It’s a wet grey afternoon and we’re at the end of our fifth day of riding staying in a small town called San Leonardo de Yague. Our route has taken us through an ever changing landscape: high scrubby plains, fields of green wheat and ploughed stubble, a ridge of wind farms – the modern equivalent of Don Quixote’s windmills, limestone country and another area of unusual pink rock pocked with small caves. Often when you struggle over the crest of a hill or ridge there’s a picturesque village below with a church towering above a cluster of rustic houses but many of these have turned out to be virtually ghost towns with only a few elderly people poking their heads out to peer at the crazy cyclists. One elderly man did pause in his wood chopping and told us his wife had moved to the coast because it was too cold and he was renovating a ruined house for his son. Most of the young people have moved away to the bigger towns and this is obviously a very sparsely populated area of Spain.
Our third and fourth days had some really long uphill sections and I will admit to getting off and walking when my legs simply wouldn’t push the pedals anymore. The third day we climbed over a thousand metres!! Still, it’s nice walking for a change and the views of mountains in the distance and valleys and fields below kept it from being boring. We’re also having lots of stops for photos and to admire the wildflowers and poppies along the edge of the road. Part of the route today took us away from the sealed roads, which have been excellent, and onto a ‘grit’ road for several kms. This was interesting because we saw lots of old vines, cut right back and looking like gnarled gnomes and our first bit of wildlife, a deer. There are heaps of signs warning you that a deer might be about to bound across the road in front of you, but no real deer up until this point.
Our two star hotels have been excellent, all with good bathrooms and comfortable beds and our bikes have also been well accommodated. Weather started out bright and sunny but the last couple of days have been grey with a few rain squalls. The forecast for Monday promises better weather.
Beverley Lello 