The scallop shell, often found on the shores in Galicia, has long been the symbol of the Camino de Santiago.
This picture was taken by Gaubi today.
Our lunch stop today was in the town of Sahagún which you can see clearly in the centre of image below. We cycled past many pilgrims today as they traversed the Iberian peninsula in search of spiritual growth. The religious pilgrimage to Santiago has never ceased from the time of the discovery of St. James's remains almost 2000 years ago.
The pilgrimage to Lisboa has never ceased since The Lisbon Lions conquered all before them and won The European Cup playing "pure, beautiful, inventive football" in the Estadio Nacional. Every year Celtic fans visit the Stadium where we won The Big Cup whenever they get the chance.
That's our pilgrimage!
This year is special of course. It is the 50th Anniversary of that great day, May 25th 1967 and thousands of Celtic fans will make their way to Lisbon for a celebration. Many for the 1st time, including me. We chose to cycle there for charity and so far have raised over £38,000.
Before we crossed the "Camino" we had to leave behind the beautiful Cantabrian mountains. It was very chilly (2°C) at 08.00h when we displayed the huge banner for the inquisitive locals of Cervera De Pisuerga. Massive thank you to all our corporate sponsors!
After a gentle climb compared to yesterday's monster we hit one of Spain's many agricultural plains. Today was quite a long ride at almost 100 miles but was also the flattest day that we would have on our unique pilgrimage. As we were continuing to head south west we encountered a stiff breeze against us all day from the prevailing wind.
The sun was shining although it was still cold. I was wrapped up in all the warm gear I have as I stared ahead at the roads. Straight roads mainly, many we couldn't see the end of as the reached the horizon. The pace started to quicken as the really good guys kicked on. I was a little worried that today might be a little boring after the spectacular scenery yesterday so I decided to try and hang on to them for a bit. We soon found a way to make it interesting as we continuously raced each other for the 50 Km/h signs. That heated us up!
By the time we reached the 1st stop at 52 Km we had a nice fast group going.
We each took turns at the front as is the way things should be done. With excellent road surfaces, very little traffic and experienced cyclists that you could trust we formed a nice rotating Peloton and shared the workload. We reached the lunch stop in Sahagún at 87 Km before we knew it.
We had dropped one or two guys but I was still hanging on. I even managed to win my fair share of sprints although I usually regretted the effort it took as I started hanging off the back after them.
More of the same after lunch was the order of the day and we soon arrived at the afternoon stop where our fantastic support team were working hard to repair a damaged bike and get one of the guys back on the road. Here you can see Sean, Ricky, & Joe attending to the damaged bike.
Almost there, only 27 Km to go and there was no letting up on the pace. The wind was getting stronger but at least the temperature had risen a bit. I was able to shed the arm warmers, neck warmer and wind proof gloves for the run in but it was by no means warm. I was still hanging on and taking my turn up front but I was feeling it now and questioning the wisdom of going so hard ALL DAY?
Patricia, the girl who joined us at Portsmouth was also in the group, she seemed to keep up no problem at all, very impressive cyclist. Her surname is Villar and when I spotted a tiny village near our destination we had to stop and get a photo. I didn't know Vinny was taking this shot and yes that is lycra long running tights for MEN I'm wearing.
Like I keep saying, it was cold Brrrrrrr!
Distance covered 155.2 Km
Climbing 681 M
Moving time 05:50:50
You can see a graphic reconstruction of the route here https://www.relive.cc/view/995595537
Summary:
Fastest long ride I've ever done and into a headwind, loved it! Turned a potentially very easy day into a tough one. Let's see how I feel tomorrow?
Difficulty rating 7/10