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.