Tossa de Mar to Monserrat Monastery

Route length 168KM

At 1236 metres (4055 ft) above the valley floor, Montserrat is the highest point of the Catalan lowlands whose name means serrated mountain, it’s about an hours ride west of Barcelona and easily possible as a return bike ride from Tossa, plenty of petrol stations and places to eat and stay. Barcelona Montserrat is a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat. Not only is Montserrat Monastery of significant religious importance but the natural beauty surrounding the monastery is simply breathtaking.

This route brings you south along the coast road from Tossa then turns inland at Canet de Mar taking in lowland valley’s and villages before climbing up good twisty mountain roads to the great monastery itself and is seriously worth a visit if you’re in the area. This place is swamped by tourists in the high season however and the roads full of coaches.

Downloadable files for this route;
TossaDeMar-Montserrat.gdb
TossaDeMar-Montserrat.gpx
Tossademar-montserrat.kml

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Tossa de Mar – Sant Feliu – Besalú

This route takes you from coastal Mediterranean cliff side roads through Gerona, farmlands and low hills to the wonderful medieval walled town of Besalu.

About 100km south from the French border, Tossa is a great little laid back coastal town sitting on the Med, just off the motorway about 103 kilometres north of Barcelona and its the perfect place to base yourself for exploring the roads of northern Spain.

Tossa was once a thriving fishing village so naturally, fish and seafood features highly on the menus of the majority of restaurants, but that’s not all that’s on the menus as the veal from nearby Gerona is renowned, and equally popular is rabbit, lamb and of course, one of the most celebrated meats of Spain, pork.

A visit to the region of Catalonia wouldn’t be complete without trying the array of sausages: Butifarra, Chorizo, Fuet and Salchichon to which the local bars, for 6 Euros, serve a mixed selection which goes down real well with a few beers. The spit-roast chicken is mouth-watering, oozing the essence of thyme, parsley and garlic that has been baked into its skin. Stroll past one of the restaurants in early evening and the wonderful aroma billowing from the outdoor spits will have you licking your lips!

Sod it! I’m making myself hungry, suffice to say that Tossa has a number of good value hotels, some with secure parking, has a great beach to relax and plenty of really good restaurants and a couple of excellent bars to wash off the road dust and the perfect spot to base yourself for touring the area.

Now to the biking stuff, there is a really magic coastal road (GI-682) running north and south to Barcelona. At the weekends Tossa and the coastal road is taken over by bikers blasting their stress away, many of which have crossed the border from France.

Just north along the coast road is the little town of Sant Feliu, not too much to write about here, but the GI-682 there from Tossa along the cliffs is simply stunning, perfect surface and incredible views.

If you head inland on the C-65 out of Sant Feliu, mostly along good roads you pass through Gerona which is well worth a visit in itself and a good stop for lunch, joining the C-66 the other side of Gerona winds through farmland and low hills best traveled in Spring or Autumn on the way to one of Spain’s amazing fortress or walled towns (“conjunt històric-artístic”).

In medieval times Besalu was the capital of a country of the same name. The town has a stunning 12th-century Romanesque bridge over the Fluvià river. The beautiful church of Sant Pere was consecrated in 1003 and the town is full of arcaded streets and squares and also a restored Mikva, a ritual Jewish bath dating from the eleventh or twelfth century, as well as the remains of a medieval synagogue, located in the lower town near the river.

The full route from Tossa to Besalu is only about 120km but allow yourself a full day to enjoy the ride and the sights.

As usual you can download the route as a gpx, gdb or as a KML file which is a playable tour in Google Earth and is probably the best way to review the route without actually doing it..

Down loadable files for this route are named:
Tossa_de_Mar_to_Besalú.gdb
Tossa_de_Mar_to_Besalú.gpx
Tossa_de_Mar_to_Besalú.kml

If you haven’t yet used/installed Google Earth I’d strongly suggest doing so, as a landscape photographer and motorbike touring enthusiast I find it an invaluable tool for planning my trips. GE is also incorporated into the Garmin Map Source software. If you create your route or upload one of mine, either a gpx or gdb file in Map Source go to the View menu and choose load map in Google Earth. In the left hand menu of GE at the bottom of the Places Tab you will find the Play Tour icon which will virtually fly you over your chosen route giving you an amazing view of the topography to expect. You can stop the tour at any time and then choose Street View from the navigation menu, top right of the GE screen, drag and drop the orange man icon to anywhere along the route to see a high res 360 degree photo of the route to see the road surface, surrounding area etc.

Tossa de Mar to Besalú.kml

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Guadalest Routes

Guadalest is the most visited town in Spain with more than 2 million visitors a year. The picturesque Guadalest bell tower perched on a rock pinnacle is now the icon for the Alicante province of Spain. It’s well worth a visit and the only Spanish village in the region thats remotly like the perched villages of southern France, and while this place is a nice spot for a walkabout the real reason for a ride up here is the roads and a great motorbike museum that has a number of real gems if your into old bikes.

Taking exit 64 off the AP-7 motorway just north off the high rised hell hole of Benidorm you start the climb into the mountains on the well maintained CV-755 passing orange, olive and lemon groves the road passes a couple of uninteresting little towns before becoming a wonderfuly steep twisty road which is great for just about any type of motorbike. There is a petrol station just to the left as you join the CV-755, it’s the last one you will see before dropping back towards the motorway so dont miss your only oppertunity to reload your tanks as there are almost no petrol stations in the mountains.

About 3/4 of the way up to Guadalest on the left is the motorbike museum “Vall de Guadalest Vehicles Historics” where just a 3 Euro entry fee will allow you to see some real old motorbike eye candy with makes and models I never knew even existed. Beside the museum is a tourist shop selling local produce and beside that again is the best place in the area for lunch, if the smell of chickens or pigs/boar roasting over a wood/charcoal BBQ here does not wet your appetite nothing will. Better to get a good lunch here as the eateries in Guadalest village are best avoided if you have any self respect.

The tourist shop is also worth a visit as it’s very different from the tourist shops selling the usual junk along the coast. Almost everything here is sourced locally, a couple of Euro will get you some of the most wonderful cured sausage Spain is famous for, 10 Euro will buy you a kilo of some of the best honey I have ever tasted, as well as a long list of cheese, jams etc. The local moscatel is also really good and almost as cheap as water and for the more adventuress Spain is the only country where absinth is still legal, although at 70% alcohol this stuff is best left alone if you intend riding your motorbike within 48 hours after drinking it!! Remember Spain has a zero blood alcohol tolerance while driving which is strictly enforced..

The roads all round Guadalest are great for spending an afternoon blasting around, you cant really go wrong which ever direction you choose. Loads of great twisty’s, sweeping curves and good road surface with little or no traffic except for the CV-755 to Gaudalest village which is well used by coaches dragging hung-over tourists up from Benidorm. The only word of warning I’d have extends to all Spanish roads, they are bloody terrifying when wet! Fine dust blows up from north Africa which quickly polishes the road surface’s to that of glass, add water and the usual build up of oil/grease into the mix and the roads here become as slippery as black ice. In the 7 years I have been riding in Spain I have learned that if anyway possible it’s better not to ride a bike at all if the roads are wet, all the local Spanish and ex-pat bikers have the same opinion so be warned as I really cant stress enough how dangerous a wet Spanish road is!!

As usual you can download the gpx, gdb and kmz files of the route in the GPX Route BOX.
Downloadable files for this route:
Moto_Museum_route_to_Guadalest.gpx
Moto_Museum_route_to_Guadalest.gdb
Moto_Museum_route_to_Guadalest.kml

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