Barcelona Bound: Rain, Flamingos & Companionship!

Barcelona Bound: Rain, Flamingos & Companionship!

No host in Teruel and I don’t know exactly where to go which route to take and there is a big storm coming, very dark clouds, but according to my weather forecast it shouldn’t be raining, but tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night and all Sunday it should be very very bad weather

I got some chips though, I think I deserve some chips after Montañas Vacias I loaded up on Tortellini and I got some chips, lemon and black pepper Here is where I spent almost the last two days, it’s a recreational area but the good part is

On the other side there is a big roofing area and it’s shelter and where I pitch my tent I wanted to take a day off because I have a bad knee It’s my right knee and it’s the knee that gave me so many problems

I pushed a little bit a little bit too much to complete the Montañas Vacias before the rain yeah now I’ll take it easy in the next few days and we’ll see what happens A lot of rain, ideally I would like to cross the mountain, do a route that I had in mind but

It’s raining too much and it’s gonna be messy so I will go back from at least for the first part from the same Via Verde that I used to come to Teruel, the bike lane I used to come to Teruel That’s it, I’m waiting, there is another shower

Coming in about 20-30 minutes and then it should be pouring rain for about 20 minutes and then it should stop and then it will start to be very very windy so let’s see, there’s a wind gusts up to 80 kilometers per hour and I’m going to the most windy part

Back on the road, first problem I think reverse, there is a bridge a little further up, proper bridge Anyway, back on the… ah look at this here it is A bit muddy but it is here All right guys, back on the road, road to nowhere, I’m not sure where I’m going,

I’m heading to Barcelona the color of the soil when it’s wet, I would say African Why they are not ready? Why? peaches but why are they so green? September… Too bad, too bad You know what, there’s still good green, I’ll take a few more ones

1223m, it was very windy, until a few kilometres back here, not too bad, now slowly it’s like a highland for three like this then it starts to go down reverse, reverse, what do we see here, that’s a snack, that’s my snack on the road

It rained a bit, it looks like it stopped now, let’s see Let’s see what’s the story tonight That’s better Much better Here it’s drier That’s it I think today is as good as it gets i’m gonna pitch my tent here the road is far

Oh, the only problem is there was some dog shit herel I marked it Fucking dog. Pick up your dog shit, please. But I’m gonna pitch the tent here. If it rains, it drains a bit there Buenos dias! Much better night than I expected because ground wet, cloudy, humid in a way

I thought it would be very very humid but luckily it was very windy and the wind was surprisingly dry so the tent is fully dry inside and out. Road to Barcelona Still on the Via Verde, ojos negros! I stopped to a little village, got to the supermarket, got some bread, some camembert and

Some little cakes. 6 euro that’s the damage for today. Here we are, that’s where I camped on my way up There’s a trash can, there is a table, it’d be nice if there was water but that’s okay I’m gonna have breakfast here. Today’s fix of almonds, very very good. After the

Almonds, some grapes, very nice grapes. Mmm, lovely. That gives you an idea how big are windmills, look at that. I left Castellón de la Plana, nothing to write home about but I was able to chill a few days, met nice people. The city itself, nothing special

I was glad I took my first shower in 12 days, so that was really good. 12 days no shower. Orange trees, they’re still very green, I’ll be They’ll be ready for the winter. I’m leaving very late because, yeah, it’s 2:20pm Let’s see where we’re going tonight.

This is the Vía Verde, that starts in Benicassim. Benicassim, famous beach resort, very popular in the summer lots of nice houses, lots of apartment blocks too. Here the beach actually seems a little nicer more nature, more wild, but yeah, that’s Benicassim. Buenas. Yep, here it’s much much nicer.

I’ve entered the national park of La Sierra d’Irta It might be the place where I spend the night, I will see. I will go another hour, 10-15 kilometers and then see what happens. I’m heading up the hill to find a place to camp, a little away from the coast.

Hopefully there are no people coming by to check on illegal camping. Single track. and this is where I’m gonna camp it’s gonna be nice because at least the the floor is gonna be dry, tomorrow rain hopefully not tonight it’s nice I just made my tortellini

And I don’t know it’s a nice place to pitch my tent I guess this part of the roof is in asbestos it’s okay we’re not gonna die today yeah there is some asbestos around here look I think this pipe was in asbestos that’s the same as this one looks like asbestos

Asbestos bits and pieces people used to live in these things we’re not gonna die because you camp next to a few pieces of asbestos so beautiful and I wanted to be a little higher up on that hill or that one but yeah I found this place and I was like fuck it

Ready ready to go all cleaned up leave no trace this is my trash my tortellini I’m gonna take it with me let’s continue road to Barcelona I start the day single track one guy with a mountain bike just passed I think this is an established route

It’s not a single track I mean it’s a single track until here um I don’t know how far back it goes but then it becomes a double track here this one in the middle it’s all rosemary, wild rosemary It would be nice to jump from here, epic I would say

Reverse, reverse, what do we have here? Peach tree Delta del Ebro, the Rio Ebro, it’s full of water and these are rice fields I met this guy 20-30 km back He’s from Galicia, he’s going to Barcelona He doesn’t have a plan He wants to find a job in Barcelona

He said he’s gonna sleep in the street Look, a thousand and thousand of flamingos Let’s try to go Close Look at the flamingos Leave the bike here Lots of birds and behind the birds there is a machine harvesting the rice Let’s see if we can get out of the delta

Before the rain Nope it starts raining we just passed a house with a roof We are going to shelter here, maybe wait, sit out the rain and then go again There is a bit of a roof This is rice in nature Let’s see if I can open one of the pods

A little water, we are stopped here because we are wussies back on the road the sun is shining after the little storm this was the tail end of a storm my host in Castellon told me it was pretty violent there but here we are about 100 kilometers away and it wasn’t too bad

The river Ebre we are crossing it trying to get out of the delta and then find somewhere to camp finally left the delta of Ebre now the problem is we are on the coast lit’s very humid after the rain and it’s supposed to rain again another shower

Around 11 midnight. Buenos dias, this is where we slept last night, school, roof, very dry Hi I’m Mario. Yesterday I met Davide on the roadl I knew him already (from videos) it was a surprise meeting on the road I’m going to Barcelona. Where are you from? I’m from Galicia.

Galicia to Barcelona, why? I was at my home resting in my bed all day and I’m And I was feeling so bad so I take my bike decide to go to Barcelona yes and what would you like to do in Barcelona it was in the other part of Spain and I wanna

I wanna experience the country yes very good let’s go to Barcelona then that one looks like a nuclear plant Springfield Spain nice roads to ride with a any bike even gravel bikes and in fact a dickhead was here and he left a little gift for mother nature for the

Pachamama unwanted gift Tarragona sport Tarragona’s port some very small yachts Estación Marítima, Tarragona Very nice beach in Tarragona I’m regretting the choice of not staying in Tarragona It’s very very nice I had the chance to stay a few days in Tarragona But I cancelled my host So now I need to get going

Look at that, I didn’t even fell I’m 70km from Barcelona The day is winding down but I hope to cycle another hour And then call it a day Guess what’s cooking? Tortellini Don’t even ask Another successful campsite 50km to Barcelona It was really good, really good spot Road to Barcelona, let’s go

Fellow bike traveller There’s a river, train, motorway To cross, but look at this Very very easy to enter Barcelona That’s Barcelona. Super easy entry to Barcelona Shortcut, yes Now crossing the river, luckily there is no water Yeah now I think I’m basically within city limits almost

Komoot and Google were sending me on that highway but I found this alternative route and my host, my friend lives not too far from this side of town I need to go to Sarrià which is at the foot of that hill so it’s only a few kilometers away

That’s it, officially in Barcelona, now straight to Sarrià

Cycling the world – Europe: 139 episode
In this episode, follow my journey post-Montañas Vacías bikepacking in Teruel. I stealth camped at a recreational centre for two days, finding solace under a shelter during relentless rainstorms. Once the weather cleared, albeit windy, I hit the road again, taking the Via Verde Ojos Negros back to the coast, as the mountain paths were too muddy to traverse. A brief respite in Castellon de la Piana, and then it was straight to Barcelona. The coastal road to Barcelona was scenic but unremarkable. However, the highlight was witnessing a plethora of flamingos at the delta of Rio Ebre. I even had the chance to meet another Spanish bike traveller and camp together under a school roof for rain shelter.

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