Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[Bonus]

Today we are going to look at cars in the nearest big town, Barbastro. After 6 months of residency in Spain you either have to buy a Spanish car or register your foreign car with Spanish plates. It's quite expensive to do and for us, with a British car, there's also some retro work to do because the headlights point the wrong way etc.

So, we're looking for a four wheel drive SUV type vehicle with a tow-bar that will do us for day to day stuff initially but also be able to get us up the access roads in the mountains to the top of some of the climbs because we are going to offer "uplifting" to those of our visitors who "like to ride down but don't always like riding up". . . .

Personally I'm loving the climbing :-)

 

[ColinJ]

Will you be doing airport transfers too?

Where IS the nearest airport? Oh, and the nearest decent bike hire business?

(Just fantasising about a potential future holiday!)

 

[Bonus]

Once the building starts (soon hopefully) and we have an idea of timescales we'll get a website up and running that will cover everything.

Essentially we will be "running a B&B" but actually our plan is to provide a home from home for people wanting to either road ride in the Pyrenees or MTB in and around the trails of Zona Zero, Ainsa. We want people to be able to make the most of their time here so we're keen to offer as many extra services as possible. Suitable meals, packed lunches, kit & bike cleaning facilities, tools available, good local knowledge of the trails/roads, uplifts to some of the trails and drop off points for road riders wanting to start somewhere away from base. Maybe even a "fetch me please" service for people who hit the wall miles from home!

I believe the nearest airport serviced from the UK is Zaragosa (from Stansted) which is 2 hrs from here. Barcelona is next at around 3 hours. We'll have details of airports, airlines and travel times available once we're ready. Also travel times to here from the UK by car. It's not a bad drive - we've done it a few times now!

There are MTB hire shops in town and I'm going to see about trying to negotiate a decent price for our guests. Not sure about road bikes, will have to check.

 

[Bonus]

Now that we're heading into winter up here in the Northern Hemisphere (although it's still lovely weather where we are in Spain) we spent some time at the weekend going through the barn that Ramon the friendly farmer is lending us to store our furniture and belongings in until our house is ready. We only expected having to use it for a few months in the Spring but of course all the delays have knocked that for six. Everything is still clean & tidy and well wrapped up though and we even dug a few more things out to use at the apartment in the meantime.

Today Ramon and I drained the 1600 litre, 200 year old wooden cask that he has in his cellar and that we'd filled with stomped grape juice two weeks ago. It's finished fermenting and was ready to store. He has 4x 200 litre stainless steel tanks and an assortment of about a zillion old wine bottles that we've now filled and shelved. At the moment he still has about 400 litres of last years wine left to finish. By then the new stuff will be ready to go. It was hard work - because Ramon insisted on us both frequently testing the wine as we drained it out of the cask . . . . a tough job, but someone has to do it!

:-)

 

[Bonus]

On Friday morning we went into our local council office to check on the progress of our planning application. We were told that the regional architect in Huesca has approved our plans and they have been returned to the architect in Ainsa, who had approved them previously. Now the local council architect just needs to make sure that all of the paperwork is in place and sign it off. We are hoping that will happen this week . . . .

Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon I got a call from Angel, the man behind the whole Ainsa Zona-Zero MTB/Enduro project to see if I was free to help him with some trail work. I had been in and introduced myself to him at the bike shop a while ago - my intentions coming here were always to get involved and help out wherever I can - and he'd said that he'd start working on the trails in the autumn and was very keen to have any help. He's a great guy, speaks a bit of English and is passionate about the trails.

Here are a couple of pics taken this afternoon where we are creating a new single-track using an ancient sheep path through the forest . . . .

:-)

 

[Bonus]

Finally !!!

We have been told that our planning application is fully approved and permission has been granted! We will receive the temporary "certificate of license" tomorrow by registered post and then the official certificate once we've paid the council their fee. (which is hopefully not to much!)

We can now go back to the bank - who agreed with our business plan "in principal" but could not proceed with our building loan application without the building license being issued.

#sighofrelief

 

[Bonus]

This morning we took a drive down to the "Dam wall" end of the currently almost empty Mediano reservoir. The reservoir is named after the old village of Mediano which was situated in what is now the middle of the lake. The vacated houses were demolished before the valley was flooded - only the church was left standing.

Everything shown in these photos is under 10m of water during the rainy season. The top of the church tower, from the white tide-line upwards, is the only part higher than the high water level.

 

[Starchivore]

Que bonito es!

Really enjoying following your story. Espero que tengas toda la suerte con el proyecto. And looking forward to the next update and hopefully some more photos of the area.

 

[Bonus]

Thanks Starchivore! I'm enjoying telling it (and living it!)

:-)

 

[Bonus]

After an afternoon of trail-building in the forest on the south side of the Peña Montañesa, I took this video of the landscape towards Ainsa.

 

[Bonus]

The Pyrenees - I never get tired of looking at them. . . . .

 

[Bonus]

I've started a "Tumblr Blog" covering cycling in and around the area we live in. First attempt at Blogging so not sure how it will go!

http://mtbainsa.tumblr.com/

:-)

 

[mjr]

<fx>Tumblrweed rolls past...</fx>

 

[Bonus]

Took a ride up to the abandoned Castle of Muro de Roda today. The route includes around 400m of climbing over a 5km stretch.

You can get into the castle - they still use it for holding some of the nearby village fiestas. If you climb up the inside of the tower you can ring the bell at the top!

 

[Bonus]

I think this quote from Angel at the end of the “MTB Zona Zero Documental” video sums up life here in Ainsa, Spain …

“If you see a stone that bothers you, you stop and you remove it, the same as everyone else”