May 13, 2013

So, today we should arrive in Santiago – the sun is out and the birds are singing when we set off. We were part way up a climb yesterday when we spotted the roadside hostal so we know that the first part of the day will be spent climbing again. The road is the N525, which is a main road, but is very peaceful – we only see a couple of cars in about two hours. At this point we arrive in Lalin, a smallish town, where we stop for a drink. When we set off again, still on the N525, but now we are in a stream of fast and heavy traffic. There is a small hard shoulder for us to cycle in most of the time but it is like cycling along the M1. When we see the signs for the motorway running in parallel with our road we see that it is a toll motorway. We catch glimpses of it as we go along – it’s empty of traffic, whilst on our road it is non-stop, making for a very unpleasant ride.

The nearer we get to Santiago, the worse the traffic becomes. We wouldn’t normally go into such a busy city centre on the bikes, but we really have to arrive at the cathedral to have completed our journey, so we press onwards. Strangely, there are no provisions at all for bikes to get into the historic centre and we have to navigate our way along a three-lane stretch of road, negotiating around slip-roads, roundabouts and all other manner of road obstacles. We do get there in the end but feel a bit deflated to see a crumbling facade. We had anticipated a splendid example of a historic cathedral but, in our opinion, it is badly let down by a lack of maintenance. In front of the cathedral there is a huge plaza filled with an eclectic mix of people – walkers, bikers, religious pilgrims of all ages and nationalities.

We a bit worried with the numbers of tourists that we’ll have a problem finding accommodation and that what we do find will be expensive. However, we are pleasantly surprised to find a small place, not far from the centre, for the same cost that we have being paying along the road. We book in for two nights as we plan to look around Santiago tomorrow.