;)
Having spent the last 4 trips in France, we decided to go to Spain
this year. Instead of touring round in a big circle like the previous
trip to Spain in 1999, this time we headed straight for the Mediterranean
coast. We took the ferry from Plymouth to
Santander,
it's a new boat which now does the trip in only 16 hours, and gets in to Santander at
about midday. That leaves plenty of time to get where you want to go before it
gets dark. We took the motorway as far as Zaragoza to get a good distance covered
and then went cross-country on the N232 to Vinaros.
;)
;)
What a fantastic road!! The N232 from
Zaragoza to
Vinaros
is about 100 miles
of a mind blowing mixture of long 90-100 mph sweeping bends and tight twisty
bits up and down the mountains.
;)
;)
We arrived at our destination, the rather
strangely named
Peniscola,
at about 7 in the evening and found a nice two star hotel
where we could park the bikes on the pavement right next to the bar.
;)
;)
;)
;)
The beach between Peniscola and
Benicarlo
is about 5 miles long.
We spent one day walking to Benicarlo and back. There are numerous bars and
restaurants along the way, in between the dozens of apartment blocks.
All that walking is obviously thirsty work so we needed regular refreshment stops!
;)
;)
We did a ride out one day to do the N232 again
(see Fantastic Roads),
but spent the rest of the time wandering around the town and harbour watching the
fishing boats coming in after plundering the sea.
;)
And of course, drinking large quantities of the local lager.