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Leaving our start saw us join what was the main road, now superceded by the motorway and our first photo stop was over a dam at which point Chris said our average speed at present is 31.6 mph – a good downhill start!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