Further travel plans
On Friday, November 18th, on Latvia's Independence Day, it was time to leave the hospitable home. Before that, I spent a few days frantically poking at the map of Spain, measuring elevation changes to figure out where to head next. My knees are no longer capable of handling a kilometer of elevation gain over thirty, and my belly pulls me down too. Besides, to find such a place, getting there shouldn't take too long or cost 💰💰💰. And you should be able to fly out of there. If not to Latvia, then at least to Lithuania. From the Lithuanian capital Vilnius to my hometown Daugavpils, it's not very convenient to get to, unfortunately. You have to take a 🚉 to the village of Turmantas on the border, and there ask someone to pick you up by car, or at worst, order a taxi. I think all my friends and acquaintances have already heard about this option a thousand times, but here you go, you'll hear it again and again. What can you do - in the end I bought a ticket to Vilnius from Alicante via Eindhoven, 🇳🇱. Friends live there, and I decided to drop by, since it worked out that way.
On weekdays I rode around Valencia, made it to the port
So, I bought a ✈️ ticket from Alicante, which is 100+ kilometers south of Valencia. Also on the coast. It's called Costa Blanca, meaning the white coast. And only a few days later did I realize that the most suitable place to ride a bike is Girona. Not only is it a very beautiful city, where a good chunk of "🎮 👑" was filmed, but the terrain there is also very diverse. There are flatter parts where even a chubby citizen like me can manage, and then there are just straight-up seriously steep mountains. In the end, I booked a room in Girona for 13 days for over 600 euros, at 43 euros, a day.
Everything would be fine, but Girona is located in the very north of Catalonia, near the Pyrenees mountain range. Roughly speaking, I was facing a trip of over 400 kilometers north first, and then, two weeks later, over 500 south. And somehow take my bike with me while at it! ¡No rest for the crazies!
One thing is good news - the railway network in Spain, by many criteria, is the best in Europe. At least in terms of branching + length it's definitely the best. In terms of speed - it's also not bad. On many routes it's 200+ km/h, and from Barcelona to Madrid it's like 350, if I'm not making it up.
How bikes are shipped
To send my bike from my native lands to Valencia, I used the services of DPD Latvia. It went off without a hitch. Inspired by this success, I didn't send the bike back to Latvia, but decided to continue my rides around 🇪🇸. Here the first of many, many pitfalls awaited me. It turned out that the Spanish company SEUR , which is now part of the DPD group, doesn't ship 📦 larger than 100cm in length. So you can bring a bike from Latvia to Spain, and it seems you can also bring it from Spain to Latvia. But inside Spain - no way.
Okay, got it. Started looking for options, found out that the Spanish national post office Correos has this service - PAQ BICICLETA. For a mere 50€ (a magic number) they promise to send a 🚲 from one post office to any other within continental Spain and the Balearic Islands. This price even includes a branded cardboard box, which can also be bought separately for 13 euros. However, it says that they might be out of boxes if they're all sold out, or if the post office is small. I've already had my fill of such jokes in life, so I decided to get a box at a bike shop in advance, just in case. I dropped into the nearest one, Hummibikes , which turned out to be a dealer for Trek and "Spesh" (Specialized). These are probably the most show-offy brands among the biggest ones, although nowadays only the lazy don't fancy themselves special. Although Valencia is considered a relatively inexpensive region of 🇪🇸, you definitely couldn't tell by this shop. Row after row of 🚲, with prices starting from 2k and ending in madness. There is even the very newest gravel bike Specialized Diverge STR with an innovative rear mini-shock absorber, which is almost unheard of on gravel bikes. In the top spec, this gravel bike costs 15k euros. I would say that this is the most expensive production bike I know of, if not for the Scott Lumen for 16k that I mentioned recently. There was also a ton of ⚡️⛰🚲 for 4-5k, clearly in demand.
They gave me a box without any problems, though I had to wait a bit. It’s immediately clear that I'm neither the first nor the last to come with such a request. The staff are very friendly. They speak tolerable English. There's even a huge fitting room, something I've somehow never noticed in bike shops before.
In the evening I dragged the 📦 home, pleased, thinking I had everything under control. ¡How bitterly mistaken I was!
Photos from different bike shops, plus the Spesh Diverge, plus the box
Mistakes and disappointments
The 📦 was pretty huge. Inside, apart from all sorts of packaging 🧻 and styrofoam, which played right into my hands, there were cat's eyes, meaning reflectors. Advanced amateurs almost never install them - extra weight, plus you end up looking like a hick. This doesn't negate the fact that you need to have a 🔦, a rear blinker, and a 👕 with reflective elements. At the same time, it’s immediately clear to everyone that you're a pro, since you shelled out a ton of money for all of this! The shop, understandably, doesn't put reflectors on either when you buy a 🚲 for 5k, otherwise the customers will complain.
The next day, on Wednesday evening, meaning with one day to spare, I headed to the nearest Correos branch, but I didn't drag the box from the shop with me just yet. Naturally, they didn't have their own postal box there, and the postal workers📯 called another branch nearby, where they directed me. I was already happily rubbing my 🙌. Little did I know the Spanish, especially the state workers. It turned out that there was no box in the second branch either. Why the hell did they send me there then?
It wasn't in the third one either, at least that's what I was told. They suggested I haul myself to the central one, which is quite far away. I asked if I could bring my own box. After conferring, they graciously allowed me to.
I dashed home, grabbed a buddy, and we brought the box along with the bike. But not to the branch where they kinda let me pull off this trick. But to the first one, where I had been initially, the closest to home. There they gave me the boot, saying that the PAQ BICICLETA service only works with their boxes! ¡And they don't have boxes!
Anyone who has read Joseph Heller's book "Catch-22" will understand my annoyance. I almost told the postal worker 📯 everything I thought of him, and of their stupid bureaucracy. Held back, though. Asked, ¿how much it would cost to send the box as a parcel, rather than as a PAQ BICICLETA? The guy told me that 💰💰💰. I asked him to calculate it. The worker measured the 📦, asked what the approximate weight would be. It came out to around 70 euros. My friend convinced me that my nerves were worth more. Although I immediately told him that since they have such a mess going on, trusting them with the rest is also stupid.
What can you do, gotta try. I shoved the bike inside, piled it up with clothes and 🧻 as much as possible so as not to break or dent anything, and brought it to the scale. Then the dude measured the box one more time, and said that IT WAS TOO BIG! ¿¿¿Couldn't he have said that earlier??? ¡¡¡He literally measured it!!!
Upset, I unpacked the bike, left the box by the dumpster next to the post office so I wouldn't have to drag it back, and went home. I figured I'd still have to scour various post offices in search of the cherished one where their postal box actually exists.
Patience and hard work will overcome everything
The next day, on Thursday, November 17th, I continued my search. I remembered that during my googling I saw some option, but try figuring out right off the bat whether it's worthwhile or not. Websites in Spain mostly aren't translated into English, and without an auto-translator I would've been completely lost. And here I finally found the postal company MRW , whose office turned out to be right next to that same Correos. MRW promised to pick up the 🚲 from home, and bring it to anywhere in Spain except Tenerife for the same 50 euros. ¡Praise be to technology!
I had a workday, and I couldn't stroll around the city too much. Nevertheless, taught by bitter experience, I first decided to visit the MRW office. Good thing our day before a holiday is shortened. So without much remorse I rode my bike to MRW. There, the dude confirmed to me several times that there's no problem sending the bike, weighing up to a whopping 80kg. And everything would be fine, ¡but he didn't have a 📦!
Holding back hysterics, I went back to Hummibikes , where I asked for another box. They gave it to me, but this time with absolutely no rush – first the girl finished her lunch. Overjoyed by such service, I even bought a mini-fender with a 🦊 for the front wheel to thank them. Then I returned to MRW, packed the 🚲, and handed it over to Luis. I couldn't believe my luck so much that I said thank you to him ten times, even though he was very busy and I didn't want to distract him.
Inspired, I finished my workday, and packed my things, so that in the morning I could hop on the express to Girona. Forgot to mention that I also had the option of taking the bike with me on the train, but the faster it is, the harder this gets. The thing is, Spanish trains are divided into categories, depending on speed and price. Even though the high-speed ones all look pretty much the same. Like squat, elongated cylinders, resembling projectiles or bullets. There's not as much space inside as on a less aerodynamic train. Consequently, bikes absolutely must be packed, and the box sizes are very, very limited. I probably wouldn't have crammed my bike into such a small one, even with all the desire in the world, if I strictly followed the rules and didn't try to bend them.
And breaking the rules is a dangerous business. When I was flying out of Girona, I sent the bike to Latvia with the same DPD. When I already landed in Vilnius, I found out that they refused to transport the bike, citing the size of the box. What to do, I have no idea - I shipped it from my rental, and I didn't get along perfectly with the landlady. The only thing left is to send it to my friend back in Valencia.
Graffiti on the Red Cross (Cruz Roja) building
Rode to the port and back 18km in 1:40
Walked 10km
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