The Ruta via de la Plata | RollingRoads Cycling

Cycling Spain end to end on the ancient Stone Road

The "Ruta via de la Plata" is a wonderful journey through the real Spain, combining stunning scenery, wide open spaces, fascinating historical sites....and brilliant off-road riding.

The Ruta was originally a trading route, before the arrival of the Romans, from Merida in the south up to Astorga. It got its name from the paved surface ('la plata'). It became a popular pilgrim route in the Middle Ages from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela. It later became an important thoroughfare for the silver 'acquired' by the Spanish from the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries ('Plata' meant 'silver'). Nowadays its a popular 'camino' for walkers and cyclists.

'Proper planning prevents poor performance'... as the saying goes

I'd never heard of the Ruta until a 'hispanophile' friend told us about it. Fascinated, I then hit Google.

Really important starting points are the Cicerone guidebook and blogs written by John Hayes. We bought the guidebook which was invaluable.

Which route should we do?

The RVP website offers an on-road and an off-road route. We followed John Hayes' advice and opted for what he describes as the 'hybrid' route. This is mainly off-road but avoids the gratuitous sections which are either hard enough to be mtb territory or pointless.

Where to start and finish?

The route proper goes from Sevilla up to either Gijon on the north coast or veers west in Leon over to Santiago de Compostela. We're not religious so the camino had no spiritual meaning for us, so didn't feel the need to head over to Santiago.

We started riding in Malaga:

Flying there is much easier and cheaper than to Sevilla.
It offered the chance to do a full 'end-to-end'.

We finished in the north coast port of Santander:

We left the official camino in Leon and headed north east.
It gave us a chance to experience a bit of the Picos d'Europa.
We could get a ferry home without the hassle of packing the bikes up for a flight.

When to go?

I first contacted John Hayes in April 2020 but err... Covid!

May is a great time of year with warm, but not hot, conditions and flowers in bloom.

To camp...or not?

Our cyclecamping days are behind us. Our bikepacking philosophy revolves around the 3Bs principle: bath, beer, bed!

How much time to allow?

We stuck quite closely to the guidebook's stage suggestions - 11 days from Sevilla to Leon.

2-3 days added at either end for Malaga to Sevilla and Leon to Santander.

Some of the days were quite short but it was quite difficult to extend them as there were no accommodation options.

We built in some extra time:

Uncertain about trail conditions.
Time for sightseeing and rest days.
We wanted some wriggle room for potential mechanicals etc. given our ferry time was fixed.

Book accommodation or not?

We did. By the time we'd booked some key stops, eg. Sevilla on a weekend with the football team playing at home, where there was only 1 or 2 options, and rest days in important historical towns, we thought we might as well book stops in between.

Route plotting.

The Ruta website and Cicerone offer GPX files but I prefer to plot my own:

It's fun to do.
It gives me a feel for the place.
I can take us from hotel to hotel rather than wandering around town searching.

Learning the lingo.

Claire started learning Spanish a couple of years ago. Her basic level was possibly not essential but was a huge asset.

New kit and testing.

We needed a few bits of clothing and I needed a new bar bag (see later).

We did a 3 day bikepacking trip into the Peak Dustrict to check everything out.

Malaga airport, ready for the off...

On the ferry home, no packing up necessary.

Roadside flowers were a highlight

One of the essential 3Bs...

The riding

This is meant to be a bit of a guide and, perhaps, inspiration for anyone who fancies this kind of trip so I'm not going to write a journal or story of our ride.

Instead this is a summary of the key elements of the trip.

Travel to and from Spain.

We cadged a couple of cardboard bike boxes from a local shop so that they could be abandoned at Malaga airport.

We used Jet2 - we always do if we can!

Saddlebags went as hand luggage.

Rather than wear lycra for the journey, we wore old clothes which we threw away when we changed in Malaga. It meant that our meagre off-bike clothes stayed clean.

The bikes arrived undamaged...phew!

The ferry home was great...but booking a cabin is, I think, essential. We chatted to another cyclist who had been bikepacking in Spain and he wished he had!

The weather.

We spent the first week or so riding in a heatwave and constantly on the lookout for water top-ups.

It then cooled down. Arriving at a tiny village general store with a Spanish cyclist, the women serving asked us were we not cold in our shorts & short sleeves. The Spanish bloke leant over and said to her with a knowing look "they're British!". She returned his knowing look.

We finished in arm warmers and gilets...and even waterproof jackets over the Picos.

3 photos:

Weather cooled as we headed north.

About 20 minutes of rain in over 3 weeks.

Daily routine.

We struggled with eating times in Spain: lunch from about 1.30 - 3pm and dinner from 9.30pm.

We tried arriving at our destination for a big lunch and then having a beer and tapas later. But we struggled to adjust to eating a main meal during the day....and waiting until 9.30 to eat in the evening was awful.

There was no easy solution: sometimes we managed the big lunch alright, sometimes we dived into a supermarket for an evening picnic.

A lot of tapas are fried, which wasn't good. We found that we craved fruit.

Flora and fauna.

At one point a couple of huge deer dashed across the track just in front of us and the roadside flowers were stunning.

An evening picnic (in Sevilla)...

and a lunch on arrival.

Accommodation.

Because the Ruta is an established camino, there are 'Albergues' (hostels) along the whole route, close enough together for walkers.

Hotels in rural Spain are not expensive and so we opted for a bit more luxury.

Still, we came across a real variety, from swanky Paradores to little B&Bs.

A fairly typical hotel room - Moron de la Frontera.

An Airbnb in Merida. A chance to cook for ourselves and use a washing machine.

Paradores are s chain of state-owned hotels, usually in historic buildings.

This one is a castle in Zafra.

The very swish Paradores in Salamanca was well set up for cyclists. The bike room also had a workstand, trackpump, workbench, tools and lubes!

Stops and refuelling en route.

There are small towns or villages every 20-30kms along the camino.

We had no real trouble finding somewhere to stop for a coffee, sandwich etc. This was also true on the days before and after we hit the camino.

The track/road surfaces and waymarking.

The tracks were fantastic! They ranged from proper gravel roads, dirt roads, singletrack through scrubland to well-paved but empty roads.

It was all easily rideable on gravel bikes with 40mm tyres (except one nasty steep push for about 300 metres).

The camino was very well signed with yellow arrows or paint dabs, but Garmins were necessary for the other bits and helpful on the camino.

Even the cities such as Sevilla, Salamanca and Leon were pretty easy to get into and out of, with some excellent cycle paths.

This is a ride through Spain's history.

There seem to be UNESCO World Heritage Sites everywhere and you can simply marvel at some of the sites as you ride through or by, or take some time to look more closely.

There are far too many wonderful sites to mention here but highlights were:

Roman and Moorish wonders in Merida
The medieval university city of Salamanca
Medieval Caceres

Salamanca. A guided walking tour was a good idea.

The Roman bridge into Merida - the longest surviving in Europe.

Roman theatre and amphitheatre in Merida...literally next to each other.

Medieval Caceres, hosting a music festival and Leon Cathedral (the end of our camino).

Evidence of the struggle between Moors and Christians (the Reconquista) is everywhere.

The old and the new - an original Roman milestone on the camino.

Kit and set-up

The Ruta via de la Plata can be ridden on pretty much any bike.

The road route is well surfaced and perfectly OK for a road bike.

The hybrid route, which we did, was perfectly suited to a gravel bike.

The bikes

Titanium gravel bikes from Justin Burls with standard gravel bike geometry rather than particularly 'adventure' or 'race/aero' oriented.

700c wheels with 40mm Panaracer Gravelking tubeless tyres.
Shimano 105 gears with 11 - 32 cassettes.
Sugino OX2 chainsets with 44 & 28 teeth chainrings.
Thomson/FSA finishing kit.

Link

Handlebar bags:

For Claire a cheap Decathlon bar bag which has lasted ages!
For me a Carradice Baja Bar Bag. To keep it clear of the front wheel I used an uplift bought from Amazon. It worked brilliantly and even provided a place to mount my Garmin.

Tool canisters under down tube.

Rear bags:

We both used a Carradura Rack Bag from Carradice
Capacity is 10ltrs
Carried on simple alloy pannier racks
The extra weight of the rack was well worth it in terms of stability and ease of access
MUCH cheaper than the Tailfin stuff

Clothing

The trick is, obviously, to take as little as possible but enough to manage.

On-bike clothing:

1 base layer
1short sleeve jersey
2 bib shorts
1 buff
1 pair track mitts
1 pair gloves
Arm warmers
Knee warmers
1 gilet
2 pairs socks
Waterproof jacket
SPD cycling shoes

We washed this every evening, usually in hotel sink or shower. (The extra pair of shorts was in case the washed pair didn't dry in time).

Before we left we tried some cycling-specific loose-fitting shorts with liners. We didn't get on with them and stuck to what we know!

Off-bike clothing:

1 quick dry undies
The other pair of socks
Lightweight shorts
Lightweight long trousers
Lightweight T shirt
Merino wool jumper (quite warm but more packable than fleece).
Lightweight trainers (we knew we'd be doing some sightseeing).
Prescription cycling sunglasses and packable bi-focals for reading menus, novels and the guidebook in the evenings.

Every item was used at some point. The jackets were OK, if a bit 'bikey', on a cool day in Salamanca.

We could have worn the jumpers as an extra layer on the bike if we had to.

Bike spares and tools:

The usual allen keys, tyre, levers, pump, tubeless tyre repair etc. for any bike ride
4 spare tubes
I spare tyre, strapped to Claire's rack
Tool for centrelock disc brake rotors and adjustable spanner. I removed the rotors for the flight and expected to ditch the spanner after reassembly. I couldn't bring myself to do it - just as well as one of Claire's rotors needed tightening later!
Spare bolts and nuts for the racks
Squirt wax chain lube
Spare cleat bolt
Zip ties & tape
Front & rear lights
Swiss army knife (useful for picnics)

The bikes were quickly covered in a fine orange dust. We made a few visits to garage jetwashes.

We both carried our smartphones. They were essential for making arrangements/bookings etc, adjusting routes via the DynamicWatch website (more on that on another page later) and reading downloaded novels.

Conclusion

The stats:

Total distance = 1225km

Total ascent = 12,477m

Days away = 23

This was a brilliant trip!

It was everything we wanted it to be...and more.

A real sense of adventure and purpose
Beautiful scenery
Warm, friendly people
Brilliant weather
Excellent riding.

The only thing that really troubled us was the food/eating arrangements. But this is not even close to ruling out Spain as a future destination. We'll be able to handle it better.

Some cycling friends kept congratulating us on completing such a big adventure, but really it's just another tour, in a first world country, quite close to home and achievable by pretty much anyone.