Day 68: Sagunto to Valencia

November 3, 2023

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Scott AndersonThis is interesting too. I compared our routes. We took almost entirely different routes, riding the same streets for only two blocks, at the midpoint in Meliana. Yours was 30 km, ours was 30 miles.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonGiven the terrifying headwind it is a good thing we chose the shorter route. Thirty miles, 50 km, would have just about finished us off.
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1 year ago

Sometimes when Cycleblazers pass through the same places we can say "Hey, I took that exact same shot", but other times experiences in the same placed differ widely. When we read about the issues that Scott and Rachael had with their BnB in Sagunto, we hoped that we would not be in the same place. Then when all went well, and the BnB hostess was so sweet, we felt we had dodged the bullet. But Scott now reports that yes, we were in the same place. Perhaps the lady has changed some procedures, based on the Andersons. For example, she personally led us around the block to store our bikes, and did not attempt to explain the layout with the back of her phone. And she was up and yattering with colleague in the kitchen long before the 8 a.m. official caffeine start time.

The BnB itself was nice - with plants and a pool, a sitting room, marble stairs, big room, - it was fine.

The BnB ladies were very sweet to us, asked all about our trips, and finally both came into the alley to wave goodbye.

Breakfast was lots, though more cold cuts than we would eat.

We talked about the Andersons and transmitted their greetings. To be honest, the ladies needed some prodding to admit that they remembered. Sorry Andersons. We know that it is a stoke of luck when anyone can cross paths with the Andersons (or Grampies) but in some rare cases we may not have the impact we expect.

Rachael, is this the coffee machine at the heart of the coffee dispute?

We pedaled out of Sagunto, looking back and thinking it would be spectacular to be coming into town, and observing the battlements on high.

The walls are very long, circling the whole hilltop no doubt.

Dodie thinks these caves in the cliff may have been Jewish burial sites.

Now it was time to head off through the oranges again. Some harvesting was going on (other than what we might have done), and some planting and weeding as well. We love watching this stuff.

We were surprised to see that a lot of still green oranges were harvested.

Many trees were under netting like this. Does anyone know the purpose?

Our track was car free and really nice, but it did involves some twisting about. Here is a view from our GPS screen, you see that we need to thread a way through spaghetti.

We finally arrived at the start of the via verde (Via Xurra), which we hoped would take us all the way into Valencia.

The way, at least at first, was really nice.

To our joy and amazement, the path went at one point right beside a pomegranate orchard. The fruits were large and ripe - overripe actually, but many were in good condition.

Here is a random building over to the side of the path. It is clearly a church or monastery.

EV 8 signage was to be found along the way, but other types of signage as well. For example on the one below we find we are on the road of El Cid.

We often saw this sign in the last days. Can anyone explain it for us?

We now arrive at what in fact was the biggest thing affecting our day today. It was just simply a wind. This was not just a typical annoying head wind, this was a serious and potentially dangerous high wind. The gusts were to 70 kph. This is "gale force". In the photo below, you see Dodie pushing the bike on a dead flat bike path. The wind is coming at this point from the front right. At some times we tried to ride, but it was tough. Also there were a couple of runners going our way, and we sometimes passed them, but they also passed us when we could no longer ride. A problem was that they seemed to favour running just right of the white line. If we were riding, we had a hard time avoiding being blown into them.

Finally, Dodie just flat out got blown over, and she was not even riding! I could not have gone to help her lift her bike, without dropping my own, because it could not stay up with its stand. But she dragged her bike back vertical on her own.

We made it into the outskirts of the city, but even with buildings around the wind was not giving up. Finally it blew me over too. I was riding slowly at the time. Dodie saw me somehow away from my bike on a backward glance, and cautioned me to stick with the bike. What she did not know was that I had been thrown away from it.

Hey, don't leave your bike just lying around!

It's overdramatising, but I will note that I bled all over my shirt.

Just a side note. In Toulouse it seemed like the whole population was comprised of Millennials. Here they seem to be aging Boomers.

A big feature of Valencia is a long park running over the north side of the old town. There are all kinds of bike lanes running through this park, and many bridges that join the north and south sides of town, across the park. This park will be our greenway to the City of Arts and Sciences in the south east corner of town.

Our hotel is in a nondescript modern bit, just on the "wrong" side of the greenway. But it is positioned quite well for getting to the old town. I had a bit of a crack at this this afternoon, when it seemed the bike storage we had begun to arrange from home was going to fall though. I began to look for an alternative, and spotted one possibility just outside the old town. Taking a GPS and leaving Dodie to sort through gear, I set off on foot. I did see one sort of large tower, but so far Valencia has not wowed me with old town splendors. Maybe tomorrow! Also, the GPS led me to an address featuring exactly nothing. That is not the first time Google Maps has misled.

I was able to include Decathlon in my trek, and found there Joni's favourite little back pack, on which the zipper had broken. She will now get a surprise replacement.

And oh, while I was waiting for Dodie to do the check in at the hotel, my front tire went flat! That partly accounts for why I was walking around the town after that. But I patched the tube now, using one of those new fangled press on patches. It seemed pretty good, actually, but tomorrow morning will tell if the pressure is still there.

We ended our day with oranges and pomegranates, pilfered fresh from the orchards. Wow, they were so good!!

Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 3,390 km (2,105 miles)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	11

Suzanne GibsonI wonder how this entry looks on other people's screens. I see no pictures except for the giant one and the page is very wide, much wider than the text. Everything else on CB is normal for me.
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1 year ago

Keith ClassenTo Suzanne GibsonIt’s the same as yours Suzanne.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesYes it's bizarre. In "edit" I see the pictures but just viewing the blog, only that giant one. I will write to Jeff and see if he can fix it.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Suzanne GibsonIt has now been fixed thanks to Jeff's usual rapid response time.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Keith ClassenThanks for confirming the problem. It is now (next morning) fixed and should be ready to be viewed, and hopefully enjoyed.
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1 year ago

Suzanne GibsonGlad we got to see your pictures!
That must have been a frightening wind!
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1 year ago

Betsy EvansWe had the same terrible wind yesterday in Sardinia. It was un-fun for biking, especially in beach areas where the sands got whipped up. Only the windsurfers and kiteboarders seemed to be enjoying themselves. Still very windy today.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Betsy EvansThere are downed trees and branches all over Valencia, and they say the high wind conditions will continue through the weekend!
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1 year ago

Kelly IniguezI saw your comment today (10/20/24) on liking your Valencia bike storage so much that you are returning. Can you share more? We have somewhat discussed leaving our bikes in Europe - it seems carefree. But also an obligation to return. I'm not sure we are quite there - but I would love to hear the thought process.
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1 month ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Kelly IniguezWe ran into some really high charges from airlines for transporting bikes, but most importantly, unless the bikes are our Bike Fridays with the special LiGo batteries, the bikes (with batteries) can not fly at all.

Storage charges for small lockers to just hold bikes vary up to 100 euros or more per month, at Paris and Marseilles. But in Valencia we paid 42 euros. That is still noticeable money, but even at that, it's likely cheaper than paying an airline for transport two ways, plus finding bike boxes, risking damage, and so forth.

The back of mind worry is that something will happen to keep us from returning to pick up the bikes and gear left with them when planned, or that we will be forced by the storage cost to return, even if some kind of circumstances have changed. But we are used to taking gambles with these bike trips - such as when we book 90 or so- consecutive hotel stays, assuming that we will make it to each one, or when we book non-cancellable air flights. Gambles based on 42 euro a month storage fees look like nothing, in that big picture.
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1 month ago

Kelly IniguezTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI agree with all of your points. We've only taken the one European trip, but plan to return next year. Schlepping the bikes is significant on several fronts, as you noted. Paying the storage fees at 42E seems reasonable. My fear would be not returning for the bikes. Is it worth the gamble? I can't remember which journal we read of the couple that leave their bikes in storage. I think in Barcelona?
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1 month ago