Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[Bonus]

"Zona Zero", the name given to the world famous Mountain Biking Trail Area that we live in the middle of, has been given the "Seal of Tourist Excellence" for the third consecutive year :-)

Well done to everyone involved. These are the trails that I ride every time I take my MTB out and the award is well deserved!

 

[Bonus]

Summer and Winter water levels at the local "Mediano" Reservoir . . . .

 

[Bonus]

We would like to be able to tell people that stay with us about places close to Guaso that are worth visiting. To that end we like to visit and get to know places ourselves and last Sunday we visited "Graus". It's an easy 45 min drive and worth going to see.

Here are some pictures from the San Pedro Church on the hill above Graus. The foundations of this church were laid around 1184AD. Then it was built properly in the 14th and 15th Centuries.

I fear we may have an equally long wait between starting and finishing our project . . . .

In actual fact you could visit Graus and then on the way home visit the submerged village of "Mediano" quite easily . . . so I am working out a few "Day Trip" Routes that people can easily follow. . . .

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

Today we visited the council offices to chase up our outstanding planning permission application . . . . and we were given a letter of "points that need addressing before the application can be passed" . . . . dated 16th APRIL!

We should have been given it 7 weeks ago!

We've passed it on to our architect, who promptly rang the council office and demanded to know "what they were playing at". So, now the architect can modify the drawings to suit the local area guidelines and then they can be re-submitted.

Finally some progress, but not impressed with a council office where everyone thought that "someone else had done it"

:-)

Welcome to Spain... Everything runs slower here.. And if you chase them they might get offended.. Delicate balance there...

 

[Bonus]

Welcome to Spain... Everything runs slower here.. And if you chase them they might get offended.. Delicate balance there...

For sure!
We got our planning permission eventually . . . . waiting for the bank now ;-)

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

For sure!
We got our planning permission eventually . . . . waiting for the bank now ;-)

Oh my God..! They are killing me..! Took them like 9 months to give me my NIE..!

Glad to see that you got the thing rolling.. Me still work in progress here in Malaga.. So far I am taking people for a ride but not taking care of their bike rentals and or place where they stay...

The impression they had of the place and the riding around here was good.. (you can go and read the reviews) How is that going for you there? Any happy customers yet?

 

[Bonus]

No customers just yet - not until the house is built. But several friends and "friends of friends" have been over and everyone loves it here.

Once we're up and running we have several ideas, aside from the cycling, to make peoples trips here as full and as enjoyable as possible. Hence us scoping out local attractions etc. Meanwhile I'm riding the trails and the roads and getting to know my way around.

It's a tough job, but . . . . :-)

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

No customers just yet - not until the house is built. But several friends and "friends of friends" have been over and everyone loves it here.

Once we're up and running we have several ideas, aside from the cycling, to make peoples trips here as full and as enjoyable as possible. Hence us scoping out local attractions etc. Meanwhile I'm riding the trails and the roads and getting to know my way around.

It's a tough job, but . . . . :-)

Oh I know the feeling..!! Since I am not working yet all I do is ride my bike.. Is such a hard life..

Take a look when/if you want at the pics I am taking while riding... Just follow the Facebook link...

I do not have the money to go and buy a property.. So Recently I got in touch with a guy that has something similar already mounted... We are learning from each other... And I am using his infrastructure to do the bookings and give estimates to those that want it...

To be honest all I really care is to give people rides that they remember for a long time... He is more into MTB (I got myself a 26'' to start) I am more of a roadie... He is much stronger then me on the roads so we can split the groups according to level..

I am having fun..!!! And I can see you are as well...! Who knows maybe one day I head up North and check the roads there... A few local guys were talking about doing the Purito Rodriguez sportive...

 

[Bonus]

The nearest road-climb from my house (and there are many, believe me!) is the climb from just outside Boltaña, up to the village of Campodarbe.

It starts about 6km from home and is a 7km climb that ascends around 450m (1476ft). You can go up it as many times as you like and every time you go up you get to roll back down again.

What more could you ask for in your own back garden?

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

The nearest road-climb from my house (and there are many, believe me!) is the climb from just outside Boltaña, up to the village of Campodarbe.

It starts about 6km from home and is a 7km climb that ascends around 450m (1476ft). You can go up it as many times as you like and every time you go up you get to roll back down again.

What more could you ask for in your own back garden?



View attachment 342851 View attachment 342852

Sounds soo inviting..!

I don't know much of Spain yet.. Besides my area a bit and a few rides in Alicante last year.. Will have to fix that..!

 

[Bonus]

I started checking out the "Zona-Zero" MTB routes and Road Cycling in the area when we got here and we've always reported on local places of interest that we've visited - now we've started doing the same for local "Walks".

Here are some pics from a walk we did last week. We started at the "Vultures Dinning Room" (2 mins outside of Ainsa), where we parked the car and we finished at "Partara" which is the viewing point up on the hill that Angel from Zona-Zero dragged a bench up to!

It took us about an hour each way at a casual pace. We climbed from 600m to 859m and we saw lots of birds of prey on the way - from below and later from above! Very impressive but very hard to take pictures or video of!

The Vultures Dinning Room is, as the name implies, a place where local meat companies drop off meat to help feed the local Vulture population (they often "hover" over me when I'm climbing on the MTB!).

Vultures and a variety of Eagles/Kites/Hawks are all indigenous to the area - but I'll talk about that in another post . . .

 

[Bonus]

The view from the top is magnificent.

It's not too hard to get to by foot or by bike (it's on Zona- Zero Route 5) and you can sit down at the top and have a picnic :-)

 

[Bonus]

March 25th and it suddenly snowed! Two days ago I was working in the sun with shorts and a T shirt on, one day ago we were hibernating because it suddenly got cold . . . and now this!

Tyre Snow Chains recommended on the road up to France.
Some Pics of Ainsa in the snow.
The v

illage of Baniston and Baniston Church
Possibly the worlds smallest snowman . . .

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

Great views..!

Even if I am not a big fan of the snow... Did you take the MTB in it? Maybe you will need to consider a fat bike route for the Winter months..?

Oh I started working with someone else offering the bike tours around here.. http://www.bikekick.eu/ check it out.. Maybe it give you ideas for the future.. (prices, packages etc)

Enjoy the snow..!!!

 

[Bonus]

A new "Fat Bike" for the winter months . . . Now there's a thought that Mrs Bonus would have an issue with I'm sure!

:-)