I am averaging over a 100km a day so I really motering through Spain. This is what I want to do since I have never really bonded with Spain. I see it a hugh obsticle on my ride, it is a very large country to cross. The others I will see I will only pass through a bit. But Spain, I have had to cycle straight through the middle. As a result I have been through so really remote places that make Slapton look like the pinicle of civilisation. I am having a couple of days off chilling out in Zaragoza so I am pretty close to the boarder now. Possibly 4 more day cycling depending on weather and how hard it is in the Pyrenees.
Any way Same stucture as before, I will go through each day individually now.
Wed 21st March (day off in Plasencia)
Below is my favourite picture that I took. It was a really nice little stop off. Some really nice old buildings and small streets with café’s
Well this was the best day so far, I was fully rested and even though the first bit of the ride was up hill the km just kept clocking up with no real effort. To give you an idea of how chilled I was this day, I totally meant to stop in this particular town to buy so food but cycled straight through it with out realising. How could I miss a bit town like that. I think it must of been all the happy thoughts I was having about cycling through a Granite landscape.
There are some great views from the EX 203. I pretty much stayed on this road for the whole day. The great thing about it that made me rather happy as well was that all the camp sites along it were open. I took one minor deviation off this road to go and see the river Tietar. I was quite disappointed with it, it was not very interesting. But on the way back up to the main road I came across one of it tributaries and I just had to go and take a closer look. It was amazing, its bedload was mostly large rounded granite boulders and along the edges there was some fine sand. I just had to strip off and go for a swim. A fantastic end to a good days ride.
That evening I stayed in a great campsite that had a view of the mountains that still had a bit of snow on them. I also had a fantastic dinner. I tried to cook egg and chips on my stove. It did not really work but the end result was still lovely.Fri 23rd March (Day 7)
That was a bloody cold night in the tent so I stayed in my sleeping bag till 9am so it warmed up a bit. Another good ride to day caring on along the Ex 203, saw some cool old buildings.
After a bit I started to descend off these foot hill and had some amazing bits of down hill cycling. The road cambered with the bend so I could really lean into them and maintain my speed.
In the afternoon I really had to push it to get to where I was heading because it was getting late, the weather looked like it was going to become more threatening as well. I ended up in an overpriced camp site and had another cold night.
Sat 24th March (Day 8)
This was a day where the first part was spent going mostly up hill. I decided to navigate around Madrid. I did contemplate visiting it for a few days, but the thought of the roads leading into it put me of. I had two choices, to take the northerly or southerly route. Looking at the map I could see that there were more camp site to the north. So that is what I went for. It is also the route that goes through the foothills for many of the mountains. Quite a momentous day really, I also passed my 500mile mark. Because of the large amount of up hill I prepared my self a large lunch.
This kept me fuelled as I headed up to the pass which is 1255m. Higher than any mountain in England or Wales. On the way up though I had a fantastic view and I can say that I saw Madrid, if from only 40km away. You can just make out the sky scrapers in the photo.
At the end of the day I ended up in a camp site that was pretty high up. I pitched my tent at 983m (that’s 5m higher than Scafell Pike). Due to this I thought that it was going to be a cold night, so I layered up. I put on my long sleeve cycling top, my berghaus base layer and my micro fleece. The result, I could hardly move but it kept me warmer than the other nights.Sun 25th March (Day 9)
I am glad that I put so many clothes on because when I woke up in the morning I found frost on the inside of my tent.
FROST, I thought Spain was meant to be warm, that’s why I brought my lightweight one person tent and one season sleeping bag. The inner of my tent is only mesh and is designed not to get to hot so it lets heat escape. Do not get me wrong I love my kit. It will be perfect for a couple of months time. I felt myself longing for my Terra Nova tent and Rab Atlas 750 sleeping bag. But never mind.
Question for any biologist, can you identify this bird. I have seen hundreds of them along my route through Portugal and Spain. Sorry about the quality of the photo Edmunds. I had to use 12 times digital zoom. I do not pack such a big lenses as your self.
Any way the ride this day was pretty good. I was very remote, The road I chose was completely flat and the land around was just open grassland. There were hardly any cars and this road is quite high at 900m. The only thing that gave it character was the view of the mountains I had cycled past the previous day that were behind me. Since I was alone up there, I felt like a king of all I surveyed. You can see the snow on the mountains behind me and if you look closely you can see my muscle tone developing.
At the end of the day I decide to stay in a hostel after 3 cold nights in my tent.
Mon 26th March (Day 10)
This was a much longer day than expected because when I got to my planned destination (Povedal de la Sierra) the hostel was closed. But again quite a good day. An important point was passed this day, the 1000km mark, Or 625miles (Does not sound so impressive when you convert it). I had a mini celebration any way.
A little bit further down the road I passed something that made me think of you guys in Slapton, so I had to get a photo of them and could not but help feel how good they would look at Beesands.
I also crossed the river Tajo again today, twice. So that means that I have now crossed it 3 times. It is the river where its mouth is by Lisbon. When I was crossing it I had to do some quick measurements of the width to make sure that is was getting smaller so I knew that I was still heading East. In it’s course it has cut a beautiful gorge.
Any way back to the predicament of the hostel being closed. I really had to push on to try and make it to another settlement but it was starting to get dark. It was quite overcast this day so I thought it would not be to cold so in the end I opted for a wild camp. It was relatively warm considering I was at 1195m. I found this nice secluded spot and started to put my tent up in the dark. I was half way through this when I thought I heard something, so I stopped and listened. I then heard a zip not to far away. Some other people must have been camping not to far away from me. I did not see them but I knew they were there. I do not know if they knew I was there. I heard their zip go a few times so I must have been making them paranoid. I was trying to be quite but with my bloody luck because it was overcast that day I had packed everything in plastic bags. They must of wondered what the hell was going on. It was so quite, I must of made lots of noise. I bet they were quite nervous.
Tues 27th March (Day 11)
I got up early before sunrise and packed away and got on the bike before the sun came up. The aim of the day was to reach Daroca by 1pm. Very nostalgic day, the first bit was cycling through undulating hills and green valleys with mist rolling down from the crests. It made me think that I was in Wales which was quite nice. Then the landscape changed and it started to rain, and it looked and felt very much like the moors in Cornwall because it was exactly the same type of fine rain that persistently gets you soaking.
I got to Daroca where I was planning to spend two nights and have a rest day. Boy was I disappointed with this place. There was no internet and no place to buy a map since the I had came to the end of the one I was using. Such a dismal place, it just reminded me of Bodmin. Not a good thing, so I changed my plans and thought that I must push on the next day to Zaragoza which would have been over 100km, so I set my alarm for 6:30am and got an early night.
Wed 28th March (Day 12)
I got up and looked through the window to see if it was still raining since it was quite horrid the day before. I had a bit of a double take because I thought that looks like snow, and it was.
This put my plans right up the spout, so I thought I would go back to bed and see what it was like at 9am. There was still snow and I did not know what to do. I was at 800m and all I had was a basic map I got from the tourist information place. It had no spot heights but I could guess what it was like by looking at the different colour shadings. I could see the back road route was probably out of action. It was quite a bit higher and there was no guaranty it was going to be clear. I thought that I will have to stay in a Spanish Bodmin for any day. The thought of that was quite depressing so after much deliberation and careful study of the cars coming past on the main road I thought. They have no snow on them, cars are going in both directions so the road must be open. I looked at the map and I could see that the next settlement was only 37km away. I had to climb from a light yellow through a dark yellow to get to it though (Colours on the basic map). I thought what the hell I might as well try and boy am I glad I did. I have never cycled through a snow covered landscape.
The road was clear and it was warmer than I expected. When I started to climb above 900m the snow disappeared and it was replaced my a thick fog which was bad. I only had about 50m visibility, or more to the point the lorries rushing past me only had 50m visibility. I then passed a sign that said Pass de Paniza 938m. This was great news because I now knew that the up hill was over and it was not that bad. I then started to descend and as I dropped below 850m the dense fog cleared to light mist and I carried on down hill. I got to that settlement and thought it is actually ok now so I carried on along the road to Zaragoza where I am now. It was to far for one day considering that I only started to cycle at 11:30 after biting the bullet, so I ended up in town called Alagon in a really nice hostel. Quite expensive though.
Thurs 29th March (Day 13)
Just a short 27km trip to where I am now. It is a really nice city and I have enjoyed chilling out to day. I am staying in a youth hostel for next couple of nights, so that is pretty cheep. I have finally been able to get onto the internet and the hostel has got a washing machine. I have been hand washing up till now. I still have not had a social chat with any one since the Friday I left Lisbon. That will be 2 weeks tomorrow, I have been so remote I have not really met any one. My only conversation for the past two weeks is, how much for one night and is there a camp site in some very bad broken Spanish. I do not think there are any other travellers in this youth hostel. I think it is more for students since this is a university city. But never mind, not long to the south of France where I will have a longer stop and try and sort out the patchy tan that I have been developing.
Cheers guys, I will keep you posted as often as possible.
