ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਿਤ: 18.04.2023
Cycling with luggage in Spain has some peculiarities, unlike in Germany. The most important thing first, Spanish drivers keep a large distance to cyclists, and very disciplined. If the distance is not enough, they will follow until there is enough space. If the cyclist makes room in a bay to let the accumulated cars pass, they will also kindly raise their hand in thanks. This may not only be due to the many warning signs about keeping distance and the presumably high fines. They are more bicycle-friendly than many of us when we are in the car.
Here you will also encounter many road cyclists in groups, especially on weekends, they all greet and wave.
The Spanish cycle paths are a matter of getting used to, they start in nothingness and end in nothingness. A Spanish cycle path is always for both directions of travel and often changes sides, especially in cities. So we often experienced that, at a roundabout, not just one road but three had to be crossed.
If you want to turn right next and have to go around the whole roundabout to do it, it's a bit cumbersome.
At an intersection, it is not possible to go straight, the cycle path is first diverted into the side street before crossing it and then back to the actual road. It makes sense in terms of traffic, the truck driver then has the cyclist visible in front of the vehicle. Inconvenient for the cyclist.
The speed bumps on the road, which are supposed to slow down drivers going too fast through the village, are often in very short distances and a real obstacle for cyclists with a lot of luggage.
And then there are the curbstones (despite the cycle path) which are often unfriendly to bicycles, especially with a lot of luggage.
For the road cyclists, no problem, they just stay on the road. But our navigation system likes to lead us along these cycle paths, we have more time after all😉
At first, it was a bit of getting used to, but now it works quite well.