Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - hellp with route planing for spain / morocco

By far the best guide book you can get for Andalucía is the Rough Guide to Andalucía - it is fairly accurate and has lots of useful info in it including not only places to stay, but places to eat and sleep etc.

I did UK/France/Andorra/Spain last year with my hubby taking 9 days one-way. If you’re going to Andorra, it’s worth taking a detour and visiting the Millau Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct in the south of France. There is a good campsite at the side of the river in Mailau.

Andorra is very pretty, not a straight road in sight. Cheap fuel, cheap fags. The Guardia Civil at the Andorra/Spain border live up to their name and they WILL search your bike/car on entering Spain - they are looking for fags and they will empty your panniers if they think you have any. If you’re fully loaded up and your bike is heavy coming through Andorra, take care on the roads - its hairpins all the way.

We didn’t visit any major city in Spain because we had gone through the centre of Paris (unintentional) earlier in the week and it was hell - air cooled bikes on a very hot September day, drizzle, 15 miles of gridlock, fully loaded up, fully suited up, 1 GPS and even with an intercom, it was difficult for us to stay together - not a pleasant experience.

Sant Jordi Restaurant/Hostal on Carraterra Montblanc-Andorra at Solivella, Tarragona is a cheap hostal - good food, clean rooms and the owner lets you put your bike in their garage overnight.

We were happy to stay off the toll roads in Spain - if all you want is good biking roads then you will get to see the ‘real’ Spain on the back roads. We didn’t have a particular route, as long as we were heading in the right direction, we just went where the road took us and looked for a campsite/hostal once we started getting tired. One thing about the food in Spain - 90% of the time it will be the same high quality all the way along - from the roadside cafes to the restaurants, the standard of food is extremely high.

Murcia - ugliest landscape I’ve ever driven through. It looks like one big excavated quarry, but there must be some nice places along the route, maybe we were just unlucky.

http://www.campingcastillo.com/campingcastillo/e/casti01.htm
Nice campsite by the beach between Adra and Motril, food isn’t great in the campsite restaurant, but it’s ok. From here you can go inland and visit:

Granada - Alhambra Palace (depending on time of year, pre-book tickets to avoid long queues).
Alpujurras - Mulhacen is the highest peak on the Iberian Peninsula and you can ride from Trevélez down to the Mediterranean Sea.

Back on the coastal road:
Nerja - very touristy sea-side town, but Cuevas de Nerja (caves) are worth a visit.
Torre del Mar - this is a good place to come inland again to visit Lake Viñuela (where next years HU meeting will be taking place, and possibly one later this year in September).
Riogordo - that’s where we live, coffee/beer/wine on tap. No spare beds atm, but can arrange accommodation.
Antequera - historical market town. Great ride up to El Torcal. Also a good shop close by which sells a lot of useful bike gear http://www.mxzambrana.com/tienda_de_motos/index.php?cPath=22&osCsid=30e26166e9ce14ed69a10b3b d4085823
Cordoba - not been yet, but the Mezquita is the place to visit here.
Sevilla - ditto, but have been to Santiponce (birthplace of Hadrian) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italica which I believe is the largest archaeological site in Spain.
Ronda - oldest bullring in Spain, great ride up.
Malaga - concrete city often overlooked, but old part is beautiful. Alcazaba & Generalife, Picasso Museum and Cathedral worth a visit.

Make sure you stop at one of the beach bars along this part of the coast for their barbequed sardines, or any other fish they cook in the ‘boats on the beaches’.

Most of coastal route between Malaga & Gibraltar you can skip unless you like touristy places that are full of boozy Brits/bars and clubs. However, this is the one road I would say STICK TO THE TOLL ROADS. The E-15 has the dubious honour of being the most dangerous road in Europe. The juice is just not worth the squeeze - you won’t miss anything (apart from lots of nasty accidents) by going on the Toll roads.

Gibraltar - what a strange place. It is worth a visit despite what some people say. Take your bike with you - don’t leave a British registered vehicle in La Linea unless it’s in a fairly secure/public place. Bikes get priority on/off Gib - just ride to the front of the queues. It’s a mad place to drive around, very, very busy. Go and see the Barbary Apes and Siege Tunnels etc. Plan your trip here. Avoid Sundays (most places are closed and public transport is limited). It’s expensive compared to Spain. Again, fags are cheap, you can take one carton per person back into Spain and again, the Guardia may ask you if you’ve got any, but generally won’t search your panniers.

Algeciras - gateway to Morocco. Not been (yet L) but plenty of forums on the HUBB offering advice. Don’t forget you can get an overnight ferry from Malaga also.

Wherever you are in Spain, do a bit of research before you go. Just about every village/town/city here has some sort of feria or fiesta going off every month of the year, from the Passion Plays at Easter, to music festivals, to snail festivals, to flamingo/dance festivals. Most villages have a municipal swimming pool open between mid-June to mid-September if you fancy a dip to cool off.

One other tip that may be of interest, you can buy almost any drug (legal of course) in a Farmacia in Spain without prescription and they are reasonably cheap. It’s worth stocking up on antibiotics etc especially if you like to keep some in your first-aid kit.

Phew. Hope this helps and I hope all those people who whiz through Spain as a means to getting to Morocco and North Africa will stop and take a look at Spain because away from the coast, it’s a beautiful country and the people are very hospitable.

Btw, if you can't PM me, you should be able to send me an email if you need anymore help.

Buen viaje a todos.