May 16, 2016

After breakfast in the sun outside our log cabin, we make a slow start.

The feeling that our legs are getting better has abandoned us.  The road is undulating again, but with bigger climbs, and the temperature has gone up a few degrees.  The cooling breezes have disappeared leaving us with a big blue sky and lots of hot sun.  Perfect for lazing around, not so good for bike riding.  Progress is slow but steady.

The first place we arrive at is Sierra de Yeguas, a typical sleepy little rural town.  Yegua means mare and on the outskirts of the town a beautiful statue of a mare greets us.  We stop for cool drink at a bar overlooking the square sitting amoungst a gaggle of old men and then shop for a few supplies for lunch.  We feel like we’re not making much progress today, the whole sleepy atmosphere thing is getting to us.  We find out later on that the temperature is 30 degrees.

We’re going to do another short run today.  Halfway through the ride we leave the route we’ve travelled on a previous bike tour.  We head towards Osuna, a fairly sizeable town that we haven’t visited before. One advantage of short runs on the bike is that you get more time to explore.

We’re staying in the first nice hotel of the trip, with a huge room big enough to put the bikes in.  This means that Ken’s happy, he has a roll of insulation tape, his pipe lagging and plenty of time to spend fiddling with the bikes.  I’m hoping to enjoy the peace of the countryside tomorrow – no bumping panniers, no complaining from Ken. I’m happy too as I have WiFi that works – another first for this tour.