Penguins Bike

Day 1 - Valencia, Spain to Corinto, Spain

Sarah

June 21, 2026 - biked 53 km (33 mi), train'd 398 km (247 mi) - biked 55 km (34 mi) total

Day 1 unexpectedly started a day early! Our housing in Valencia canceled so we scrambled to find another place and it just so happened to be 38 km (23 mi or 2 hour bike ride) outside of Valencia.

We started biking after the train from Madrid arrived at 12:30pm. The Spanish trains are very strict! They confiscated our French made knives because they were dos centímetros too long.

Even though it wasn’t the official EuroVelo, it looked like there was a bike path right on the beach up the whole way. It ended up being 27 miles of winding beach boardwalks and sandy nature trails. Dragging our bikes through sand. Biking over big rocks. Small rocks. Weird bumpy pavers. We arrived at our campsite at around 8pm with no fuel to make dinner. So we snacked on cheese/crackers and canned tuna. It was delicious. This cheese Mescla is a must have.

David was a great navigator, even if he lead us on treacherous roads. One of the cursed roads led us to a bird sanctuary and we saw this cool black and white bird.

Even though we had to hustle and start biking sooner than expected, we found ourselves ready. We’ve been preparing for this trip for over 6 months and it felt good to meet the road that will bring us to many more places.

We had to reassemble our bikes after the train
First view of the Mediterranean!
Treacherous road not pictured
Related to the penguin? ;)
Isn’t she beautiful?
Graffiti that captured my mood
Our bikes lived in our room in Madrid.
And it sucked to carry them down the stairs.
Riding to the train station.
No one is driving at Sunday, 9am in Madrid.
We made it with 7 minutes to spare. No pictures of the frantic bike disassembly and bagging and knife confiscation.
Mesarunner tucked in the quiet car.
David is frazzled.
Padrón
Valencia had way more bike paths. And way more bikes.
Paella valenciana
Sarah sees the cool bird through a bird blind in the nature reserve.
Not sure what this former industry was but it looked cool.
Night 1 campsite.
Sarah touches the Mediterranean for the first time.