I had a decent breakfast in the same restaurant I had the Segovian Bean Stew and Suckling Pig last night. The bike was not allowed in the Hostel last night (jobsworth on the desk) and it had survived a Saturday night locked up in the Plaza Mayor - the front wheel was taken to my hostel room !
I set off and rode under the Aqueduct before a steady climb for 3 miles where as the road threatened to join the motorway a small road appeared on the rihgt which pretty much went under and through a quite major set of motorway intersections. Under the motorway I approached a roundabout which would take me onto my quiet route I had selected. As I approached the roundabout there was a hotel on my right just before the roundabout and a car turned right off the roundabout and on autopilot I guess went immediately left into the car park ..... He had not seen me had he despite me wearing a Bright yellow Hi-Viz wind vest ! But i saw him and as he was about 10 yards off me I was jumping off my bike when he did actually see me and slammed on the brakes before scrunching me.
Disaster avoided I headed out on the quiet SG-V-2221 - you can tell it's quiet by how long it's name is !
Soon I stopped at a roadside chapel that caught my attention and I could clearly see snow on the mountains behind where there seemed to be a large mast.
I cycled on till I reached La Higuera where I turned right and the road dipped then came back up on some 10% doglegs, I could feel the legs weren't fully powering today.
Soon I was following a lovely river valley and there were multiple cyclists out, in fact I saw more bikes than cars. This was the Piron and it was great cycling with rolling quiet roads with frequent little clicks to test the legs.
At Cantalejo I stopped and had the usual Tortilla Batatas and Cafe con Leche for lunch (I'm fluent at lunches now !)
Now I had cycled 30 miles and the hotel was probably about 7 miles away if I went on the main road and the legs were a bit tired, so I had a decision to make .. what would I do ?
Well what I would do would be head for some fantastic scenery, this would only involve cycling about another 24 miles and dropping into and out of a canyon.
I made my decision and I was soon at Villaseca on smoothe roads when I needed to turn left and follow a dirt track for 2.5 miles which was extremely lumpy and was probably testing my still cable tied pannier rack to the limit !
I was so glad to reach the car park where I locked the bike to a fence, changed into trainers and set off to walk the mile to the Ermita de San Frutas. It is an old hermitage set on top of a bend in the Maraton River below - It is absolutely amazing as the pictures will show and hopefully I will get a video uploaded too.
I stayed 2 hours walking the cliff edges, taking photographs of the river and the hermitage. There were hundreds of vultures circling overhead and I spotted then on the ledges on the cliff and on the banks on the top of the cliffs on the other side of the river. I took lots of distant photographs.
Next I had about a 10 mile ride to my hotel, first that awkward 2.5 mile gravel track where a couple of young mountain bikers blasted past me at the hardest steepest, bumpiest bit - the lad crept past then the girl flew by shouting Hasta la juego to me which I took as encouragement as I had tiny tire treads and two huge panniers weighing me down.
From Villaseca I cycled about 4 miles to the next town to almost do a 360 turn and head back towards my destination.
There was a gravel track straight across which would have saved about 3 miles but i am much too experienced and wily these days to have been tempted. I slogged on uphill to the town and uphill after the town till I reached the other side of the gravel track - It looked horrendous, very steep and sandy (you cannot ride a road bike on sand) ... Ha ! Vindicated.
So Ihad 4 miles to go yet I was till at 3600ft and the hotel was 800ft lower - and super fast super exciting descent down a never ending gorge ensued, it was thrilling and I covered the 3 miles in about 9 minutes.
My hotel was in a place (it wasn't even a village) called Burgomillodo and there were pretty much 3 buildings, My Hotel (the posh one) a lodgings which I wasn't sure was open and an Kayak centre. The cluster of buildings sat below a huge dam which held back the Maraton river and caused the beautiful vista I had been visiting upstream.
All in all a very nice Birthday Bicycle Ride.