
I hate the word but have to say it now - 'Awesome' work Richard. I'll run through the route using the various maps on Wikiloc as there are numerous mapping errors in Spain so your comment about roads not appearing on the Garmin maps doesn't surprise me at all!

Simon
 
Note:

I think I may have left the shaping points as waypoints. Bods might like to change them or not, as they see fit.

===

Thanks for the kind comment, Simon.

The section where the bicycle route track log differed most greatly from Garmin’s known roads was through a reasonably large park area. It was a bit odd as the track log displayed as a straight line, which I suspect was only because Garmin had no known roads to line it up with. It’s quite possible it’s just an unmade road, quite doable on a ‘on-road’ bicycle but maybe not worth the effort if the rider is two-up on a FireBlade. The ‘road’ might show up in Open Street Maps or in Google Earth.

There was also a couple of short sections where Garmin showed the bicycle track log as passing along a known ‘broken road’. It’s not an usual thing to find when out and about. I routed the magenta route around these, though it’s quite possible they are easily doable on a conventional motorbike. There again, they might have some local signage, telling the rider that motorbikes are not allowed. I simply erred on the side of caution, not knowing what sort of rider might be using the route I’d created. If it were me, I’d make a decision on what I found in front of me on the day.

What was interesting was reading on other websites of walkers / hikers on the original Pilgrims’ Way paths and tracks moaning about ‘off-road’ mountain bicycles. I can imagine the problems, especially if the bicyclists hurtle their way along the quite possibly narrow and rocky paths, scattering all before them. It’s a shame when one bunch (or more) of riders spoils it for another bunch, just because they can. Live and let live, should be the guideline for everyone; after all, the walkers were there long before the bicyclists.

One last tip for everyone: Would I ride my magenta line without a reasonably good local map? No, I wouldn’t. Nor would I necessarily do it without a simple guidebook. For sure it would be easy enough to ride, but reading just a little about the history of what you are riding along and / or picking up a little bit of information about what you are looking at (or might want to detour to to see) would be worth it. After all, it’s a long way and it’s been in use for hundreds if not thousands of years.
 
What was interesting was reading on other websites of walkers / hikers on the original Pilgrims’ Way paths and tracks moaning about ‘off-road’ mountain bicycles. I can imagine the problems, especially if the bicyclists hurtle their way along the quite possibly narrow and rocky paths, scattering all before them. It’s a shame when one bunch (or more) of riders spoils it for another bunch, just because they can. Live and let live, should be the guideline for everyone; after all, the walkers were there long before the bicyclists.

The Pilgrim's Way(s) - I take it you're taking about the numerous Way's of St. James - have indeed been around for over 1,000 years, but they are also very, very crowded, obviously even more so the nearer you get to Santiago. For instance I'm told by a friend of mine resident in León that in the summer about 6,000 pilgrims stay overnight in the city, where several routes co-incide. So there's bound to be some hassle if mountain bikers are insensitive, in fact this happens in many places in Spain including the Pyrenees trails where I live and ride. But then the BTT - 'Bici-todo-tereno' as they're called here - mob moan about the motorbikes - and we moan about quads and 4x4's don't we! :) - which reminds me of a quote - which I now learn is from from Nineteenth Century British mathematician Augustus de Morgan and not Isaac Newton as I've believed since I was at school ...

"Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so, ad infinitum."

last tip for everyone: Would I ride my magenta line without a reasonably good local map? No, I wouldn’t. Nor would I necessarily do it without a simple guidebook. For sure it would be easy enough to ride, but reading just a little about the history of what you are riding along and / or picking up a little bit of information about what you are looking at (or might want to detour to to see) would be worth it. After all, it’s a long way and it;s been in use for hundreds if not thousands of years.

The Michelin Green Guide to Spain is really handy for travelling, almost waterproof, almost tear proof and amazingly well written!

Regs

Simon
 
OK, section by section according to the original cycling route - NB I'm working 'down', i.e. in reverse order to the cycling sections:

ROAD-12-Pola de Lena-Gijon: I don't know Gijón but do know that it is a bloody big port, so I guess folks will just want to 'go' to someplace else, your route appears to follow the docks! Bearing in mind that most people would be coming or going to Santander/Bilbao i suggest 'Go' to Llanera. There is a reason behind this - if I were doing the route I'd try to start at the Cabo de Peñas, which is spectacular and her¡e even a restaurant at the famous lighthouse there - but I'm a nerdy pervert! :) - and the road down form there joint your route at Llanera.

Heading south the bicycle route seems to follow the road so closely on mu Topo España map that I suspect it was simply devised on a different map. This kind of error happens to me all the time when I'm drawing my HISS trails on Wikiloc, so I 'triangulate' between as many maps as I can get and check these against Google Earth and the satellite view in Wikiloc - and they still vary from what riders find on the ground - heaven help them if they try t follow the breadcrumb trail 'on instruments only! :)

The road through Oviedo looks abominable on a motorbike, so unless you fancy staying on the city - I knew a beau¡tiff girl from there once ... - then just take the by-pass.

OK, next section after 'walkies' with the Malamute - I can't argue with him as he's bigger than me!
 
Before the next section this is what I'm talking about with 'triangulation':

screen-shot-2018-01-25-at-10-31-11.png


Here's the route on Basecamp with Wapping's Magenta route following the road faithfully while the original cycle route wanders around in the woods running roughly parallel as the road winds up a hillside.

screen-shot-2018-01-25-at-10-30-53.png


Now the same place on Wikoloc* using the 'Mapa base' map from the Spanish National Cartographic Institute (IGN) which is quite a new option and IMHO by far the best.

screen-shot-2018-01-25-at-10-30-32.png


Now the same from the Wikiloc satellite view option. Obviously you can zoom in lots but you won't see any hint of a route, not even a footpath. This is also the case on Open Street Map and Open Cycle map, which leaves me wondering how the route was calculated - the only think that I can think of is that it was recorded 'live' and the satnav recording got confused by the trees - this happens to me a lot! - but if you look at the 'legs' i.e. the the 'rider's is doing between 20 and up to 62 kph , recording at 1 second intervals. So I wonder if that explains it. But note also that where the bicycle trail passes the village to the east and west - working down - this looks like a 'Via Verde,' i.e. an old railway track that has been rehabilitated for cycling, walking and on which motors are strictly prohibited - ho hum ...

* the route is someone else's Ruta de la Plata motorbike route - evidently a bit of a wanderer like yours truly!
 
ROAD-11-LEON-POLALENA: can't see any error on this section! :) León is a really nice city so possibly a good place to stay. But note that it's a very important stop on the camino de Santiago pilgrims route and a friend who lives there tells me that up to 6,000 people pass through every day - so you may need to book accommodation in advance. Sadly the ring road runs clockwise from 12.00 all the way round to 8.00 but there is a 'short cut' via San Andrés del Rabanedo.

OK, more walks - this time ending at one of my favourite tapas bars - oh it's such a bore being a retired bloke ... :)

Regs

Simon
 
Hi Simon, thanks for your review of the route. Great to have some local input and interest. Maybe a bit of explanation from my side is due?

Whilst there are lots of drawings (many of dubious quality) of the route, there are very few that show it in its entirety, whilst those that do often cater for bods walking or peddling their way along. The latter often take footpaths and tracks, totally unsuited to conventional roadgoing motorbikes.

The site I found catered for foot sloggers / mountain bike bods, with another GPS track aimed at conventional pushbike (on road) riders; most likely recorded live. I chose the latter, thinking that by and large where a conventional bicycle could go a standard motorbike could probably go, too. Even then, the GPS track sometimes took what were obviously cycle tracks or hurtled in a dead straight line across a forested area. Where the GPS track did this I had to make an educated guess as to the next best thing.

When I create routes from third party GPS tracks, I try (where possible) to stay as close to the track as possible. This saves me lobbing in bits because I feel like it. The route out of the port at the start does indeed trundle through the docks, for no other reason than that is where the bicycle track went. Would I take it? Probably, no. Would I probably jump on the motorway to get shout of the city? Yes.

Similarly, as the track was created by a bicyclist, it does indeed deviate into some towns that a motorcyclist might well chose to skip. Again, I just duplicated (where possible) the GPS track. Would I necessarily follow the magenta line blindly? No. Could I have routed the line around each and every town? Probably yes.

Very often the track / magenta route line does run very close to a motorway. I guess that is because it takes the old (pre-motorway) road, that itself runs - as it has done for 100’s of years - along a valley floor or in as short a distance as possible from A to B, which I assume is where the pilgrims / merchants would have walked? No doubt there are other roads that can be taken but that wasn’t the purpose of this exercise.

Like you, I think, I look forward to someone motorbiking along it. The glitches they can blame me for.

Cheers,

Richard

PS V jealous about the lunchtime tapas.
 
Hi Simon, thanks for your review of the route. Great to have some local input and interest. Maybe a bit of explanation from my side is due?

...

Very often the track / magenta route line does run very close to a motorway. I guess that is because it takes the old (pre-motorway) road, that itself runs - as it has done for 100’s of years - along a valley floor or in as short a distance as possible from A to B, which I assume is where the pilgrims / merchants would have walked? No doubt there are other roads that can be taken but that wasn’t the purpose of this exercise.

Like you, I think, I look forward to someone motorbiking along it. The glitches they can blame me for.

Cheers,

Richard

PS V jealous about the lunchtime tapas.

No problems Richard - I owe you and several other on here a few favours after all ...

I think most peeps will already have taken to your original point about hopping on and off the Magenta route around towns, cities, etc. but it's been interesting to see how the original was created - by some bod on a bicycle obviously.

You have a very good point about the Cyan route running alongside motorways. Very often there this a lovely 'A' road that follows the lie of the land where the new motorway replaces it. Many sections of these are designated as service roads - sign-posted 'Via de Servicio' - but you can almost always ride along them and in many cases they restored the surface just in time for the motorway to be opened - a good example is alongside the A-23 south of Teruel - and in these cases the ¡'road' has been removed from the satnav databases so when you are riding you appear to be on thin air! :)

Another few sections to come before we head of to the wall and floor tile shop - Mrs S's choices are now circling around €50 per square metre so it's payback time ...

Simon
 
ROAD-10-Benavente-Leon: Before we leave León a general point about Spanish cities and accommodation. Most cites are located on river bridges points with the 'old' city on the more hilly side if there is one and the 'new' town on the opposite bank which were formally - and still are! - flood plans ideal for cultivation.

The best places to start are usually in the old city centres, which are almost always lovely as Spain,being neutral in both World Wars, were never Blitzed. But things like mechanics, etc. are usually in the 'new' towns along with simple hotels for workers, etc. and some of these can be really good value and less 'touristy' than in the centres. In any case it's usually just a short walk into the old city for sampling the night life, which being in Spain means all night, so bear this in mind when looking for digs - read the revues for noise and check Google Street view if possible for lots of bars, restaurants, etc.

León is a good example. There's an area near the cathedral known colloquially as the 'Barrio Humédo' - literally 'wet zone'! - which is a great place for a night out but not for sleeping in - well sleeping alone anyway! :)

Wapping makes a good point about the 'bicycle friendly' accommodations listed on the original site but in fact in Spain you don't really have to worry too much about security or being refused entry ...

So, next stage. The routes make s strange dog leg heading east and then south of León. Why not just take the CL-622 via Santa Maria de Paramo and on to rejoin the route at La Bañeza, it's all flat agricultural land there anyway so there's nothing much to be gained by 'hogging' the major routes.

I can't see any reason not to follow the Cyan route through Benavente as this road, the ZA-P-1511, runs around the medieval town centre to rejoin both routes at a large roundabout - it's what you'd call an 'inner ring-road' and as it's called the Cañada de Vizana it's probably quite wide and straight as 'cañadas were ancient cattle drover's routes ...
 
ROAD-09-Zamora-Benavente: Not much to note here. You're on the great plains of Castille where the horizons seems endlessly far away and there 's nothing much to be gained from diverting - believe me I've tried, albeit well to the south-east of here from Toledo, it just goes on, and on, and on ...

But Zamora is said to be an interesting city and bearing in mind my comments about accommodation in León city it may be worth pushing on here for the night- As it's the last city that the Duero river passes while in Spain it might be good place to seek out the famous Duero wines ...

Little known facts dept. the famous Spanish biker racer, Angel Nieto, (12+1 word championships under his belt) was born here.
 
Thanks, Simon, interesting and helpful contributions :thumb2

Rather like Italy, we too often get stuck in the Alps and Pyrenees, lacking the time (a great excuse) to trundle on southwards to see what lies beyond. Hopefully this thread, added to your other contributions - and the simple route suggestions from say, RiDE magazine - will give us all the impetus to turn the front wheel southwards. Arm yourself with Michelin’s Green Guide to Spain and away you go.....

PS The thread has given me the kick up the arse I needed to finish (or at least do some more to) this:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/450657-Spain-51-routes-Work-in-progress
 


Back
Top Bottom