Well, Benavente is a horrible place without a soul but plenty of shops and a thriving industrial estate.
On my way in the first bit of graffiti that jumped out at me said Capitalism is Terrorism. It certainly terrifies me.
It took me 2 hours, 10km and a tear or to to leave it, circling round this horrid industrial estate full of lorries, windy and dusty and the feel of a storm coming in.
Occasionally I´d find a sign for a road I was actually allowed to cycle down, but if I followed it I´d invariably end up on the motorway sliproad or back where I started...
Eventually just followed farm tracks in what I guessed was the direction just until I´d escaped the sprawl.
Anyway, finding shelter with rainclouds on the horizon isn´t as simple as just an ok flattish bit of ground, so I kept going for a while looking for somewhere to stay- just a roof, anything, but there´s been nothing and now it´s dark so I´ve sheltered - sort of - under an overhang of hay bales, wrapped myself in bin bags anf now I´m going to try and get some well-needed rest; I ended up doing 140km today and would like to reach Palencia in time to get out again tomorrow.
Goodnight x
Monday, 6 September 2010
6 Sept - lunching alone - Benavente - 99.4km
Last night I slept in a mossy oak woodland, on the shore of Lago de Sanabria, so beautiful and wild it has a natural park all of its own.
It was strange and eery going to sleep on my own; little noises jump out much more and time stretches...
I heard wolves in the night- we were told that what I´d thought were dogs on our way to the festival were probably wolves going by their behaviour- moving in packs, howling at each other and moving all around for quite long distances.
What I could hear last night were behaving in the same way. Eek!
Today I´ve done 100km already- I set off towards Leon but got a taste for the straight roads- I love it, if I´m pedalling hard, to actually be going somewhere at a decentr speed- and though the mountains are so beautiful I´ve got plenty of Pyrenees to come- so I´ve changed my route for a flatter version and am having a little rest in Benavente after a motivated morning- from 9 till 1.15 I did 99.4km, including various breaks for coffee, stretches, snacks, 2swims and a chat- what´s that, about 25km/h average? Woo!
PS Anyone know how and when to sign up for the Dyfi Enduro?
PPS Anyone know how to say "No chance you dirty bastard" in Spanish?
Love always x
It was strange and eery going to sleep on my own; little noises jump out much more and time stretches...
I heard wolves in the night- we were told that what I´d thought were dogs on our way to the festival were probably wolves going by their behaviour- moving in packs, howling at each other and moving all around for quite long distances.
What I could hear last night were behaving in the same way. Eek!
Today I´ve done 100km already- I set off towards Leon but got a taste for the straight roads- I love it, if I´m pedalling hard, to actually be going somewhere at a decentr speed- and though the mountains are so beautiful I´ve got plenty of Pyrenees to come- so I´ve changed my route for a flatter version and am having a little rest in Benavente after a motivated morning- from 9 till 1.15 I did 99.4km, including various breaks for coffee, stretches, snacks, 2swims and a chat- what´s that, about 25km/h average? Woo!
PS Anyone know how and when to sign up for the Dyfi Enduro?
PPS Anyone know how to say "No chance you dirty bastard" in Spanish?
Love always x
Sunday, 5 September 2010
5 Sept - Puebla - 16km
I´ve just said goodbye to my friends, and trying to figure out how I feel about this new solitude.
I haven´t had enough time to frighten myself, as I only found out they ad to leave 1/2 hour ago, when we discovered trains can´t go on the bikes until Valladolid- so they´re missioning that way sharpish to catch the train from there, so they don´t miss the ferry.
I´m going to find some food in town then go to the nearby lake to lap up the evening sun and get clean.
Miss you all x
I haven´t had enough time to frighten myself, as I only found out they ad to leave 1/2 hour ago, when we discovered trains can´t go on the bikes until Valladolid- so they´re missioning that way sharpish to catch the train from there, so they don´t miss the ferry.
I´m going to find some food in town then go to the nearby lake to lap up the evening sun and get clean.
Miss you all x
Saturday, 4 September 2010
4 Sept - Puebla de Sanabria - 42km
What a day - absolutely stunning and truly trying, too.
We took the diddy road from Bragança to Puebla de Sanabria, through some of the most picturesque villages I think I´ve ever seen, complete with friendly and helpful locals and fresh, cold water springs and dogs and cows. The hills have been killers, but with descents so incredibly breathtaking I think everyone should have a go.
It would help if my chest wasn´t rattling sounding like an angry bear with every breath, and I wan´t coughing up things resembling alien molluscs on every hill.
Funny to arrive in this well-presented city, hair matted and sweaty streaks through the dirt coating our faces. My knickers stretched over my handlebars to dry after their wash in the river earlier, our lives piled high and bungeed tight to the back of our bikes.
Now as Saturday night noisily awakens around and above us we´re cooking another amazing meal on the little camp stove under the bridge. It´s great, we´ve got trees, grass to sleep on, light, a table-of-sorts to cook and eat off, and a river!
Despite all this I´m a little melancholy, I don´t know if it´s the knowledge I´ll be alone for the next however long, or the exhaustion of today´s excercise combined with remnants of tummy bug and chest bother, or just the moon and the distance and the river and the time...
I better go to bed before I waffle too much, muy chin´s on hte table and I haven´t even unrolled my rolmat yet.
We took the diddy road from Bragança to Puebla de Sanabria, through some of the most picturesque villages I think I´ve ever seen, complete with friendly and helpful locals and fresh, cold water springs and dogs and cows. The hills have been killers, but with descents so incredibly breathtaking I think everyone should have a go.
It would help if my chest wasn´t rattling sounding like an angry bear with every breath, and I wan´t coughing up things resembling alien molluscs on every hill.
Funny to arrive in this well-presented city, hair matted and sweaty streaks through the dirt coating our faces. My knickers stretched over my handlebars to dry after their wash in the river earlier, our lives piled high and bungeed tight to the back of our bikes.
Now as Saturday night noisily awakens around and above us we´re cooking another amazing meal on the little camp stove under the bridge. It´s great, we´ve got trees, grass to sleep on, light, a table-of-sorts to cook and eat off, and a river!
Despite all this I´m a little melancholy, I don´t know if it´s the knowledge I´ll be alone for the next however long, or the exhaustion of today´s excercise combined with remnants of tummy bug and chest bother, or just the moon and the distance and the river and the time...
I better go to bed before I waffle too much, muy chin´s on hte table and I haven´t even unrolled my rolmat yet.
4 Sept... Siesta time
We´re just sitting under the shade of a mulberry tree eating a truly continental lunch, in the most picturesque little village on the Spanish border.
As we sat chewing our way through drybread with chorizo and cheese, a hunched over old lady slowly hobbled down the road dressed thickly in black and carrying a bucket of massive tomatoes.
As she passed us she stopped, put down her bucket and grabbed 3 big juicy ones; held them out to us, a big smile on her wrinkled face - this has improved our meal tenfold.
Since then a lone beautiful cow with handlebar horns has ambled past purposefully, and a horse with a little dog on her back looking very smug. The sweetcorn in the fields is ripening and we´re surrounded by grapevines bearing riches.
We´ve come about 25k from Bragança, in who´se outskirts we slept last night, but the remaining 14 or so to Puebla de Sanabria are supposedly ALL uphill. I´m guessing by tonight I´ll be too tired to write much, so this is my contribution for now.
I´m still with Nick and Hannah, who are going to catch a train fom Puebla to Santander, and chill out in the area for a day.
I think it´d be just about possible to get there on time by bike, but it wouln´t be nice, and as nobody´s in best health this is probably best! I know I wouldn´t want to be doing 100k a day on htese hills, coughing my guts up every time I breathe too much...
Just doing some washing in the river and having a quick nap in preparation for the mountain.
With love x
As we sat chewing our way through drybread with chorizo and cheese, a hunched over old lady slowly hobbled down the road dressed thickly in black and carrying a bucket of massive tomatoes.
As she passed us she stopped, put down her bucket and grabbed 3 big juicy ones; held them out to us, a big smile on her wrinkled face - this has improved our meal tenfold.
Since then a lone beautiful cow with handlebar horns has ambled past purposefully, and a horse with a little dog on her back looking very smug. The sweetcorn in the fields is ripening and we´re surrounded by grapevines bearing riches.
We´ve come about 25k from Bragança, in who´se outskirts we slept last night, but the remaining 14 or so to Puebla de Sanabria are supposedly ALL uphill. I´m guessing by tonight I´ll be too tired to write much, so this is my contribution for now.
I´m still with Nick and Hannah, who are going to catch a train fom Puebla to Santander, and chill out in the area for a day.
I think it´d be just about possible to get there on time by bike, but it wouln´t be nice, and as nobody´s in best health this is probably best! I know I wouldn´t want to be doing 100k a day on htese hills, coughing my guts up every time I breathe too much...
Just doing some washing in the river and having a quick nap in preparation for the mountain.
With love x
Friday, 3 September 2010
3 Sept, morning
I left Vila Nova de Foz Coa about an hour after the other 2, and found it´s very differrent cycling alone, you get all kinds of attention- at least in Portugal I can say I´m not interested, I´ll just have to cycle on in Spain and France.
When I caught them up in Sampaio we stopped for a bit, but I felt I needed more rest in the shade when we started moving again, so I found a lovely orange tree to rest and stretch under, and fell asleep for a good hour!
It still hadn´t cooled down when I woke up, gorged myself on bulging juicy yellow (!) figs off a nearby tree, and set off after my friends.
The road quickly started climbing. And climbing , and climbing. I had beautiful views of vineyards, the Rio Sabor (River of Flavour?) and deep forested valleys fanning out to my right, and plenty of time to look at them as a dawdled sweating and panting round the many corners in granny gear.
I found Hannah and Nick in a layby near when I stopped to fill my bottle from a spring, looking sorry nd eyeing up a pickup who had stopped for the same reason.
Hannah wasn´t feeling well (same tummy bug as me, probably :( and they´re in a hurry now, needing to get to Santander for the 9th, so I asked the driver if we could have a ride.
We chucked all the bikes and ourselves in the spacious back, with sacks of corn to cuddle up to, and had a lift for about 10k of uphill- the wind in our faces fresh and fast as the views whistled by at an unfamiliarly quick rate :)
1more lift and we´re in Macedo de Cavaleiros.
Last night we pitched up on a little island on the lake just out of the town; that´s where I am now scribbling away with the fresh morning sun drying the night´s dew and warming our bones for another hard day.
I may be continuing alone, as I don´t want to hitch more (another adventure for another day) and the others are going to have to. It´s going to be hard when they get picked up not getting in with them, and harder still adjusting to travelling alone.
I´ve got so used to their company, stories, laughter that I fear I may have tken it for granted. Let´s see what today brings. x
When I caught them up in Sampaio we stopped for a bit, but I felt I needed more rest in the shade when we started moving again, so I found a lovely orange tree to rest and stretch under, and fell asleep for a good hour!
It still hadn´t cooled down when I woke up, gorged myself on bulging juicy yellow (!) figs off a nearby tree, and set off after my friends.
The road quickly started climbing. And climbing , and climbing. I had beautiful views of vineyards, the Rio Sabor (River of Flavour?) and deep forested valleys fanning out to my right, and plenty of time to look at them as a dawdled sweating and panting round the many corners in granny gear.
I found Hannah and Nick in a layby near when I stopped to fill my bottle from a spring, looking sorry nd eyeing up a pickup who had stopped for the same reason.
Hannah wasn´t feeling well (same tummy bug as me, probably :( and they´re in a hurry now, needing to get to Santander for the 9th, so I asked the driver if we could have a ride.
We chucked all the bikes and ourselves in the spacious back, with sacks of corn to cuddle up to, and had a lift for about 10k of uphill- the wind in our faces fresh and fast as the views whistled by at an unfamiliarly quick rate :)
1more lift and we´re in Macedo de Cavaleiros.
Last night we pitched up on a little island on the lake just out of the town; that´s where I am now scribbling away with the fresh morning sun drying the night´s dew and warming our bones for another hard day.
I may be continuing alone, as I don´t want to hitch more (another adventure for another day) and the others are going to have to. It´s going to be hard when they get picked up not getting in with them, and harder still adjusting to travelling alone.
I´ve got so used to their company, stories, laughter that I fear I may have tken it for granted. Let´s see what today brings. x
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Today I tried solo cycling. I wanted to use the internet and do some things in the next biggish town, Vila Nova de Foz Soa- so to avoid holding anyone up I sped ahead and gt here early.
A taste of things to come- I kept trying to imagine my 2 friends weren´t following close behind, trying to picture speding through Spain and France with only myself.
We´ve covered quite a distance today, this time heading towards the storms not away, the wind whipping dust into my face as I struggle against it.
By the time I arrived, panting, and had done a thorough tour of the whole town in search of internet, the library had closed- I went a little way off route to see if the youth hostel did, found out the price just in case... checked in for the night.
Seems a shame to be boxed in fromm such an exquisitely scenic place, but after the intense drama of the thunderstorm battering our eardrums intruding our eyelids and seeping into our sleeping bags last night, and with 3 dodgy tums it just needs to be easy, just for tonight.
Nick´s laughing at me spraying myself and my bed with water cos it´s too hot.
A taste of things to come- I kept trying to imagine my 2 friends weren´t following close behind, trying to picture speding through Spain and France with only myself.
We´ve covered quite a distance today, this time heading towards the storms not away, the wind whipping dust into my face as I struggle against it.
By the time I arrived, panting, and had done a thorough tour of the whole town in search of internet, the library had closed- I went a little way off route to see if the youth hostel did, found out the price just in case... checked in for the night.
Seems a shame to be boxed in fromm such an exquisitely scenic place, but after the intense drama of the thunderstorm battering our eardrums intruding our eyelids and seeping into our sleeping bags last night, and with 3 dodgy tums it just needs to be easy, just for tonight.
Nick´s laughing at me spraying myself and my bed with water cos it´s too hot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)