After the ferry, I spent a few days in Barcelona and headed south looking for a better climate (Barcelona was already getting too cold for my taste). A quick research showed that Valencia was supposed to be much warmer – worth giving it a try!
Let’s go! It’s only 450 km to the final destination.
My mission for the winter was to try settling somewhere in the mainland Europe. Somewhere where I would be able to focus on work for a couple of months. But somewhere where it’s warm enough to ride throughout the winter. Somewhere with enough mountain roads and gorgeous views to keep me entertained.
Maybe Greece? Or Portugal? Let’s try Valencia, Spain!
Great choice! I couldn’t believe how sunny it was in January and February, how many days it was around 20 degrees (although the night temperatures sometimes dropped to zero), and how many amazing roads there are!
I explored all around Valencia (4.000km of curvy roads across mountains, rivers, valleys, pine forests…!). and also did a 700km weekend trip to Torrevieja, check out the video below:
Oh dear España, thank you for this winter! So many mountain roads, so many views, so much to discover and explore, so diverse and so beautiful!
It was really hard to leave Valencia. Well, isn’t it always hard to leave the comfort zone? But as the spring was approaching, the restless me was itching to get back on the road 😅
And I chose the best route to say goodbye and start the new season of the euro road trip!
From Valencia to Montanejos, riding curvy curves and breathing the pine forest aroma.
To Castillo de Villamalefa with its gorgeous views on the surrounding mountains.
To Puertomingalvo, officially the cutest village in Spain.
Across a moon looking landscape decorated with some leftover snow stains, followed by an endless dry valley, then mountains again, and down the canyon to the main highlight of the day’s ride: The tunnels of Pitarque! Oh my god!! It was 💯 worth the extra time and effort!
Then it was more curves, more awesome views, then unexpectedly (as always 😅) the sun went down and I still had over an hour to get to the destination. I was tired and it was getting dark. Lucky for me the car I was “secretly” following just kept going in the right direction taking all the necessary turns and ended up guiding me almost all the way to the little town where I had booked a hotel for the night. It seemed surreal as there was literally no one else on the road during the whole hour I was following this car. As if it was sent to guide me “home” 😄💛
Montfalcó hike
Last highlight of my ride towards Andorra was the Montfalcó hike.
Incredible experience! And the stairs appeared to be more intimidating than I had imagined (I’m generally not easy to scare with heights 😁)
Tip: If you choose to do this hike, try to avoid weekends, as there are sooo many people during the first half of the day. In the afternoon it gets better though and one can truly enjoy the fantastic scenery. Also, time it to be in the canyon when the sun is at its zenith (mid day), then the water will catch the sunlight and shine with the deepest turquoise you’ve ever seen!
As I was riding my last kilometers towards Andorra and enjoying another series of smooth curves, I was thinking to myself: What am I doing? Why am I leaving this wonderful country with perfect motorbike roads? Don’t I have everything I need right here?
And somehow I feel like after 4 months and almost 6 thousand kilometers I barely scratched the surface.
