From Ávila, a long day westwards got us to within reach of the natural park of Las Butecas - Sierra de Francia with some great cycling and interesting sights. A climb over the Peña de Francia and a long descent led to the delightful historic town of Ciudad Rodrigo. Heading south then led to our primary objectives, the Sierra de Gata and Las Hurdes areas of northern Extremadura. The return journey took us to the north of the Sierra de Gredos before returning to Ávila.

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 or Geo/Estel 1:250000 were fine. For a part of our journey we did not have the relevant Instituto Geografico map, the ordered item having failed to arrive before our departure. From Ávila onwards we tried to find one to no avail and sorely missed having contour information available for two days of the journey.

The weather was mixed. This was mid/late April and about a third of the trip was wet and cold. The remainder was warm and dry. Some hostals weren’t open due to refurbishment but on the plus side, tourist destinations were quiet. Apart from at the hotels in Ávila and Ciudad Rodrigo, we were usually the only guests.

We flew into Madrid airport midweek. As with one of our previous tours, we got to Chamartin station using the Aerocity shuttle service. Their standard service was booked direct on their web site and was used at both ends of our trip much simplifying travel arrangements. Each journey was around 20 euros for two people and bikes which seemed like good value and far preferable to the alternatives. Just ‘phone them to confirm the pick up and a vehicle is dispatched.

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