Earlier this year, Otago Daily Times reporter Mark Price and wife Cathy toured Spain, France and Germany by bicycle, pedalling their way through a northern hemisphere spring.
It was a cheap alternative to hiring a car or camper van, but cycling the hard shoulder hour after hour, day after day requires some adjustment in holiday thinking.
It seemed like an easy compromise to make, at the time.
I wanted to go to Spain. My wife wanted to go cycling.
So we bought two plane tickets, two bicycles, four pannier bags and off we went.
And now, after 6500km of slow pedalling through glorious Iberian landscapes, this reluctant cyclist is a cycle tour evangelist.
Can there be a better way to travel on holiday?
The sight of wildflowers strewn for kilometres along grass verges, the smell of barley ripening in the sun, the taste of cold water from mountain streams - don't get me started.
But there are also many potholes on the road to cycle tour heaven and that is the purpose of this article.
I had expected the Internet to be full of good advice on how to prepare, but I could find nothing and, in the end, we learned everything we needed to know by first-hand experience.
Cycling through Spain - or cycling anywhere - might not be everybody's cup of sangria but for those who are tempted, here is this novice's guide to getting at least some things right on a long-distance cycle tour.
Find a bicycle shop
We flew to Gibraltar, bused to Spain's southernmost town, Tarifa, and went walking in search of two bicycles.
All we could find was a German bicycle fanatic who ordered us to get back on the bus and travel to the French-owned, sporting goods chain-store Decathalon in the nearby city of La Línea.
Thereafter, we noticed Decathalon stores in many cities but in smaller towns, cycle shops were hard to find - despite Spanish enthusiasm for cycling.
Find a suitable bicycle
The leaness and lightness of alloy racing cycles appealed. The low gears and rugged construction of mountain bikes also appealed.
But our instructions were to buy two aluminium-framed commuter-style "B'Twin" bicycles that blended features of both.
Lacking a little in charisma, these sturdy workhorses came with both front and rear suspension, narrower rims and tyres than a mountain bike, an adjustable handlebar stem allowing a relatively upright riding position to lessen the strain on back and arms, and a "gel" seat.
Before paying for your suitable bicycle, double-check that it is suitable for you
We chose to shop late in the day. The staff were friendly but . . . it was near closing time.
So, slightly flustered, we found ourselves bundled through checkout and deposited street-side with two bicycles and a heap of last-minute, better-get-it-now-because-we-won't-get-another-chance accessories.
In the process we made the mistake of choosing, for my wife, a bicycle with smaller diameter wheels than mine.
While this gave her an advantage of lower gearing for going up hills, it left her without a high enough top gear for easy cruising on the flat.
Don't overdo the accessories but, on the other hand, don't underdo the accessories
A rear-vision mirror is nice. But will it last longer than a week? Mine did not.
After cycling all day, will you really want to cycle into the night and therefore require lights. We could have done without.
A single half-litre water bottle is not enough when you are uncertain about where the next tap is.
The type of pannier bags that attach to the carrier by metal hooks might seem convenient but it won't be long before they are leaping off your bicycle at the mere thought of another bumpy road.
Get saddle bags that attach to each other.
Two extra pannier bags on the front wheel provide more space.
But how much space do you really need? Even our two rear pannier bags were half full of stuff we did not need.
Helmets are not compulsory in Europe but they still seemed to make sense. Of course, there are plenty who would argue otherwise.
A comfortable seat
There is no such thing as a comfortable bicycle seat. Our gel seats were adequate but there is no escaping a sore backside.
The best that can be said is that, eventually, you learn to live with it.
Set a direction, not a destination
Our hardest day's cycling lasted a ridiculous 14 hours simply because we set ourselves a firm destination.
We had a map showing a camping ground and we were determined to reach it, no matter what.
At that point on our trip, we had yet to learn that a camping ground marked on a Spanish map does not guarantee that an operational camping ground will actually exist.
After passing up dozens of potential roadside tent-sites, we eventually set up camp, in the dark, next to a grim layby, down the road from a prison, on the edge of a gloomy industrial town.
Don't be overwhelmed by seemingly big hurdles
Looking at Spain from the google earth satellite, it seemed like it might be impossible to cycle through the unfriendly maze of motorways leading into and out of most cities.
But, street by street, footpath by footpath, cycle path by cycle path, we always got through, somehow.
Country roads are best
Spain has many more roads than New Zealand and often there is barely any traffic. As well, most are sealed with smooth bitumen which is so much more pleasant to ride on than our coarse chip seal.
Bicycles are not allowed on motorways but usually there are "service roads" nearby for tractors, donkeys and cyclists.
They can be slow and bumpy but every bumpy road came to an end eventually and every uphill did eventually turn into a downhill.
The most enjoyable part of cycle touring is the standing around
There is nothing nicer than to stop pedalling and we took every opportunity - a wildflower that needed to be photographed, a wild strawberry that needed eating, a park bench that needed sitting on.
A two-minute stop is as refreshing as a mouthful of cold water. Never pass up the chance.
Go in the spring
We calculated that summer in Spain would be too hot for us so we started early in the spring - in May - and travelled towards the cooler north.
It worked a treat until we got to the north coast and found it too cool and too wet.
Stay in touch and have a plan
It is a heart-stopping moment when, in a foreign field, you suddenly realise that the person you thought was cycling behind you is not there.
It happened only once to us in four months but we each spent the rest of the day cycling up and down a cycleway asking cyclists if they had recently seen someone pass by on a bicycle.
It would have helped if we had renewed the "global roaming" thing on our cellphones.
It did help that we had agreed, in the event of becoming separated, to meet at the nearest tourist office. But, with a choice of four tourist offices in four villages, it still proved to be a very long day.
Use the tourist offices
Every town has one and staff are exceedingly helpful. And, mostly, they speak English.
Stop when the going is good
It is difficult to call it quits at mid-afternoon, when the day is still fine and the road is flat.
But a good camping spot at hand is worth a lot more than whatever other camping spot you might find 20km further down the road.
Instead of finishing late, start early, do a few kilometres before breakfast. Stop early. Enjoy.
Stop at bars and cafes and practise your Spanish
Once again, take any excuse to stop.
Country locals are invariably friendly, the beer is cold and the coffee is cheap and excellent.
Shop in the morning
By early afternoon, bakeries, restaurants and other food shops in smaller towns will most likely be closed.
Have an emergency stash of food
It is quite easy to find yourself in a town, at the end of the day, where there is no food for sale of any sort.
Be prepared
Carry a waterproof tent. Even in Spain it rains.
Carry a good insect repellent
Mosquitoes around lakes can be a bit of a nuisance in the evening but where there are cattle, and Spain has plenty of cattle, there can be clouds of annoying flies.
Drink the water
Every village seems to have a water tap in its main square.
The water was always drinkable although along the Mediterranean coast it was quite salty.
Don't count on camping grounds
In Spain, they range from the sublime, like Toledo, with its a la carte restaurant, pool and beautiful view, to the ridiculous, like Almagro, which could be mistaken for a gravel car park.
But at least it was open. Out of date Spanish tourist maps are still dotted with places where camping grounds used to be.
Oil your chain
Having not thought to ask for a small container of oil where we bought our bicycles, we then never encountered a shop where we could buy one.
Despite occasional dabs of oil at service stations, and drops of olive oil at lunchtime, my chain eventually seized on the steepest section of the highest hill we were to cross.
Thirty kilometres of pushing my bicycle over the next day and a-half provided plenty of opportunity to reflect on the importance of bicycle maintenance.
Have patience
Rain, lack of food and too many hours in the saddle are the three things that seem most likely to cause grumpiness but the answers are simple.
Get out of the rain, find some food and relax. It's a holiday, not the Tour de France.
Cycle touring - with associated camping - requires a fair amount of "roughing it".
The seat is hard, the ground is hard, the hills are hard and, by lunchtime, the bread you bought at breakfast time will also be fairly hard.
Perhaps that is why the good bits each day seem so much more wonderful.
Inexplicably, the scenery appears more scenic, the morning chill feels more refreshing, the food tastes better, the wine tastes finer and the coffee tastes like good coffee should.
And, for once, you really do deserve that glass of wine, you really do need that ice cream and you really should just lie down under a shady tree for a snooze in the middle of the day.
You will have earned it.
