Some may recall the touring reports I shared from Thailand in the recent past. I was living there for 2 years. That is now ended, and I came to visit my son in Valencia. Every other day, I have gone out for a bicycle ride to explore the neighboring villages, as well as Valencia city itself. In Thailand, I was exploring all the wats (temples) that I could reach by bike. I adapted that scavenger-hunt mode of exploring here to search for old churches. In the process, I discovered the holy grail of Holy Grails!
Most rides have been 30 km, but now that the closest churches have been visited, the rides are starting to stretch from 60 km up to 100 km per day. Temperatures have been reaching 37°C to 41°C, but it feels cooler than the heat of Thailand, perhaps because of the higher latitudes and coastal effects from the Mediterranean.
I have not bicycled cross-country in Europe. So all of you experienced riders know this already. Valencia as a European city has tons of marked bike lanes. Drivers yield 99% of the time. My son said that a driver in Spain loses their license for life if they cause an accident with a biker or pedestrian. That said, I slow down at every intersection. This irritates bicyclists behind me who expect me to roll through each time without hesitation. After living in Thailand, and growing up in the US, I can't cross that mental barrier of trusting the cars will indeed stop. My precautions have allowed me to live to tell the tale, thus far.
Apparently Valencia does harbor the Holy Grail. (I thought it was in Petra, where Harrison Ford left it.) I knew about the pilgrimage along the north of Spain, Camino de Santiago, but did not know there was another one running south to Valencia. It is called the El Camino del Santo Grail. I spent a few days reverse riding this route to all the churches within a day's ride reach. Valencia also sits on EuroVelo 8, the Mediterranean Route, connecting France to Cádiz. I rode this route partly when visiting villages south of Valencia.
Like in Thailand, where I spent most of my time exploring around Lampang and avoiding the big cities and tourist regions, exploring deeply around Valencia while avoiding Barcelona and Madrid has proven to be a relaxing pursuit. There are tourist here, along with some anti-tourist sentiment. But all in all, it is a pleasant destination.
by majwilsonlion
2 Comments
I left a detailed description in the original post. Not sure if Mods are expecting a comment post also. Hopefully, “Refer to the post’s travel description” is sufficient.
Nice
I live in Cullera, just under Sueca (we can see it on the map but it’s not written), always looking for some nice rides in the region.
I’ll check the Holy Grail way, that interesting.
If you’re also into longer trips you could check “Montana Vacía” it start in Teruel, and goes through one the least populated area in Europe.
Haven’t done it myself yet but it’s on my list and people say very good things about it.
At this time of the year riding south of Valencia through the Albufera rice fields is really nice, the rice is tall and green 👌