April 17, 2013

Actually, we don’t feel at all bad in the morning. It takes us a bit longer than it should to load up and set off because we haven’t got into our routine yet. Packing the bags is a precise science. Before we started out yesterday I carefully packed and weighed all the bags, moving things around so the weight is balanced on each side of the bike and also to try to get as much weight in the front bags as possible to counter-balance the bigger rear bags. It means that we then have to maintain everything in the right place during the trip – hence it can take a bit of time to get it loaded up properly.

We get going on a perfect cycling morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and there is a heavy scent of flowers in the air (not good for us hay-fever sufferers but never mind). The route is easier today with just a couple of long, but gradual climbs. We’re feeling fine, a bit saddle sore, but the legs and lungs are OK. We also remember to take a couple of photos looking back at the mountain range we crossed yesterday. Mid-morning we stop at a beautiful old building for coffee and cake (see photos) – it is huge and looks like an old mill but when I asked the waiter what the building was in former times he told me it was new! He explained that it had been built only 20 years ago using all old, reclaimed materials. It was truly incredible.

We continue on and reach Fuente de Piedra, another place very familiar to us. It is a large inland salt lake with one of the largest colonies of flamingos in Europe. Well normally that is; because of all the rain we’ve had this winter the water is too deep for the flamingos and so they have gone somewhere else to nest this year. There is a nice camp-site across from the lake and we decide to keep the day short, even though we are feeling fine. One reason is that once we pass this village we will be on a long road passing through what look like just tiny villages on the map, so we could have problems finding somewhere to stay. The next big place is a further 75 kilometres or so along the road. The second reason is that we have planned to take it easy over the first few days, although it is very tempting to overdo it. The last reason is that in our quest to reduce the weight on the bikes we have bought a new lightweight tent which we haven’t yet tried and it could take us half a day to work out how to put it up. So we do the sensible thing and stop and have a relaxing afternoon – some doing more relaxing than others (think – washing, unpacking, typing up journals etc etc).