Whats Oli doing with a bike in the desert? A bike tour! Today I'm at the RV park in Arguedas in front of the Bardenas Reales natural park. The plan - a one-day bike tour through the semi-desert in Navarra in northern Spain. I usually take my small folding bike with me in the camper. It squeaks and groans as soon as I approach it or even ride around on it - which puts me in a constant state of readiness to roll off to the side of the road onto the next grass verge in case of a possible collapse. Thus it is conceivably unsuitable for the planned tour, since there are neither roads nor grass verges in the semi-desert. For this reason I decided to rent a bicycle.
My alarm clock rings early at 8am already so that I can have coffee in peace before I leave to pick up a bike at 9am at the bike rental "Bardenas Bikes". The only languages spoken here are Spanish and French. But since there is really nothing in the store - except bikes for rent - I can somehow communicate that I want to borrow an e-bike. I get a "Cube Bike" and for some reason the saleswoman from the store even brings me and the bike to the tourist information center at the entrance of the desert, which saves me a trip of about 5km.
As I arrive, I already spot some campers I had seen on the parking lot in Arguedas before. Most areas of the desert can be accessed with normal cars and also RVs, 4x4 is absolutely not necessary, at least during dry weather. The roads are not asphalted, but still in better shape than some Italian highways. However, the round trip is likely to re-sort some closet contents.
I first head to the information center, where I get a free map with directions and POIs of the nature park. Great thing, even the entrance to the park is (still) free! Then off I go.
From the entrance, it's about 5km downhill to a junction in front of a military base, which takes up the entire inner area of the circular route. Trespassing is prohibited here (and presumably also very difficult), but besides that one is allowed to move relatively freely (by foot) around in the desert. By car, one must stay on the designated gravel roads or roadside stops. I meet a cyclist who has lost his way and we discuss where the route now might continue. Apparently without success, because he drives away in the wrong direction. I follow the route to the right, from here it leads along a bumpy gravel road. Fortunately, it is somewhat cloudy, so that I don't have to sweat that much already at the beginning of the torture. Starting from 12 o'clock the sun is to come out and it will get as hot as 36°C. At that time it will probably be unbearable driving around by bike in the desert, completely without any shadows. Which is why I hope to be at least near the end of the round trip by then. On the left and on the right side of the way I find endless, meager surfaces with only little vegetation. Only a few bushes and grasses can bear the dryness and heat here. In the distance, mountainous elevations with interesting shapes can be seen everywhere. I pass a few sand hills washed smooth by the wind and weather and drive past an abandoned stable. From a hill I spot a small lake, the "Embalse de Zapata".
Wikipedia says that there must have been an ocean here in prehistoric times, which evaporated over the years and by the continued uplift of the Iberian plate. The rest of the strange landscape was then formed by water from the Pyrenees.
After the Embalse it gets a little more strenuous, because the route is now slightly uphill and the sun is slamming down unhindered from the sky. Fortunately, I have bathed in sunscreen this morning and in case of need also brought some with me.. I make a break behind a hill and sit down briefly in the shade of a pile of stones, which someone with apparently a lot of boredom has built by hand. I can now really imagine how it must feel to be lost in a real desert without a predefined route and an exit.
As I go on I pass even more barren land with little vegetation. I meet the cyclist from the beginning of the route again and he is still alive. The tour continues past some hills that I had seen before from a distance. Unfortunately, the smartphone camera from my old iPhone XS is really no good to shoot decent photos here. Each mountain and hill becomes just tiny and is barely visible on the photos, regardless of how large and impressive it looked in reality.
But what's that? After 15 more kilometers in sweltering heat, I reach a small cottage with a canopy. I am already almost cooked - here I can finally take a longer break in the shadow and plaster myself again with sunscreen.
After about 20 minutes, I'm moving on. The last kilometers of the route lead past the "Castil de Tierra", the landmark of the park - a rock that looks like a jelly bag cap. Here, of course, all hell is breaking loose as the campers, cars, motorcyclists and quad riders have gathered to take photos. I join them.
After that I've almost made it. To move forward a little faster and with less effort, I switch on the electric motor for the first time. In turbo mode the bike drives almost by itself. With an average speed of 30km/h I whiz to the junction at the military base, up to the tourist information center and to the parking lot there, where already a food truck waits. I eat an overpriced toast with ham and peppers, but it tastes delicious. Also the overpriced cola tastes great.
As I get back to the RV park it is almost empty. Most campers are probably still driving around in the desert or have already moved on. Since I'm pretty exhausted, the afternoon passes without any significant further activities on my part. The visit of the Bardenas was absolutely worth it. It was a great and interesting trip through a surreal looking desert landscape.
