Boats and Bikes!

The destination today is another old favourite village called Montemolin. This will be my 5th Visit to a Casa Rural. Weather forecast states that rain is likely. But my first task is to get to a cycle shop to fix the wobbly wheel!

So setting off, the forecast is correct, signs of rain behind. But I managed to get to Zafra in the dry!.

This shop has great reviews on Google, but closed. Should have looked more closely at the time as there appears to be a sign saying that the shop has moved down the road.

The second shop was closed. Only open between 1800 and 2000 today. Not very helpful, but most cycle shops are owned by keen cyclists and they need to get out and cycle sometimes 🙂

And finally, the third shop I get to is open! Initially I was told that the wheel could not be fixed and they had no new wheels. The owner then asked his mechanic about what could be done. Luckily they had an order in for a new bike where the owner wanted to upgrade from the OEM wheels. So with the problem fixed, I am ready to cycle. But…..

…..its pouring with Rain! So 2 coffees and a 40 min waitF.

Forecast indicates that the rain will not last as its just a narrow band, so after cofee, all is good and I am back on the road to do another 40KM.

Another Osbourne bull along the way!

And finally I get to Montemolin. Now for two days off to explore the castle and chill by the pool.

Day 14 on the road was eventful! At about 40KM into the ride, the dreaded ping from the back wheel! Yes a broken spoke. Clearly the wheels are on a standard racing bike is not up to the task of long distance with extra loading. Regarding the load, I am not talking much. Its just a 25L back pack strapped to a bike rack. No more than say 7KG! As the wheel is expensive, the prospect of a fix is veery low. I am likely to need to replace the wheel.

Being in the middle of basically nowhere, there are no cycle shops nearby, but tomorrow, I will divert to Zafra where there are three shops to chose from.

So after using a sticking plaster to secure the spoke, I loosened the break calliper and proceeded to complete the final 50KM on a wobbly wheel!

This is what industrial tomato picking looks like. We are well into the crop season here and loads of trucks are on the road to take the tomatoes to processing factories. Nestle had a large factory near the hotel I stayed at.

This was one of the last factories I passed. A very large outfit. Kind of wondering what all of these factories do when there are no crops to be picked?

Wild fire alert. Luckily the wind is blowing in the wrong direction for this one to cross my path. There is activity and I suspect the fire will soon be under control.

Leaving the tomatoes behind, I am in another wine region. More hills and of course a wobbly wheel 🙁

Finally I arrive at the hotel during the afternoon. Got to the hotel before the rain got to me. So to fit into the local routine, its a beer at 1600 with a beer and then a snooze until 2000 when I get up for dinner.

For the afternoon snack, its Croquettes. Normally served on a plate, but this golden pig is just a ugly thing for serving food on. Is it a Donald Trump meme?

A nice dry day on the road with some good scenery along the way. As usual, the roads were not too busy. This is one of the joys of riding in Spain.

First picture of the day, just outside of Trujillo. Some hills ahead to navigate around.

And this is my first Osborne bull of the trip!

Last travelled down this road in 2014. Looking south, its fairly flat which gives an indication of what riding will be like tomorrow. Its an area of agriculture.

In Spain they grow massive tomatoes like this one. It even has its own birds nest.

And in this region its the tomato capital of Spain! Its now harvesting season. On the roundabout a few tomatoes have fallen off a truck on its way to one of the nearby processing plants. This is fairly common on bends where the drivers take things a bit too quick.

On a previous ride, I aimed my front wheel at these tomatoes for some fun. It was not long before I squished one tomato and it decided to explode all over my legs and bike. Fun over.

This is the Finca La Desa. My hotel for the night. On previous visits during 2014 and 2018, it was called La Torre, a basic hotel with 1980s décor. For a while, it was closed, perhaps a victim of the 2020 pandemic? There are quite a few places that never survived. But here is a good news story, the hotel has been completely remodelled as a nice new 4 star outfit. Great value for about £50 a night. Back in 2014, it was £19 per night as a basic hotel 🙂

The weather has changed in this part of Spain. With lots of showers in the forecast, I decided to shorten the ride from 90KM to 40KM. Here is the route. Another feature of the weather today was a strong headwind.

So, this is what I work up to. First task is to re-organise hotels over breakfast. As check out was set for 1200, I did some work and then set of just after 1200 as the weather had dried up.

A view of the hotel before setting off. This place was fairly quiet and basically in the middle of nowhere. I think its the sort of place that survives on running corporate events and weddings.

Soggy stuff not to far away. Managed to outrun this shower so my run to Trijullio was dry.

And along the way, some radon pigs caught my attention as I passed by. Most of the group ran away from the fence creating a dust cloud. This one stayed put doing what pigs do. Eat!

Departure from Jerte started out as a nice downhill ride for a few KM. Passing the café and pool I first visited in 2014! This valley is very green, possibly due to a micro climate. One of its key outputs is cherries, but I guess I will never see that as I normally pass this area a few months after Cherry season. 

Plenty of climbing and downhill featured in todays ride. 

As usual, I have my phone on standby to take pictures. For those interested, I am using a Samsung S23 Ultra smartphone. Really pleased with the results. Taking a full sized SLR on a trip like this is a bit too much weight and space to manage (If you seen the pictures of the back on the back of my bike, you will undertand)

So, last time I passed this way in 2024, I had planned to take the N road towards Placencia and turn left over the hills heading south a few KM before the city. On the last trip, at the point where I took the photo above, I turned back as this was a steep hill and I was being pestered by a cloud of flies! So it was a U-turn and back to the N road and a longer route. 

Today there were a few flies, but a stronger wind kept things civilised, so I was able to take on the 370m climb! Great views along the way 

This is the high point for the day. 833m as also confirmed by GPS. 

Not too far along from the peak, I came across this blue box consisting of a pump and some tools. I found the allen keys very useful as I was able to tighten u a loose bottle cage (need to change my Park Tool Hex set as it does not contain a key small enough for the cage! )

Attempted to use the pump to top up tyre pressure. This failed as all the pump would do is let the air out. So out came the hand pump. All is good! 

Opposite this work station was a tap with clear spring water. A normal thing for this area and as locals were using the water to take home, I topped up my bottles. Another 2 Euros I need not to spend! 

It never ceases to amaze me how many villages are built that cling onto the side of a mountain. This picture taken from the south of the North side of the Jerte Valley. 

Its Cowes week in Spain, but just Cows on the water and not Cowes on the water !

Wilf fires have been a big issue in Spain this year. This one small and very recent. Brought under control recently as people still on site to monitor in case of re-ignition. 

And finally, a few KM before the hotel, an area of man made lakes. Popular tourist area.

Today its a very short ride down the valley as I wanted to have a day chilling in one of my favourite spots. Again, another great local hotel booked.

The day starts with a little up hill climb with roughly a 150m climb up to a view point looking down the valley. According to Strava, I managed to get a new PR on the hill. Now there is a good reason for this. On previous trips, the hill has been tackled at the end of a 80KM or more ride. Today its the start of the day!

Just before the hill, its a quick stop to fill up water bottles. Fresh spring water. I have topped up here before in the past as I noticed a few locals filling up cans! On previous stops here, I have cleaned the bike!

At the top of the hill, I am at the regional line between Castilla & Leon and Extremadura. As I enter into the next Junta area, the road is not so well kept 🙁

A view down the valley. Again on the way down, Go Pro will be capturing some film.

Arrive at 1130, so coffee and a swim, and then chill by the river until check in time at 1400.

Back on the road tomorrow with a longer ride south!

This is the 11th tour I have ridden in Spain. I would say that todays ride sites in the top rides I have done in this country. The weather was great and not too hot. The views were amazing. and to wrap things up, the hotel at the end was really nice. Lots of climbing but I was suitably recharged after a rest day at the Parador.

For those that do not know, the “Parador” is a chain of hotels which are located in very old and historical buildings. My first trip into a Parador was in May 1994 during a yacht trip from France. After nearly being sunk due to mechanical failure, we pulled into Ferol on the north coast of Spain where we stopped in the Parador, a former naval wardroom.

The Gredos parador a 4 star hotel is the very first Parador established in 1928, so nearly 100 years in business. I have found that in tour, a nice hotel like the Parador is a real treat, and surprisingly affordable in some locations if stopping during mid week.

Like many countries, Spain is a proud nation where you will often see the national flag flying in most cities, towns and villages. This flag was in the Gredos hills just outside one village. In the UK, we need to rescue the Union Flag from the thugs and display more like other countries. Sadly all we seem to do is strap Temu flags to light posts with zip ties and allow the whole collection to quickly get tatty. We need to stop doing this as its letting the UK down!

So, I am more than halfway up the major climb for the day. Over 1000m of climbing overall. After a good hearty breakfast, I was able to haul myself + bike up the hill with a small number of stops to take photos. The gradient was perfect so I did not even need to get off the bike and walk!

The picture above is looking back towards the south. I am about 120m from the top at this point.

At the top, 1909m possible the highest point for this ride. According to Garmin GPS at the end of the last leg, it reported that I had acclimatized to 500m. Since leaving Santander, I have been mostly above 600m.

This is a view down from the top. I will be filming as I drop down to 1,200m

The top of the hill is very popular with hang gliders. A very strong smell of Weed when I arrived. I assume the pilots were going to be high whilst being high!

And down the hill, a short pause to look back up to where I started. If you zoom in you can just about make out the mobile phone mast close to the view point.

Once into the valley, I have a few KM of easy riding on a slight downhill incline to El Barco d’Avilla. Nice small village with a castle. From here, its 10KM to Solana d’Avilla where I stop for the night.

The rural hotel is amazing and great value for money, Like many of these Casa Rural places, great food is served by friendly staff (Possibly the owners).  So it was perfect to round of an amazing day with a cool beer and a fat juicy homemade cow burger.

This is a very hilly one. But great views and good road surfaces. I was treated to a nice long flat run before attacking a few climbs. Close to 1000m in total. Again Komoot AI had a different idea of riding to me as it wanted to send me well into the bush. I stuck mainly to the N-Roads where I knew I could stop for coffee and top up water.

In the high temperatures, water is essential, especially when going up the side of a mountain. Running out of water is a thing to avoid at all costs!

And here are some pictures.

Starting out from Avila on a flat bit. Loads of cyclist out on the road today. Close to the end of the 28KM flat bit, I found the cyclist cafe for Coffee and Cake! So far a nice tail wind. The hard work is about to star as I hit the mountain!
At the top of the hill. Altitude is 1584m. The two pictures looking each way. From here, its a long downhill ride to another Cafe and then a further climb up to my hotel which is at 1642m above sea level.

And this is the Hotel, Parador Gredos. Here I will take a short rest as I stay here for 2 nights before I am back on the road.

Another day of interesting riding. Segovia was a very interesting city with lots of architecture to see. The viaduct was impressive and a place worth visiting. Hotel was brilliant. Good breakfast to send me on my way.

The destination for today is Avilla, another old city with great architecture. The journey was not so great in places due to road surfaces.

Starting out on a nice smooth road. Finally I have Komoot under control and stopped it from sending me up dead end streets and gravel roads.

Now we get to the rough part. Not as bad a a gravel track, but still not great. A rough surface adds to the friction making it a harder ride. At 40 degrees Celsius, it seems strange to see this sign recommending snow chains!

This road went on for about 25KM, uphill most of the way. As soon as I got to the county border (Avilla and Segovia) the road improved as it seems the Avilla council has better road funding!

At the highest point of the ride, I am at 1237m above sea level. Altitude tends to keep things cool in the morning!

And this is Avilla, my hotel was within the walls, so we managed to keep the riff-raff out.

Today I really took charge of komoot. No detours needed. Some great views along the way. Ride was flat with some hills along the way. More hills to be challenged in the days ahead.

Here in Wine Country they have solar powered grapes.

It never ceases to amaze me about the architecture throughout Spain. A nice Castle and right next to it is something a bit darker – a  bull ring!

Back out on the road, I am travelling along a nice smooth cycle track. Must be a budget cut going on here as the track stops for a dip and I have to navigate with a bike across stepping stones. There was a road immediately to my left which I decided not to use as fresh tar had been sprayed as part of a major resurfacing operation.

My destination is Segovia. Just before those hills which will become a main feature of the rides over the next few days.
And here is the famous viaduct. Hope the council is keeping on top of the pointing! Better picture as last time I came this way, it was poring with rain! I may add more pictures of this in the next post!