With Velo-Quebec Sept 11-26 2008, flying out of Montreal, with Air Transat, direct to Malaga.
For Velo Quebec website details (click)
Overall rating........... 7 stars/10 (ie pretty damn good):... dated Sept 28/08
Pros:........................... Velo Que is super well organized, many superior hotels (best ever for me)
Cons:............................ couple days a bit too tough, weather in second week was so-so, group didn't "gel" too well.
for..... photos (click)
Sept 12 – Arrival in Málaga, trip to Lanjaron. ....arrived in Malaga 210PM after stop in Barcelona, group of 28, (including Claudia from Cycleventures).... A fairly performance-oriented group, and I feel (and am) very much like the oldest. There´s only one guide, an Italian girl, about 30, who can speak English perfectly, but I´ve asked that we communicate in French.
Sept 13 – Looped route via Orjiva, Pampaneira, Pitres, Trevelez, Torviscon... kind of a struggle for the first day, jet lag and all, but was totally optional, so only did 56 Km ... very hilly, 30+C, and a bit cloudy. Roads although small back roads are well paved, kind of puts Canadian, (especially Quebec) roads to shame.
Sept 14 - Lanjaron, Pinos del Valle, Durcal, Padul, Otura, Ogijares, Granada... just 64Km but fairly mountainous, Granada looks interesting for tomorrow . Staying at a better class hotel, pretty much on the grounds of the La Alhambra,
Sept 15 – Free day or looped route in the Sierra Nevada. Every day is a sunny day, 30+C but no humidity, so its all quite bearable. Spent from 9am to 3pm in La Alhambra, (palaces of the Muslim kings), very impressive in a quiet subdued way, ... very peaceful and surprisingly cool.... noticed La Alhambra is listed in the book ¨100 places to see before you die¨. Noticed the thermometer is 38C at 5 :00 PM, and 28C at 10:00PM..... but it doesn't seem that hot. Arianna (the guide) drives back and forth offering water, ... thankfully.
Sept 16- Granada, Santa Fé, Chauchina, Valderrubio, Illora, Montefrio, Almedinilla, Zagrilla. This was a long hot day, 108 Km and had to check the detailed instructions every five minutes, it seemed. I was the first to arrive at the destination ( to the surprise of others), .... surprising because I'm not a fast cyclist, but was persistent. I was dead tired at the end, and slept solidly for 9 hours.
Sept 17 - Zagrilla, Luque, Zuheros, Dona Mencia, Castro del Rio, Córdoba. 90 Km and easier than the day before. Had dinner on my own because I find all those excited Quebecois- accented voices a bit irritating. It´s a very performance oriented group and many with very fancy bikes, eg Cervelo and usually carbon fibre (... which to me, is guaranteed pretty much obsolescence).
Sept 18 – Visit of Córdoba or looped route in the hills of Las Ermitas. Today I took an English guided walking tour, 30E, a bit expensive. The Mosque ( with a cathedral inside) is huge. In the year 1000, about 40,000 people went daily to pray, today about 40 individuals (not 40,000) go on a regular daily basis.
Sept 19- Córdoba, Almodovar del Rio, Fuente Palmera, Palma del Rio.... kind of a nothing town , but staying in an old beautiful monastery, San Francisco, ... dinner with group was excellent
Sept 20- Palma del Rio, La Rambla, Guadajoz, Carmona, Sevilla. 80Km (I forget really) and beautiful sunshine, saw a flamenco show with the group, was pretty good ( more emphasis on song and guitar than dance). I guess I´d seen a similar show some years ago when I was on a Club Med excursion near Cadaques.
Sept 21 - Free day. ... Sevilla is a big city, and strangely couldn´t find any internet.... did the walking tours of my ¨DK Eyewitness¨ guide, and refused to join the others who went to a bull fight, although I did go on a tour of the bullring-museum earlier in the day.
Sept 22 - Sevilla, El Arahal, Moron, Montellano, Arcos de la Frontera. was a long day 124 Km and thankfully fairly flat...... and what do you know!.....it rained for 20 minutes or so, fortunately had my brilliant yellow light rain jacket, .... stayed in a government Parador tonight (fairly fancy, dinner included). Generally the hotels we stay at are very high-class. I don´t quite know how Velo Quebec manages it, at about 170 dollars a day, (...allowing for the included flight). One couple noticed that the room they had was 180 E per night.
Sept 23 - Arcos de la Frontera, El Bosque, Grazalema, Benajoran, Ronda. a cloudy and rather tough day, 90 Km partly through the mountains (1,103m climb, from 25 in Seville), and my butt is beginning to feel the pain . The Reine Victoria hotel where we are staying is the ¨grande dame des hotels¨ rather deluxe, and built around 1906.
Sept 24 – Free day or looped route via Arriate, Torre-Alhaquime, Alcala del Valle. I´d never even heard of Ronda, (whereas Granada, Cordoba, Seville are all well known), but Ronda is turning out to be quite a charming place. The thing that surprised me most is reading what Hemingway had to say (very positive), and that Orson Wells was so enchanted with Ronda, he wanted his ashes distributed in Ronda.
Very few of the Quebec group seems to have cell phones, so Arianna, the guide, was anxious to make sure mine worked back on the first day, so tested it and it did, ...... so that at least somebody could call ...... if needs be. One of the women, 42, had a heat stroke on the second day, and had to be transported by van, and her husband, a radiologist from Quebec city, fell and got some nasty scrapes, but that's about it for accidents. In general, the Andalucia cycling is pretty tough, especially in the early days/in the east when the temp was 38+C, and probably even hotter in the sun.
Sept 25 - Ronda, Mijas. I was kind of concerned about 90 km through the mountains, but it worked out ok, and was not the most difficult day... climbed to 1200m. The scenery for first 20 km was the beautiful spaghetti-western scenery, literally, ... and the last 20 km we were still at 500 m and could see panorama of the concrete jungle that is the Costa del Sol
Sept 26 – Trip to Málaga airport and return trip to Montreal. ... unfolded as it should,
thankfully
Overall rating........... 7 stars/10 (ie pretty damn good):... dated Sept 28/08
Pros:........................... Velo Que is super well organized, many superior hotels (best ever for me)
Cons............................ couple days a bit too tough, weather in second week was so-so, group didn't "gel" too well.
