If anyone wants to know how 1200 miles can be done with a smile on your face I will tell you the secrets. I am now well versed in rondas, toll roads, speed limits, etc., and I have the speeding ticket to prove it!!!

My office shuts down for August and I am planning on hiring a car for the month and driving around the north of the country either Coruña or Rioja country and Barcelona. Any advice would be welcome.

I drove all over southern Spain and Portugal in october and november last year, needless to say it was great, and yes, we also got our trophy tickets, lol.
1) I found that the most important thing to remember on the highways is to signal way in advance of any lane change. No matter how zippy we thought we were being, the minute we thought we were flying along with the best of them we were shock-waved by a four wheeled cruise missile.
The high speed drivers always appeared on our tail out of nowhere when we pulled into the passing lane, but they never blew horns and such if we had signaled with enough anticipation.
So many new sleek grey european "sedans" passed us at high speed that we decided we must be seeing the same vehicle as it circled the globe!!!
2) One of our company who was driving when we were pulled over at a check-point had a minor panic attack when the officer asked for papers, , I can say from that experience that it is a good idea not to burst into tears when asked for documents by a traffic cop, lol.

How do you pay a traffic ticket in Spain? Does it delay your travel plans?

If it helps, in Portugal we paid the cops right there on the spot. That isn't too odd, in Montana years ago we paid the speeding fine to the cop that stopped us right there in his squad car! In Montana in those days the fine for speeding on the highway in daytime was only five dollars, apparently their way of protesting the then recent imposition of the 55 per hour speed limit.

I too had to pay my speeding ticket on the spot - 140 euros. It was in the area of Astorga, just SW of Leon and it was a hidden radar trap coming off the main highway onto a 2 lane road. Seems the fine is 6 Euros for every kph over the limit, on top of a base fine - or something similar. All too complicated for the begining of my trip.

I wanted to see a bit more of the countryside at 60kph on our way to Oviedo - not much to see at 150kph - so we decided to get off the main roads. This all within 90 minutes of leaving the airport in Madrid. The policeman spoke no English, of course, and I had a great time trying to convince him that I did in fact live on a lake, not in a lake - Lake Oswego. He was doing his best to run around to his police buddies, as they gathered in their cars, trying to find change for the larger bills that I had. I tried to tell him that if no change was available to just keep the whole amount - he did NOT like that idea. Eventually he found change and we both were laughing as we parted ways. He managed to take the sting out of the experience for me and he was honest.

I do recommend using the toll roads if you don't mind the fees and you have a time frame to deal with. I think the most we ever paid on the trip from Madrid to Oviedo was 9,70. They are clean, fast, well lit, and have services every 35 km, or so. I am sure they must be patrolled but we did not see any evidence of that and I was pushing my Opel Turbo-diesel along fully loaded at 160kph only to incur the rath of faster German cars if I did not pay close attention to the rear view mirror. Those guys come out of the clouds at 200kph!!

All in all, the major roadways were equal to or better than the US interstate system and appeared to be much newer. My compliments to the Spanish road authorities.

The pass into Oviedo was clear and dry, although on the way back to Madrid a week later it was below freezing, and there was a fresh, very light dusting of snow. There was no impairment to driving, however it was hard to keep my eyes on the road as the scenery was so outstanding being covered in light snow.