nbjtours

Day 1 Punta de estaca de Bares – Monterroso.

86 miles 8406 ft climbing

Day one certainly started with a bang with over 8000 ft of climbing which Chris and I struggled to keep up with that mountain goat Cabrera as the day wore on Nick ‘s prowess on the hills saw him move further ahead on each hill. That wasn’t the only bang as over lunch what initially sounded like mortar fire and machine guns nearby must have been some very expensive daytime fireworks.

Nevertheless we were all very pleased to arrive safe and sound at the campsite this evening after over 6 hours of pedalling.

Just to prove that we did start from the lighthouse – you can just see it behind the house above and the shot below was as we start along the headland surrounded by the yellowest gorse ever.

We did know that today would be a heavy climbing day but as you can see from the shots below we ended up climbing 2000 ft almost straight away but it did give us the benefit of these super views back to the sea

As ever Nigel waited to find the top of a hill alongside the wind turbines before we got our first bacon butty of the tour.

Nick denied anything to do with the sign that pointed out he was a camp (o ) Casanova

The first two legs today were especially tough and most of the terrain was covered by scented eucalyptus trees although I did spot a few errant English bluebells invading Spanish soil.

We have never seen so many turkey and chicken sheds and there were plenty of cows one which was being hand milked by its aged owner.

Every house had a barking dog which was pleased to see us arrive, thankfully most were on long ropes

The rolling countryside could have been in any Northern European country and only the language here reminds you it’s Spain

There have been lots of birds and we did see 5 kites circling over a farmer in his tractor turning over the grass   A deer did jump out in front of us too and I write this to the sound of a cuckoo in the woods next door.

This view below of Nick powering uphill was what Chris and I got used too.

Blue sky and as ever deserted roads were the norm.

On finally arriving at our site Nick then proceeded to give us a full warm down stretch routine and I can assure you we were not trying to push the camper over

Nigel fired up the barbecue and we enjoyed a well earned sausage and pork chop together with the first and hopefully not the last helping of Monica’s beetroot and apple salad.

Tomorrow is a shorter day and still expected to be dry as we look to hit the Sil gorges.