About this trip

In April 2019 I cycled a Spanish End to End, from Cádiz to Gijón (pic), with my chum Nigel (right).

Read about this, about my other international End to End rides, and about much more, at my new website e2e.bike.

Daily blog posts are here, from Cádiz on Day 1 to Gijón on Day 12.

There's no standard route for crossing the Iberian peninsula. But a candidate has emerged recently based on the Vía de la Plata, one of the traditional pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.

It's now the N630 highway, which runs all the way from Seville in the south up to Gijón on the northern coast – over 800km. Thanks to being bypassed by the new A66 autoroute running parallel to it, the N630 offers a good lightly-trafficked road the length of Spain.

This was the basis of our route. Our total distance from Cádiz to Gijón (including a few back-road alternatives) was about 650 miles, via Seville, Monesterio, Mérida, Cáceres, Plasencia, Salamanca (my favourite town in all of Spain), Benavente, León and Oviedo.

We spent ten days cycling (about 60–80 miles per day) and took three rest days en route, making a two-week trip in all. More details are in the Guide to Cycling Cádiz to Gijón which explains how best to do and enjoy it, and links to the full route stage by stage.

This trip formed another part of my long-term project of cycling international End to Ends:

Wales 2020  Chepstow to Holyhead 🚲 220 miles → Blog
Poland 2019  Łysa Polana to Jastrzębia Góra 🚲 570 miles → Blog
Spain 2019  This blog
Faroes 2018  Kirkjubøur to Eiði 🚲 45 miles → Facebook post
Taiwan 2017  Fuguei to Eluanbi 🚲 370 miles → Blog
France 2015  St Malo to Nice 🚲 1065 miles → Blog
Cuba 2015  Baracoa to La Fe 🚲 1088 miles → Blog
Sri Lanka 2015  Dondra Head to Point Pedro 🚲 470 miles → Blog
Scotland 2014  Kirkmaiden to John o’Groats 🚲 460 miles → Blog
England 2014  Land’s End to Marshall Meadows 🚲 665 miles → Blog
Isle of Man 2013  Calf Sound to Point of Ayre 🚲 45 miles → Facebook post
N Ireland 2013  Cranfield Pt to Giant's Causeway 🚲 200 miles → Facebook post
Ireland 2011  Mizen Head to Malin Head 🚲 665 miles → Blog
Britain 2010  Cape Wrath to Dover 🚲 1050 miles → Blog
Wales 2000  Cardiff Bay to Holyhead 🚲 260 miles → Diary (PDF)
Britain 1997  Land’s End to John o’Groats 🚲 1167 miles → Blog