April 15, 2014

The weather forecast for today is a bit worrying.  It shows the top half of Spain with rain and thunderstorms and the bottom half with sunshine.  We’re sort of in the middle of the two halves.  By Friday the two halves are reversed with rain in the south and sun in the north.  With luck we can make the cross-over taking the sun with us.

Today is a little bit like an action replay of yesterday, although the roads are not so flat and we are now surrounded by a mixture of rolling cereal fields and vines.  Even with the undulations the cycling is easy.    We’re only going to ride about 80 or so kilometres today because we know that there is not much accommodation to be had if we try to go further.  When we arrive in Taracón we head straight for the hotel and get that sinking feeling as we are confronted by shuttered up doors and windows – yet another place that has closed in the last three years.  It is a huge hotel and when we were here last it had a thriving restaurant too.  There is a door bell on a side door, which I ring more in hope than expectation.  A nice man comes to the door who apparently now lives there on his own and he lets us have a room.  Feels a bit like ‘The Shining’ – just us in an empty hotel.