Taking things easy today. Feeling a bit sore from some cramps last night. Kind of normal for a ride on day one!
Starting out on a nice road via the Komoot plan. All seems to be in order…BUT…THIS!!!!
So Komoot wants me to go down this track! I have a road bike, not a mountain or gravel bike, but despite selecting a road bike, Komoot seems to be keen to take me to places I do not want to go.
So what is the key things I need to avoid?
1. I do not do gravel, so don’t be rude and suggest it.
2. I like quite N roads where there are frequent places to top up with water. Long 50KM sections with zero places to fill up is not required in 40 degrees heat!
3, I am not a massive fan of detours. Komoot does try and find quite routes but can add 30% distance to your trip if you let it.
So after ignoring the suggested route, I stayed on a quiet N-Road and stopped at Aguliar de Campoo for a cheeky beer before the final 10KM to my hotel.
Whilst I am at an attitude of over 900m above sea level, its 40 degrees and hard to believe that snow markers are even needed here!
Now, let me tell you about the hotel. At the moment, they are not cheap and in some cases in this region, I have seen rooms posted for £800 per night. Possibly eclipse related. But for tonight, I have a cheap spot, but its locked and nobody was there! A sign on the door stating that restaurant is permanently closed and the team now running out of a service station.
So a quick trip to the service station and a coupe, of soft drinks, they called the owner and I was let in.
Along many of the older N roads, you can see plenty of former restaurants and petrol stations as traffic is taken from there routes by new motorways. In the case of the A-73, its very new and only covers a few miles, but already the impact has been felt on the Hotel Canada which is now room only in the middle of nowhere. But what about the service station?
In Spain, things are done differently. The service station is not managed by a big chain like we have in the UK and filled with KFC, Greggs and Burger King, this place was amazing. A shop, main bar area and a sit down restaurant. All managed by a local team who used to operate the nearby hotel. So displacement does not aways result in the loss of livelihoods to the big players. This place has raving reviews! And I had a great dinner for €19 including a full bottle of wine! (Nope I did not drink all of it!) Here is a link! https://maps.app.goo.gl/fT1JLhcsrNmQqNr76