Breakfast (08.00h) and departure (09.00h) were are a little later today because it was Sunday. Once again I didn´t fancy the breakfast much so I shot off at 08.45h while it was still dry. The forecast was pretty poor and we were expecting to ride into rain mid morning 🙄 just what I needed, another soaking.
We were in the district of Soria which is the least inhabited area in all of Spain, I never seen a soul until I met Joe & Ricky at the first stop. By this time I had decided to do the 115km with only one stop around halfway.
I stopped to tell Joe the headed off for a village called Riaza 60km into the ride.
Apart from crossing the river Duero, (Ribera del Duero is one of my favourite regions for wine 🍷) as I entered Gormaz there is nothing of any interest to tell you 🤷♂️ I do miss a glass or two with my dinner as I stick to the 0% alcohol plan 😒
As I was on another seemingly never ending straight and boring road I thought that I should take a photo and let you see why there is nothing else to write about. At least there was no head wind.
After a slight "off course" detour to enjoy a nice, light Tapas lunch I was back on the boring roads to Pedraza.
I was looking forward to exploring the Romanesque/medieval town with castle dating back to the 13th century.
Although it was cloudy and cold all day I was delighted that it hadn´t started raining yet. I stopped at the vans to collect my passport as I figured with my one stop strategy I would get to the hotel before my bags arrived 🚴♀️🚴♀️🚴♀️
My legs were feeling strong so I just put my head down and pushed on, as I turned left at a sign for Pedraza 2km I looked up and could see the castle on top of a hill. Of course it was on top of a hill and even more a cobbled one at that. I would need to be careful cycling over cobbles. You can see the sky but remarkably I was still dry 😊
I got to the hotel and was happy to hear from reception that I was the first to arrive 😊 I thought that my lunch stop would have allowed lots of others to pass me but as it was off the route I didn´t really know🤷♂️ Joe told me when I collected my passport that there were 2 riders ahead of me. That´s cool I thought, it´s not race.
I didn´t know that they had taken a different route in the last part of the ride which was a little longer.
"Never mind" I said, "you´re here now and although it´s not a race I won" 🙌🎉🕺😂
I had booked another leg massage from Ricky, let me introduce you to Ricky …
Ricky Wosahlo (Driver, Lead Medic & Physio) Since The Road to Lisbon, I have moved to France, opened a BnB and no longer work full time as a Paramedic. I now fill my days treating a few select clients for musculoskeletal issues and keeping my Sports Therapy skills relevant. I am currently applying to be a volunteer Pompier in my local village, to hopefully use my Paramedic skills again. I most recently worked as a Paramedic during Covid, coming back to the U.K to help fill staff shortages. I’ve crewed with Joe on numerous other trips and had a great time on The Road to Lisbon ride. It will be great to see some old faces and meet some new folk too on The Road to Seville. Taking a quick glance at my bio from The Road to Lisbon, some Page 24 of 29 things haven’t changed – I still want to see the group succeed, my taste in music is still terrible, I’m the least photogenic person in the world and I like to think I’m calm, relaxed and approachable.
Legs feeling better now I went for a walk to see the village, here are my favourite photos of this beautiful place …
THE ENTRANCE ⬇️
THE CASTLE ⬇️
BEAUTIFUL HOUSE ⬇️
NARROW COBBLED STREETS ⬇️
The cloud in the photo above looks a bit like Ireland I think ☘️
Another day done and only 5 to go, tomorrow will be a special one as we head into the Sierra de Guadarrama.
I can see the mountains clearly from here 😮
Here is todays route scaled again so you can see that we´re nearing Madrid. Tomorrow is a holiday in Madrid (San Isidro) so I expect I´ll see some people on my way south.
Distance covered 115.4 Km
Climbing 1110 M
Moving time 05h 23m 29s
Summary:
Relatively easy days cycling with boring roads and not too much climbing, I beat the rain by 5 minutes 😊
Difficulty rating 5/10
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