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cycling the ruta via de la plata - john hayes. cicerone publishing. 220pp illus. £16.95

the ruta via de la plata - john hayes

the archetypal touring scenario, which possibly says more about me than it does about the genre in general, is that of a narrow-tubed steel road bike, festooned with cotton-duck panniers and a handlebar bag. shorter, more localised ventures could probably survive with but a couple of rear panniers, or if you're credit card touring, just the bar bag, as long as it's big enough to hold your credit card. that may have been the state of play in the heyday of publications such as cycling world where every article or feature was compulsorily accompanied by a photograph each of which 'had' to include the style of touring bike described above.

however, since the advent of the gravel bike in the early part of the last decade, things have been slowly, yet seemingly inevitably changing. however, i take exception to the author's description of '...the new approach'. describing bikepacking luggage compared with the more traditional set of panniers, he states, "Panniers can carry more, but for look and feel, the new approach has a lot going for it." i'm afraid i'd contend that the photo facing the introductory page and that shown on page 27, for me at least, flies in the face of that assessment.

however, there's little to deny the fact that panniers are a less forgiving style of luggage when ploughing through the undergrowth.

the ruta via de la plata - john hayes

the riding of spain's 'ruta via de la plata', is certainly the first book i've come across that gives equal billing to both on and offroad approaches, which must have taken quite some writing and planning. however, the graphical system that has been devised to combine the two differing options is worthy of particular admiration. depending on whatever floats your boat, in many instances it would appear possible to combine road and offroad over the course of a single day's cycling. that would, of course, assume that you're on an offroad bike in the first place, for the description of more than just a few offroad sections scarcely commends a road bike as principal choice of transport.

in common with all the cicerone guides i've reviewed, the narrative follows a logical pattern, beginning with an overview of the route, which, for those unfamiliar, runs from southern spain to its northern plains (or vice versa if you prefer) constituted as a two week cycling tour along an historic trading route that pre-dates the roman presence in the country. however, the author acknowledges that it was the latter civilisation that "put real infrastructure in place". mr hayes does admit, however, in describing the options available to the different cycling disciplines, that "...a group (of road cyclists) with a back-up van would be able to complete the route a lot faster than the schedule proposed in this guidebook."

the ruta via de la plata - john hayes

apparently the best months in which to schedule such a spanish undertaking would be either the second half of april into may and june, or september and august, principally based on the observation that the months of july and august tend to be a smidgeon on the hot side for our fragile velocipedinal complexions. and very much in its favour, "Spain is a superb country for cycling. The weather is good, the food and drink excellent and accommodation is great value."

whichever style of bicycle on which you choose to travel, the option is frequently whether to take your own, or dispense with travel vicissitudes altogether and hire on arrival. either way, and on whichever style of luggage you decide, as the author points out, the idea is to keep things light, especially taking into account the fact that this is a two-week ride.

the guide is well illustrated, both with imagery and detailed maps (though gpx files are also available to the book's purchasers). each section is described not only via turn by turn instructions, for both on and offroad sections, a section profile and a précis at the commencement of each, highlighting the town of departure, the total distance, ascent and descent for both route options and an approximate completion time. included along the way, are frequent box-outs describing points of interest to be seen along the way.

the ruta via de la plata - john hayes

"There is more to Mérida than its Roman legacy, but that legacy is epic and on an almost overwhelming scale.The Roman remains are among the largest in Spain and have UNESCO World Heritage Site status."

it strikes me that for the more intrepid amongst you, it might be possible to ride on the road from south to north, swap to a gravel bike, and ride south again following the offroad route. twice the fun and twice the value. this guide must surely be regarded as something of a triumph, following the high quality of its peers while effectively squeezing two books into one and at no extra cost. arguably the only other accessory you'd need would be a spanish phrase book.

wednesday 23 march 2022

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