I needed a route that would test out the new bike – Wanda, the Koga WorldTraveller – and, having previously visited the mountains of northern Spain on a walking holiday in 2007, it seemed like a good destination for a two-wheeled shakedown. It was also a destination that could be reached without jumping on a plane so, in the final week of August 2019 (after a couple of days on the Isle of Wight) I caught the ferry from Plymouth to Santander and headed south in the direction of the Douro Valley of Portugal…
The Cycling Europe Podcast: Episode 011 – Spain & Portugal 2019
The Cycling Europe Podcast berths in Santander, Spain for two weeks of adventure across the Iberian Peninsula via Potes, Riaño, León, Puebla de Sanabria, Bragança and Porto to Coimbra in Portugal. Join Andrew P. Sykes as he discovers the cycle path less travelled up and over the remote mountains of the Picos de Europa, into Portugal’s spectacular Douro Valley and onwards to the Atlantic Ocean, aided and abetted by his faithful companion Wanda, the Koga WorldTraveller bicycle.
- Day 1: Yorkshire to Reading
- Day 2: Reading to the Isle of Wight
- Day 3: The Isle of Wight
- Day 4: The Pont Aven ferry from Plymouth to Santander (1)
- Day 5: The Pont Aven ferry from Plymouth to Santander (2)
- Day 6: Santander to San Vicente de la Barquera
- Day 7: San Vicente de la Barquera to Potes
- Day 8: Potes to Riaño
- Day 9: Riaño to León
- Day 10: León to Galende
- Day 11 (Part 1): Galende to Puebla de Sanabria
- Day 11 (Part 2): Puebla de Sanabria to Bragança
- Day 12: Bragança to Tua (Douro Valley)
- Day 13: Porto
- Day 14: Porto to Coimbra
- Day 15: Coimbra
- Day 16: Batalha Monastery
- Day 17 (Part 1): Coimbra to Porto
- Day 17 (Part 2): Porto to Vigo
- Day 18 (Part 1): Vigo Station
- Day 18 (Part 2): Vigo to Palencia (via León)
- Day 19: Santander
- Days 20 & 21: Return to Yorkshire
