lanzarote

oli2001

Got a week at easter booked, staying playa blanca. Anyone any experience? should i take my own bike or hire. cheers

lostboysaint

Down that end of the island, take your own. Enjoy the climb up to Femes.

oli2001

any idea of routes/maps? dont have a garmin could be an excuse to get one though

lostboysaint

There's very, very few roads down that end of the island so even the map that comes with the hire car will do the job. There's really only a couple of non-major roads out, one runs parallel to the new highway up to the Yaiza junction, from there it's best to go straight into the Timanfaya National Park road (epic). The other road passes along the bottom of the resort towards Papagayo (a beach peninsula) and then sweeps round and up to Femes. From there you can drop down towards the tourist trap of PDC or hang a left to Yaiza and head towards Timanfaya.

The best cycling, unfortunately for you, is all to the north of Timanfaya, with the exception of the Femes climb.

sungod

i take my own, but for a week it might be better to hire, there're a few hire places, if you search you should find a few postings on the subject

from playa blanca there're really only two ways out...

north up the long road lz-701 (runs parallel to the much busier lz-2 for several km, i would *not* ride the lz-2), after about 8km there's a roundabout, go left for a loop around nice swoopy road that runs along the coast, then turns inland to rejoin the lz-701 (you can take a detour to el golfo but it's a dead end), stay on lz-701 into yaiza, absolutely excellent cafe here for food, bar y rest, i greatly esteem their tortilla, you can either keep on going past uga, then up to femes, good cafe stop, with a short steep descent (be *careful*, it's twisty and the road edges/curves can be dirty, i try to wait until it's free of traffic) to a roundabout, from which you'll see a long straight road back to play blanca (from the same roundabout you can instead go through to las brenas and then back down to lz-701)

or, from yaiza you can turn off and go up the road through timanfaya, but i prefer to do it in the other direction, coming from mancha blanca

the other way from playa blanca is up the road to femes, a gradually increasing gradient for 6km, then the final 800m from the roundabout averages c. 14%, peaking at c. 20%, more if you take the inside of the hairpin near the top, head down from femes, then at the roundabout*** either left to yaiza, or across to lz-30 which takes you up through la geria, there's a left turn after about 6km towards mancha blanca, another good cafe stop, then head into timanfaya for the climb then fas descent to yaiza

*** or you can head down to arecife, but it's the ugliest scenery on the island, urban sprawl and assorted crud, with traffic that gets heavier, i do not recommend it

you can extend these routes north quite a long way, also head west to la santa, although the scenery is more built up and a bit bland compared to the earlier volcanic landscape

for short rides, there's a road west from playa blanca, it eventually runs out, so you do a u and return, similar to the east, you can ride to the marina to see the boats, coffee prices peak here!

there's a hyper dino supermarket in central playa blanca, it has proper meat, fish and deli counters, in a little shopping precinct sort of opposite the bus station, if you are on foot they'll call a taxi so you can do a bulk shop, excellent cakeshop near there too, there're several other places for groceries, but for the area this is the best, there's also a large supermarket at the marina

road conditions are generally excellent, the surface is a bit grumbly on the road west of and coming into yaiza, but compared to uk nothing to complain about

there can be gravelly picon on some of the corners, especially on roundabouts, if you hit it at speed there can be a nasty skid, i almost went into the barriers on one when i got distracted and ended up going in fast and wide

drivers are very considerate, but watch out for (brits?) in hire cars, and coaches on the narrow roads - on the descent down timanfaya you'll go fast, 80-90kph, stay alert for oncoming drivers overtaking

the winds can be a problem, especially if gusty, then exposed descents can be nasty, but it's luck of the draw, i've had 2 weeks of calm

gerroffandmilkit

Yep, it's very windy! :shock:

dodgy

I'm going for the second time this Sunday, staying in Playa Blanca too. sungod has done an excellent write up, I can't add to that. But watch out when descending at speed when in an Eastery or Westerly direction, because when the wind does gust, it comes from mainly the NNE.

There's a beautiful alpine like pass up near Haria, we did a 100 mile ride to Orzola and you can include the pass on the way back (check out the map, it's a wriggly mess of hairpins). Orzola is a great place to stop for pizza, plenty of choice in this remote outpost of Lanzarote And the road on the NE coast to Orzola is just beautiful, perfect jet black tarmac, views of the big surf to your right, you must make the effort to go up there.

I hit 54mph twice on the descent from Femes into Playa, but I won't be doing that this year, if you do come off in Lanzarote, there's a good chance you'll be spread across the razor sharp lava fields to the side of most roads...

PS - Irish Anvil in Playa does a great pre-ride full breakfast

oli2001

thanks fellas, i'll make some notes. any thoughts on own or hire bike? for ease and practicality reasons

dodgy

Take your own bike, it's no bother. I just put mine in a free cardboard box from the LBS.

dodgy

sungod wrote:

bar y rest

Can't work out where this is, got a Google Map link? Always on the look out for new places to try

sungod

i looked at my pics and realised it's only the side road where the "bar y rest" signs are, whereas the sign on the front says "bar stop", "tapas y vinos", "desde 1890", so it's been there a while!

on maps it's here...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=lanzaro ... e&t=h&z=19

...north side of the road, two open doorways that lead into it

last time i was there they'd added a few 'shelves' outside and stools, for the smokers i think, these aren't in the current google streetview images

decor is basic, food is good

btw the one in mancha blanca is "la mareta", here...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=lanzaro ... e&t=h&z=19

...very useful on hot days before going into timanfaya, buy a cafe solo and often get a free refill of water bottles with ice, but morning opening hours are a bit variable, the little grocery store next door may be open when the cafe is closed, otherwise there's a community centre to the west that has a basic cafe

sungod

all this is making me crave a cycling holiday!

dodgy

We went to the one in Mancha Blanca about 3 times, full of cyclists, nice hang out.

dodgy

By the way, still can't make out where that place is, you can go into streetview and click on the 'chain' link icon and get a custom link to the precise view. For instance, here's La Mareta.

http://goo.gl/maps/mUOZZ

sungod

streetview link...

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=playa+ ... ,,0,0&z=18

...there're now some little shelves on the wall between the two doors and a few stools

oli2001

a great help fellas. cant wait to get there now! On a charter flight,as part of a package holiday, will i be able to take my bike ok?

sungod

if you've already booked, you need to contact the holiday company and see what they'll do, otherwise make it clear at time of booking and ensure you get written confirmation

on scheduled it is usually a paid for, or by agreement only, item, either as "sports equipment" or as a bike

oli2001

just booked it for £15 each way, bargain. just got to make sure i pack it well, and hope the handlers dont mangle it!.....i can feel the sun already!

bornagaincycler

There is a cycle hire shop in Playa Blanca near the port, its run by a very nice local lady. I've hired good bikes there many times. The last time 18 months ago was a good carbon frame one. I think they cost 18 euros per day. They have another shop in Puerto del Carmen but I cant remember the name. Its next to a car hire office. I always stay in Playa Blanca & when riding get up early & leave at dawn. Its often less windy then. The wind is invariably from the north on Lanzarote. I've done 100 mile routes stopping at Costa Teguise for breakfast, & then all over the place. I was fitter then. The wind really does get up in mid morning so the ride back is fun with a massive tailwind! Just dont come off on the lava rock cos you'll be cut to shreds. The roads are lovely to cycle on, most smooth, & there is very little traffic. Enjoy!