Planning Spain

Like many things in life, good results come from having a good plan. In order to have a good trip to Spain it started with lots of planning well in advance. Considerations included the time of year, weather, accommodation, activities, and transportation for the various legs.

Marlene was busy planning months before the event. The Madrid and Seville portion wasn’t a problem, but seeing more of the country by bicycle posed its challenges. The first thought was the island of Mallorca, which is just east of Spain in the Mediterranean, but for the period chosen, the daily temperatures would only be in the teens celcius. More importantly though, according to the historical weather data, rain was common during the period. Our thoughts then drifted to southern Spain, just east of Gibraltar, where the weather picture improved but when searching the internet for bicycle rental companies, it appeared there weren’t any working the area. Research then led to the Canary Islands which are Spanish but lie just off the coast of Africa with the same latitude as the Sahara desert. The transportation appeared workable, weather data was good, the islands looked interesting, accommodation and bicycles where readily available.

So the plan developed for driving to Montreal, air to London England, then Madrid, 3 days in Madrid, high speed train to Seville, 3 days in Seville, air to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, taxiing 50 kms to a self catering apartment, and 8 days of exploring. The return included taxi to the airport, air to Madrid to London to Montreal, stay over in Montreal, then drive home.

My next few blog postings will tell the story of our adventures including posh hotels, reasonably priced wine, seeing the country by high speed train, cycling the desert outback, watching the sunrise over the sand dunes, the tourist hookers living next door,  and more.

Click here for Madrid:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2012/04/mystique-of-madrid.html

Click here for the Canary Islands:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/search/label/Spain%20-%20Canary%20Islands