From Avila, great cycling on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Gredos leads into the dramatic north east corner of Extremadura via Candelario. Good climbs over the Puerto de Honduras and through Piornal follow before travelling southwards towards the beautiful town of Trujillo. East over the hills to Guadalupe completes a rich Extremaduran experience followed by an interesting return to Madrid including a trip along the via Verde de La Jara.

Maps used were from the 1:200,000 series of the Instituto Geografico Nacional. These were useful for the contour information, although for route finding, the Michelin 1:400,000 map was fine. Some useful information was provided beforehand from the Tourist Information Office for Extremadura in response to an email enquiry. We were helped in our preparations by good advice from Juan Merallo of Pedalibre, www.pedalibre.org.

We flew into Madrid airport midweek. Having experienced the ease with which bikes could be transported on some of the trains, the plan was to get to Chamartin station from where we'd get a Regionale train to Avila. This worked perfectly. We used the Aerocity shuttle service to quickly get us to Chamartin and had about 20 minutes to wait for the Valalodid train that would get us to Avila. Had we arrived on a weekend, we could have used the metro to get ourselves and our bikes to Chamartin station. Either way avoids the need to cycle through busy streets in hot weather.

As well as being an effective way to get away from Madrid, the train journey to Avila is a delight. The train climbs through the mountains giving great views and a relaxing journey. Avila is an attractive historic town with plenty to interest the visitor. At 1100m above sea level, it is Spain's highest provincial capital and a great place from which to start a cycle tour.

For further information on general travel and airport information see the previous Extremadura tour background.