Santaella, Spain

87 miles 6781ft

Although there were no really big hills today, it was very much a day of  up one hill and down the next. Most of the day we were surrounded by olive groves and it does make you wonder how much of the land is covered by olives and how much olive oil is made here. Only towards the end of the day as the hills got less vicious was there any variety with grapes and what appeared to be garlic and herbs.  Their scents filling the air. 

 After having left the olive grove before 9, we shot down the hill and started to go into Jaen at rush hour. We nearly had another misroute but I managed to stop Nick before he went into town. 
Leaving town, we then had our biggest climb of the day, which had the added bonus of being on the first cycle way since Zaragoza.  This cycle way took us off the road for a bit and up the pass and then down a green edge to the main road. 

 At the same time we came across a group of other cyclists who initially barged into us and when I said hello this lady looked at me for some time before saying good morning. Sadly they were not the friendliest of bunches, although we did keep bumping into them for the next few miles. We found one friendly one, but she was a supporter rather than rider. It turned out that they were Canadians cycling for bibles. Shame really that they were not a bit more Christian.    This view was back down into Jaen from the cycle path. 

  After this big climb the countryside became a bit less mountainous and just hilly. 

Here I managed to persuade Nick to pick some prickly pears, both Nick and myself tried one and I have to say they taste really superb, but we got some of the prickles in our fingers and lips which took a couple hours to work itself out of our skin!  

 At this stage we still had some way to go before coffee just after Martos,   where we can see Nick riding down the street,  luckily I missed the dogs which were in the process of mounting each other in the middle of the street ! 

 An excellent coffee stop of scrambled eggs, as well as chocolate croissant refuelled us for another tough stretch of ups and downs permanently surrounded by olive groves.  
 We started to go through more typical Andalusian whitewashed towns this was Baena where we stopped and just like the old Spanish men we have seen everyday,  sat on a bench and had a chat about colonoscopies!

We were very pleased to see the camper at the lunch stop, as we were all getting tired, after two days of hard climbing.  

 
After lunch the landscape began  to change with some vineyards, as well as olives, to vary the scenery a bit.  

  Montalban was typical in that it was on the top of a hill and required a really hard climb to get into the town so we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream.   

 Coming down out of the town we passed this unusual sight and with Nick using his native tongue were surprised to find out that these were grapes being sundried to make raisins.  Apparently it takes about one week to dry the grapes  and is the end of the season. 

Our final segment was the flattest of the day so enabled some good peloton riding.   

Finally and very exhaustedly we got to the campsite and for once we had a warm evening and open swimming pool and followed it by a meal outside completed by a glass of Pedro Ximemez. 

Another really tough day on tired limbs, but I now only have 180 miles to go, so am getting close, although know that these last two days are going to be as hilly as today, and with the sun expected to shine and temperature expected to approach 39C. I will need all the support and encouragement to make it.  

La Guardia de Jaen, Spain

86 miles 8186ft

No we have not suddenly become religious, but today did feature a lot of climbing and we have never seen so many olive groves. In fact we are wild camping tonight in the middle of an olive grove just outside of Jaen.  

 
Getting up this morning was more of a struggle as sunrise was after 8, but we still managed to get away just before 9. 

Initially the road climbed up alongside a river before it then really started going up and over the Puerto de las Palomas (Pass of the Doves) at 1290m. 

It was a cool and misty start to the day and we saw many deer crossing the road in front of us and heard lots of stags bellowing in the woods as the rutting season is underway.  

 At this stage I shouted “look at those geese” when I meant to say goats, tiredness and effort taking its toll- we all had trouble staying on our bikes as we were laughing so much. This guy had a big bell !  

The climb though long, was not too steep  

 and rewarded us with a great view at the top, looking back over the valley we had just climbed 

 Monica and Nigel had waited at the top for us as we shared our achievement.    
   A more technical descent with plenty of hairpins followed, but gave us a much different view on the other side of the mountain. One that we were to become familiar with for the rest of the day.  Olive groves. 
 Our coffee stop was just passed Cazorla (so ticking off our second Spanish footballer)  Below is the castle at Iruela next to Cazorla. 

 Leaving this stop, the next segment was a rolling road running almost exclusively through the olive groves we had seen from way up above. Unfortunately they seemed to be more up than down!  

 Lunch stop just short of Jodar was welcomed and left just over 30 miles for the final segment. At this stage Nick who had been struggling with keeping his cleats in decided to make some running repairs on the road. He was the most surprised when he actually fixed it.  

 Thinking that we had left the big hills behind, we were seriously mistaken, as we immediately had a long climb into the Sierra Magina where we continually seemed to be going up and only had short drops until the last big descent. This photo was taken after another big climb to Jimena 

 During this segment we were overtaken by several cars running in a classic car rally, including MGs, Porsches, Austin Healeys and a couple of Bentleys amongst others, including this Datsun. It was great to listen to these classics go past as they sound so much better than today’s machinery. 

 As one car went passed, it lost its rally plate which I then wore for the rest of day! 
 Leaving La Mancha Real, we looked at the scenery and thought we must be going downhill,  as there was only one hill, but no, our road went straight up that solitary mountain for the hardest climb of the day to Pegalajar, at a gradient that was between 9-11%. As ever, the great view made it worth it – just. 

 Tonight we were wild camping again  and Nigel found a spot in the middle of an Olive grove, where as usual we enjoyed a hearty meal, washed  down by some cheap beer, the cheap wine at €1 a litre  box,  would have stripped paint, so the highly trained athletes amongst us gave it a miss, especially as today had the most climbing of the whole tour to date. 

 
I hope that you have been enjoying the blog. Following much demand after his reading of the blog this morning an audiobook version is now available by phoning Nick and he will be happy to offer his interpretation for those that cannot read!

Cotos Rios, Spain

86 Miles 6096ft

We had just had a quick visit round the market at Siles, as it was the first town we had seen for some while that had some life.  

 Leaving the town down a long sweeping hill, I said to the guys it’s a left turn along here shortly, but too late, Nick was off as usual at top speed, adopting the full tuck position with Chris in hot pursuit. Halfway down the hill was our left turn, which the boys had no chance of stopping for as they whizzed passed at 35mph. 

Lunch stop was along this road in about 7 miles. With no initial sign of the boys and they being a good couple of kilometres further along the road,  I consulted the map and then phoned Nigel, agreeing with him to meet where the alternate routes converged in about 20 miles.  He was a bit disappointed as had just got his motorcycle out ready to enjoy what he said was the trickiest and steepest climb he had seen and we were now going to miss it. 

Was this unlucky or lucky, as we then had the best part of a ten mile sprint with a tailwind at 25 mph despite our tired limbs, instead of a monster climb. We then decided it was a good mistake and probably saved us an hour in the saddle. It pays not listen sometimes……..

Having had an early start, as the campsite was shutting, we got going at 8.40, straight up a climb into the early morning mist.  

 It was jolly cold and we were glad we had our waterproofs which we then put on and used as windproofs to keep us warmer. 

The descent through the mist was slow, as not only was it cold and we could not see where we were going, but the road was very rough.  This picture shows the cloud base from where we had just emerged. 

 Having dropped back down, we then had to go back up the biggest climb of the day,  which was an 1800ft climb to the top of  Puerto de las Crucetillas at 1450m   In addition, Nigel had parked the camper at the top so we had a full coffee stop with chocolate croissants too! 
 The descent was bumpier and slower than the last one and as before, we had to stop to give our hands a rest, as keeping the pressure on was taking its toll.  Our excuse was to take photos of the scenery. 

   
Joining a bigger and resurfaced road we climbed steadily,  passing a Dutchman, Mons who I chatted to for a bit – he was cycling from Barcelona to Córdoba. 

The descent from this summit was one of the best four mile drops that we have ever had, as the super smooth road swept down at a steady rate with some superb twists and turns. Bombing down at over 35 mph Nick was in seventh heaven. 

It was incredible to think that we were really in southern Spain with green trees and mountains, what gave it away were the olive groves everywhere. Some on very steep sided hills. It made us wonder how they could be harvested, except by hand   

 After Nick’s inspired misroute, our belated lunch stop was only going to leave just over 20 miles to the campsite, much to everyone’s relief.

   
The clouds were gathering and we were concerned that this last segment was going to get very wet.  Apart from a few drops of rain in the last three miles we made it to the camper dry, but it did rain this evening. 

     For the next 15 miles we then followed a huge river dam, mostly at some height, although we did drop down to the dam where Chris obeyed the lights as every good Englishman does.  As you can see Nick had already moved on. 

  We had some fun running alongside this, with a couple of French campers that we initially let out in front of us, then overtook them twice as they stopped to take photos and finally went passed them again near the end of the lake where the four occupants had got out of their vehicles and cheered us across an imaginary line.  

 A final short run along the river to the campsite and fantastic showers thanks to Nigel showing the owner how to fix a new shower head on and we were ready for an early night and the next big climb tomorrow.  

Penascosa, Spain

114 Miles 5466ft

We knew that today was the longest day of the Spanisb leg of the tour, but having rearranged the route in Zaragoza my calculations were a bit out and my estimate of 95 miles turned into 114 with the finish being  a five mile climb out of the valley to the campsite with three pairs of very weary legs. 

On the way up this climb was a religious shrine which saw Chris suddenly get the urge for divine assistance and it is true that whilst he struggled to that point, he climbed the rest of the hill like a gazelle! 

 
It was all very different from the start which once again saw Chris stretch his back on the concrete apron of the local bodega – the smell of grape must filling the air  

 Leaving our start saw us join what was the main road, now superceded by the motorway and our first photo  stop was over a dam at which point Chris said our average speed at present is 31.6 mph – a good downhill start! 

 
The route today saw a lot of straight roads over the Spanish plain. At first surrounded by grape vines full to bursting with grapes ready to pick   We passed several large bodegas with the roads so red in sticky grape juice that made the tyres stick and Nick exclaim that it smells so good I am going to lick the road. 

 
The only good thing about the straight roads and initial lack of wind was that we were able to run quickly in peloton swapping over as each of us got tired  

 As the day was longer we split it into a three stopper and temperatures got higher as the afternoon hit,  meaning that we did take advantage of the lemon Popsicles at tea stop. 

The least said about the lunch stop the better,  as the camper attracted in hordes of flies which found crevices that they should not have been clever enough to find. This meant a stressful stop so we cut it short and got going again and left Nigel to gaffer tape up the air vents. 

 The best stop of the day was this garage which the owner offered to Monica  to buy, as since the local farmers buy everything through their coop had to close. She declined but it made a great laundry though. 

As the roads through the fairly flat countryside were not that interesting. The few highlights of the journey were the town square at Tarazona de la Mancha which we managed to get to by cycling the wrong way up a one way street and emerging into it through an archway by the church. 

Stopping in the other big town we went through,   La Roda it was noticeable that the Spanish have the same problem as we do in the UK and reminded me of one of the reasons I am doing this ride  

If you have yet to make a donation please do look out my Charity Partners page and make that donation now. 

Just along from this were several car transporters full of German registered cars -some disguised as below.   

Our final segment was only 21 miles but we were surrounded by storms we did manage to stay dry, although as I write this a storm has hit and it is pouring outside. 
   

 As before this last segment gave us the most spectacular sights of the day  as we emerged from the plain overlooking a large valley to some mountains   

 
Nick had the added bonus of trying his goat and sheep shepherding skills in order to clear the road, just to prove that Cabrera does mean something. 

  
A superb descent followed to the bottom but as I said earlier we then had to climb five miles up to our campsite on some very tired legs. 

As usual the campsite had stayed open just for some cyclists – there were a Norwegian couple and three Dutchmen in too, but we are having to be out by 9 am tomorrow as the owner is locking up. 

Tomorrow hopefully will be a shorter day, but we are to stay in the mountains, so it should be fun. Only five days and just over 400 miles to go to Tarifa. 

Kikopark Rural nr Villargordo del Cabriel, Spain

50 Miles only 2772ft

We had decided to stop to see this magnificent castle above the village of Moyà. Nigel and Monica had started to talk to a couple of people and then Nick was able to chat with them in their native tongue. 

  The man in the foreground had come to the village to pick up his mother and take her back to Madrid, the two men in the background were the only two men left living in Moyà, the village next door, Pedro Izquierdo, only had 15 souls left. Sadly rural Spain really is dying. 

We had seen this castle from miles away so when our route took us near, we had to stop, however to get there from our overnight wild camp was another story,  as it was the probably the slowest segment of the tour.  

 It all started well with a steady climb up to the very remote village of Negron, where we were able to scrump some huge quinces.  

 After Negron however, the road began to deteriorate until we crossed the community boundary when the Tarmac ceased altogether.  

 As usual Nigel did a manful job of getting the camper down where no camper ought to tread, in particular on this bit below, which we were glad was downhill as it would not have been possible the other way.  

 It was at this point we could see this massive castle above a small town, yet there were no indications on the maps   

 
It’s size and height became more imposing as we got nearer 

 Although we had done only 10 miles, it had been over an hours work, so I called Nigel and we made this an early coffee, with a view to have a look round. 
  
What a great stop, this 12 century castle had been a very important strategic dry port in the 16 century, after the Moors had been expelled,  where the local producers brought everything to a safe market place.  

 
You could see that there were streets in the castle complex, with at least two churches and a hospital. The locals told us that it was still actively inhabited until the 1950’s, but was obviously now deserted as was (almost) the village below.  

 
Once again the vultures were in close attendance waiting for us to slip. 

Moving on from Moyà we had a great run down a brand new road that had been built specially for us to cut about ten miles from the route, I am not sure a single car overtook us for the full 19km section.   

 
As we came close to the small town of Mira, bizarrely in amongst the almond trees, was this full sized helipad complete with windsock.  

 We made good time on this road and the camper which had restocked with vitals had yet to catch us. Seeing an artisan cheese shop in Camporrobeles, we called in to sample what was on offer. Some cows cheese infused with rosemary and well matured goats cheese was purchased. The lady serving confirmed that we were the first Englishman she had ever had in her shop and never before had the tasting dish been emptied so quickly- although she was grateful that we doubled her daily sales!

 With only ten miles to do we stuffed everything, including some breadsticks into our cycle jerseys and headed off. Actually Nigel soon caught us, so we were able to pass the cheese across and Monica shared some grapes, which they had been given by a lady whose daughter had been desperate to practice her English on them after a summer in Brighton.  

  This last section was fairly straight and there were many vineyards which had replaced the almond and olive trees. We even managed to overtake this grape harvester. The guy waved in a frustrated way to us as we motored past at 22mph. 

 The last town featured the local bodega where they were crushing their grapes and Chris is stopped here next to the waste – the smell was delicious.    

  
The campsite tonight was at the bottom of a two mile steep hill that we will face tomorrow morning. 

A very short day but packed full of excitement. Sadly it is now raining – what on the Spanish plain! 
 

Near Vallanca,Spain

84 miles 3845 ft

At the start today we knew that we had two good climbs after initially following the river valley to the beginning of the first one.  

 This first climb  took us through two mining towns and past some mine workings, some old but one that looked fairly modern but still abandoned.  

 The hill continued for seven miles to 1408m as the picture below shows. We sped down the other side and then had another 3 mile climb back up to 1381m.   

  Chris had recovered well from yesterday and was pushing Nick along, I let the fresh legs take the lead and followed.  

 Down the other side we managed to find the camper for coffee after 29 miles. The next segment started an elongated run downhill alongside a river as far as Teruel, the biggest town that we came to today. We passed this shepherd and his donkey living the same way as they have had for centuries.  

  For much  of this part of the route an abandoned railway ran alongside the only remains being bridges , tunnels and superb station buildings, the stonework all in top order but the roofs caved in , which made us think that someone had come along and stolen the tiles.  

 We arrived in Teruel just as they were kicking kids out from school at 3pm and the parking chaos is the same as in the UK.  

 Finding our way out of the town, the lunch stop was just round the corner. We found Monica in the middle of surgery to Nigel’s shorts as he had a accident when getting his leg over my spare bike saddle on a quick ride into town for provisions. 

It is worth mentioning that the Spanish roads have been excellent, often with a good wide shoulder that we were able to use to cycle on. This kept us out the way, although in fairness the traffic was excellent always giving us room, the lorries often advising us of their presence well in advance and giving us wide berth. 

Coming the other way all day were hundreds of motorcycles all on their way to the Moto GP event in Aragon.  

 Nick found his own town although did not ride out to see it as it was all uphill  

The road continued down the river valley for 25 miles before we turned off towards the agreed wild campsite for the night.  

 Again we had saved the best until last with a climb going up and looking over a deep gorge.  

 Despite the fact that this road served but two remote villages it was totally resurfaced.  

Just passed the first village, we almost missed the camper tucked away next to a bespoke barbecue and covered picnic area.  

 Quick showers were followed by a fantastic barbecue and stewed blackberry and apple with some sweet bread and cream. 

Not only had we collected blackberries but the roadsides were plentiful and our bounty included almonds, walnuts, pomegranates, figs to add to apples and Dennis’s peaches. In addition there are plenty of herbs and todays pickings were rosemary and thyme.  

 As we had met hardly any vehicles along this road, for some reason the whole world decided to use this dirt track. A farmer with a bowser filled the Sheep trough next to the tents, and told Nick that 300 sheep would be along in an hour, another put up a sign saying boar hunt starts here tomorrow, two cars went up the track and came back sometime later and another farmer went passed on his tractor with the full olive tree shaker on the back, and yet another with a trailer load full of almonds.  

 The banter around the campfire continued for some time but much to Nick’s sadness the sheep he was expecting to keep him warm for the night were kept penned up and did not appear. 

Apologies for the very late blog we were really wild last night and had no comms. 

Martin del Rio, Spain

88 miles 6132 ft

We had a choice, straight on down the bigger road or alternatively take a right on the hilly small road which was an extra 5km to the campsite making it 20 miles to go. 

The decision was unanimous, lets go long. It was a great decision as what followed was the best cycling of the day. Two climbs, a nice downhill stretch alongside a river and an awesome section in a river gorge, this is what cycling is all about.  

 This was rather different from our start on the edge of Zaragoza, where we had to circuit the city and find our way out onto a small road into the country. 

 This slow start was not helped by the fact I had a puncture after only one and a 1/2 miles. Before that Nick found he had put his pedals on back to front! Luckily Nigel sorted it before we left, although Nick had a practice later In case he did it again!

 It was not great cycling but needed to be done and done in a safe a way as possible, again running through industrial estates to avoid dual carriageways and even a rough mud track. At one stage we saw these old steam train engines that must have been rusting away for decades.  

 Finally getting to our road out it had been upgraded to serve three kilometres of new industrialestates that were over 50% empty.  

At this stage three Porsches passed going the other way, to which I remarked “probably a press test drive”   Whilst we were stopped for coffe break a bit later, two of the three with German number plates on came passed at full chat using all the road.  Whilst we could hear them, I do hope they gave sufficient space to all the many other cyclists we saw on that road today. 

 After that we then moved into rural Spain full of empty space and semi deserted villages. Sadly it really looks as though the communities are dying and many buildings are deserted and falling into ruin, but the real old world atmosphere they create is incredible still with a mix of Christian and Moorish architecture as here in the narrows streets of Azuara. 
 Or the church of Moyuela   
We also thought that the towers of the various religious buildings of Muniesa were leaning in different directions.   

We kept cycling well, and in general today was uphill for very long stretches of 10-15 miles with a short downhill section after, as we climbed up onto the Spanish plain. There were some other worldly views  of dry and barren hills too. 

 As usual, despite the addition of two extra cyclists Nigel and Monica still were able to come up trumps with coffee and lunch stops. One of them complete with its own almond tree, so another round of scrumping followed  and fresh almonds courtesy of a mole wrench cracker. 

  After our lunch stop, which as usual was nearer tea time at 4 – we have moved onto  real daylight time rather than clock time – there are four hours of daylight before twelve and eight afterwards so two o’clock has become our midday. 
It was now that we had that choice and started the first gentle climb. Thinking that we had got to the top Nick let out a whoop of joy but it was actually short lived, as the gorge that loomed ahead looked very imposing.  

 Surrounded by cliffs Chris was happy that it took us through a tunnel.  

 and Nick was more than happy with the bridge that spanned that rather deep gorge.    

At the same time the other lads yelled to me and said that there were some animals just above me and there was a mother and calf Iberian Ibex clambering as they do so well over the rocks.  

 Finally emerging from between the rock faces we had arrived at the top of the climb and then had a terrific downhill blast for 9 km to the main road where a short stint took us to the campsite, which was situated halfway up the hillside behind the town. 

As has often been the case we were the only people present and the owner had opened up especially for us ( I am pleased I had emailed him yesterday). In fact to save cleaning he only opened up the ladies. 

Adding some salty Spanish snacks to our evening beers went down well, although Chris had a couple of short bouts of cramp to which no one showed any sympathy, as on one occasion he hopped 30 yards away until it eased. Monica told him to put more salt on his bolognese! 
 

Zaragoza, Spain

0 Miles

Yes, really a rest day, first day with no cycling for 16 days. 

A few hours spent re routing the rest of the trip and trying to get hold of campsites. 

Then we picked up Nick and Chris from the airport got their bikes built back up ready for tomorrow. 

There were going to be no photos today,  but had to show you this. It is blowing a gale out there and this couple turned up in their Renault Clio with a roof tent- I would be worried it will tip over or the thin Clio roof will just collapse! 

Zaragoza, Spain

89 Miles 3940 ft

Starting out today in the back of beyond in rural Spain and passing through some very medieval towns and villages we were suddenly transported five centuries from the 1500s to present day Zaragoza in one Big Bang.  

 Monica checked the census of the nearby village of Urries and at last count there were only 59 souls left. Fewer than live in my little cul de sac of 19 houses. 

This was the Spain that this route is hopefully designed to find. Scandinavia was an unknown and after the busy and known spaces from Denmark to France, we will see things that are off the beaten track.  

 Just up the road was the superbly named Sos del Rey Catolico ( Sos of the Catholic King) An incredible little town on a hill that was still as it was in the sixteenth century. I had a quick scout round on the bike on the cobbles (yes, I did cycle up this street) as Nigel and Monica walked round, leaving before two coach loads of tourists spoiled the ancient atmosphere.  

 A good climb over the next ridge brought more views, before a downhill section leading onto a long straight across a barren plain.  

 I normally moan about the weather but today have had a stiff following crosswind pushing me along three sections for several straight flat miles at 30 mph plus, at one stage covering 6 miles in eleven and a half minutes. It is the first time I have ever run out of gears on the flat. The only thing to be wary about being a gust which knocks the bike sideways two to three feet so I ran down the middle of the road to give me extra leeway.  

 A brief coffee stop in Sadaba, a slightly larger town, was followed by another 15 miles straight wind assisted blat to the equally well named Ejea de Los Cabelleros ( Ejea of the Knights). I enjoyed flying past a tractor at over 30 mph as he just could not keep pace.  

 I saw some more vultures and other birds of prey, as well as many butterflies, but agriculture was limited, with occasional olive groves, a small vineyard still loaded with grapes and good old maize. A lot of the land looked rough scrub and not good for much, hence the lack of habitation and human contact all day, although I did see two or three Lycra clad cyclists sprinting in the opposite direction. 

 
Coming off the slightly main road and turning towards Castejon and another good blat, Nigel joined me for the last 3 miles before lunch. 

After lunch, a nice climb up a small valley to the top of San Esteban at 700m, gave a superb view over the wooded hillside, leading to a very arid looking plain around Zaragoza.  

 The final blat of the day on the smoothest road in history, brought me to the suburbs and the difficulty of finding a way to the campsite on the other side of the city, but staying off the motorway, as I had no desire to repeat my Swedish experience. 

Although not signposted, I initially got through a massive industrial estate, then beside a military complex before following another cyclist onto what looked like the hard shoulder of a dual carriageway into town and then switching to a cycle path- phew.  

 Zaragoza is an ultra modern city with some really unusual architecture around the historic core and despite the local drivers best efforts I got through their traffic to the campsite unscathed  

  Tomorrow will be the first day I am not getting on my bike for six countries, much to the relief of my backside,  as we pick Chris & Nick up from the airport, ready for the final push to Tarifa. 

A good end to the day was aided by the first appearance of Monica’s Beetroot and apple salad for at least two weeks. 

near Sos del Rey Catolico, Spain

71 Miles 6715ft

I had come over the top and was speeding down the valley just as a  snake wriggled its way across the road and above the giant wingspan of soaring vultures circled  in the thermals. It had to be Spain. We had arrived in the final country of the journey. 

It was all a bit different to the start in France as I left a very chilly campsite at just after 9, but crucially in clear blue skies. 

Ahead lay a climb of 1466m in 25km with the first 9 km fairly gentle before a very steep middle 9 km and easing towards the end.    

 Taking things very gently to begin with I had my only stop of the ascent to let this large troupeau of sheep pas as well as a chat with one of the herdsmen.  They were being brought down early from high pasture. 

As is common on favoured Tour de France climbs they have kilometre posts with the distance to go to the summit and gradient for the next kilometre. That is great, but it is averaged out as there were ramps of 17 & 15% at times during the steepest 9-10% and even near the top a 6.5 section was flat for half of it and 13% for the rest.  

 Nigel joined me for a kilometre or so but decided against going for the summit. It took me 2 hrs in total averaging just under 7 mph, the part Chris Froome and the TdF boys did, took me just over twice as long as their 40 minutes 

 The view from the top was really worth it though seeing out for many  miles over South West France. A coffee, stop and chat with a couple of Canadian doctors followed as we watched a number of other cyclists arrive at the top.  

 Moving across into Spain there were some more great views over the high glacial Belagua river valley    

   before dropping down a narrow gorge. It was here I saw the snake and vulture. Losing sight of the vulture, I was only aware of its presence two or three miles later when it’s shadow passed over me on the road. It must have been waiting for me to fall off.  

 Just along here we came across Martin who was cycling from Santander to Roscoff on a self modified bike carrying all his kit and a very heavy camera. Good luck Martin.  

 A stop just before the end of the river valley allowed Monica a trip to the bar before we completely decided to push on a bit more and wild camp this evening. 

We Crossed a wide valley, where EU money is still going into roads as two huge viaducts were being completed, one for the motorway,  the other for the local route we were taking  

 In Sweden, I learnt how they build roads there, as they rip up the old ones and relay them whilst they are still open. In Spain it is a question of let’s build a completely new route.  

 The road we ran on was certainly in need of repair and was being used by the trucks to transport gravel to the new road so was one of the worst on the trip. Martin had said that Spanish drivers were good to cyclists and I can only say that is so right as the lorries slowed down and passed carefully. 

 It is amazing this road needs replacing at all, as once the trucks had gone, only two vehicles went passed in either direction for 15 miles and the only village we saw was abandoned, apart from a cafe serving the occasional pilgrim still walking to Santiago.  

 The climb over the ridge was another 1800 ft over 6 miles or so before finally dropping down into dry looking arable land where we set up camp for the night watching a beautiful sunset and seeing the stars so clearly.  

 Tomorrow is my last solo day of the tour as Nick and Chris are due to join us in the days destination Zaragoza on Wednesday.  

 A great days cycling and some wonderful countryside and I would certainly say it’s worth a visit if you are ever in this part of the world.