Rob, you're asking for folks to have the same meaning of "a bit" and "non-tarmac" as you. And possibly your riding partner(s). That's kinda a big ask! :-)

First of all, Spain has a lot of former "main roads" that have little traffic since new motorways were built. And lots of smaller, well surfaced roads. Going "Paved only" will be very enjoyable and safe. Don't forget, Spanish drivers are generally excellent.

If going a bit more adventurous I've found that the surface is less important than the combination of surface + gradient or surface + weather. Steep climbs or descents on gravel can be interesting (but CT generally avoids steep climbs). A perfectly rideable gravel track today might be a different animal tomorrow after heavy rain tonight. 

Remember, any planner is only as good as the underlying data and where that data is out of date or incorrect we can experience a few more challenges. 

For what it's worth, I've covered a fair bit of Spain, never specified "paved only" and the only issues I had was a boggy rail trail south of Cordoba and one short section of MTB single track when trying to take a shortcut to a campground. In both cases I ignored CT's more sensible suggestions :-)

If, by any chance, you are contemplating tackling one of the official "Camino" routes to Santiago please remember to expect to share many of these gravel tracks with pilgrims of many tongues who are often deeply immersed while walking. I firmly believe there's a special place in Hell for bikers who bomb through such places. Shouting inanities such as "on your left" doubly so. 

Hobbes, thank you! Good to know the Spanish are generally excellent. 

That's a helpful reply, appreciated. In Brittany last Sept, we did go a few bumpy tracks. Usually not far, useful shortcuts, but one paralleled the quiet main road. We opted to leave the rough stuff. 

Absolutely agree re bikes and walkers. We try to be as courteous as possible. But what we've read of the Camino routes suggests our road bikes wouldn't be great, so we've rather abandoned the idea. 

Thanks again,

Rob

Happy to help, Rob.

It looks like you'd be more comfortable sticking to paved. 

Here's a couple of pics to demonstrate what I'm talking about

Navarra/Rioja. Those gravel roads are a different beast after rain! The big road had a shoulder and is very quiet.

On the way to Pamplona on a Camino route. See what I mean about the rain? :-) Also, note the number of Pilgrims on stretching along and across the road. 

Entirely possible to go to Santiago on paved roads, avoiding the walking Pilgrims if you so wish. 

Hi Hobbes. Thank you, that's really helpful. We'll stick to paved. The odd rough short cut is ok - I suppose we might try bits?

I remember with horror a voie verte in Brittany, heading north to Morlaix. The sandy/gravelly surface was fine until it rained. Everything on the bikes got jammed up with sand, grit and gravel. We escaped to tarmac, using precious water to hose off the brakes etc. Yuk, said the bikes!

Hi Rob, we did a long trip in Spain last year, from Santander to south of Valencia and used cycle.travel extensively.  Our bikes sound similar to yours.  We generally didn’t choose “paved only” because we wanted to enjoy the Vías Verdes and similar trails where available.  There were only a couple of times where cycle.travel sent us on something unrideable.  Once it was due to rain turning an otherwise very flat, wide, easy trail to mud (I’d stick with paved when there’s been a lot of rain).   The other time was a very short, super steep descent on dirt that we had to carry our bikes down, but then it was back to easy riding for our touring bikes.  We were delighted by the routes that cycle.travel chose. 

By the way, we loved what we saw of northern Spain and plan to do our next trip there.  I’m just starting to think about exactly where we want to ride.  I’d like to hear more about your experience when you get back (or along the way if you post a journal somewhere).

Hi Terri. Thanks for that. Interesting re routes - I suppose we could give it a try. 

Re your trip, how did you find the drivers?

Yes, will try to let you know how we get on. We had thought about following the coast but using CT, the route west from Potes tends to be inland. I've used GE Street View to look at this and some of the roads look delightful. Much quieter than how I assume the coast routes might be. But... there's a brutal 700m climb at one point. Have wondered about getting a bus for that, to gain time - which looks fairly tight. 

So far, the area and routes looks hillier than expected, and the weather typically wetter than we'd like. Not a nice combination. 

For info, our plans are to leave the car at Potes, where we have a house booked later. Head west to Punta de Estaca de Bares, then Santiago, then Braganca, Portugal. From there, back to Potes via Leon. 

Hi, sorry for the delayed response; I’m not logging into cycle.travel much these days since I’m not traveling at the moment.  I find drivers in Spain to be so much better than drivers in the United States.  Much more patient and careful, especially outside of the cities.  

What we experienced in the north, around Santander, was really hilly!  I love hills, so I was happy.  We were lucky with the weather there last fall, but I too am concerned about the possibility of running into a lot of rain.  Maybe some sort of back up plan or flexibility if everything is under water for a few days? 

Once I found a route I wanted to ride, I would load it into komoot or Wikiloc on my phone; I find both of those easier to navigate with than the cycle.travel app, especially komoot when there are lots of turns to make (ie in a city).  Komoot also gave some nice route suggestions along the coast.  It was someone’s 5 or 6 day trip along the coast and popped up as a “recommended” tour of the area, or something like that.

I need to look at a map to see where you’re going.  I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time.

Northern Spain does sound beautiful. While the hills and potential rain are something to watch out for, I'm sure the scenery will make it worthwhile. As for the 700m climb - I'd say give it a try on the bike first before considering a bus. You never know, with the right gears you may surprise yourself! If it does feel too brutal, then a short bus ride is a good backup.

Thanks tracycle. Re hill, I feel that if we're aware of it in advance, it's just a case of mind over matter, taking it steady, etc. 

We're looking now at a big trip from Albania to Athens, rtn via Macedonia later this year.  It's a bit further south thsn we've been before, but my 2 trips to the Balkans in November show it's a pretty good area late in the year. Helps shorten our winter, too!

Anyway, the route proposed by CT has a 1000 m climb, over what looks to be an interesting pass. I guess that could be difficult if it snowed...

Terri – I’d be really interested to hear what you find easier in the other apps. The cycle.travel apps are both quite young and I’m keen to fine-tune them to make them more useful!

Hi Richard, I'll have to try the cycle.travel app again.  I only tried it a few times, almost a year ago, so I don't clearly remember what the issue(s) was.   I can tell you that what I love about komoot is how easy it is to *see* the turns I need to make in a city, right as I come up on them.  Sometimes the komoot verbal instructions are confusing, but it's super easy to see and follow visually.  With both komoot and wikilocs it's fairly easy to use them offline, with the screen off, to save battery.  I'm not sure whether that's possible with the cycle.travel app.