Jaca to Torla-Ordesa

May 13, 2024

It was a challenging climb today! I was very glad to see the tunnel warning sign at the top because it meant I didn’t need to climb over the ridge ahead. But let’s start the beginning.

It was an easy exit from Jaca because our edge-of-town hotel was on the route. Speaking of the hotel, we got a good deal, 60€ for a one-bedroom apartment including a very decent breakfast. Bike-friendly too, according to their website, and they were. There were locked rooms in the garage and they gave us one, but unfortunately only one bike fit at a time. We had also been told we could take them to our room, so we did one of each. This morning, we brought Al’s bike up to the room so he could attach his many bags. The lift fit one bike easily, if the bike was held vertically.

Once we navigated the complicated interchange near Guadairo, we were riding on the best cycling infrastructure we’ve seen. The smooth bike lanes on each side of the highway (not the autoroute, no bikes allowed there) were painted red, one on each side, and separated from the vehicle lanes by two white lines spaced about 30 cm apart. At every place where a vehicle might cross the bike lane, including farm field accesses, there were signs directing vehicles to yield to bikes. This is so unlike home, where cyclists are cautioned “cross here when safe” with no onus on drivers to treat cyclists with care. There were the usual (for here) signs reminding drivers to provide 1.5 metres clearance to cyclists and one of these signs even showed two cyclists riding abreast. How civilized! Unfortunately, there was only one sign like this that we saw and neither of us stopped to get a photo of it.

The beautiful bike lane ended when the N-330 merged with the autoroute and we turned off onto the N-330a to Sabiñánigo. It looked like a lively town but we only stopped to use the facilities at the train station.

From Sabiñánigo, our route took us through Aurín and on to Senegüé. RWGPS indicated that this was paved all the way, but it was absolutely not. We might have been able to ride it on our dual-suspension mountain bikes, but it was not fun on our loaded bikes. First RWGPS fail in a long time!

Just past Aurín. We were hoping the rough surface only extended through the construction zone.

Definitely not paved. At least it’s reasonably dry.

We made it to the paved streets of Senegüé

Back on pavement, we continued north along the Rio Gállego valley. Yes, the same river we’d first encountered below Murillo. We turned off the highway onto Carretera de Oliván, hoping RWGPS was correct here, that the surface would be paved. It was, through both Orós Bajo and Orós Alto, but then the planned route became a rough track again. We continued on a paved valley road to Biescas, where we rejoined the N-260a for the rest of the way to Torla-Ordesa.

In Orós Alto, whose buildings looked amazingly well-kept and prosperous. This one’s a holiday let, I think.

Fuelling up in Gavín before tackling the big climb

I didn’t take any more photos until the top. When I got there, Al had put on some layers for the decent and José, as he introduced himself, was striking up a chat. José had spent many years living and working in California but had returned to his native region “to die”. He was astounded to hear how old we were and described himself as “old and sick”. When Al wanted to take a photo with him, he refused, but his friends stepped up. They had no English and I very (very!) little Spanish, but I did learn that the fellow in the beret had been a postie, first on a bicycle and later on a motorbike.

Al and our new friends. That’s José in the background.

The tunnel portal, the summit sign, and me. I made it!

It was an exhilarating descent! We were glad of our lights through the 680-metre tunnel and I was glad it was slightly downhill in our direction. It was chilly; our gilets weren’t enough and we added jackets after exiting the tunnel and starting the real descent.

Torla’s setting is fantastic! I needed to get a photo before the forecast ugly weather arrives.

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Margie AndersonWow, that was some day!!
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2 months ago

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 432 km (268 miles)

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Patrick O'HaraLooks like a beautiful area.
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3 months ago