October 10, 2016

For the first time since the first couple of days of our tour we start our ride with dark clouds and cool temperatures.  It has forecast rain for Wednesday, but not for today.

As we head homewards the rest of the tour is on roads we have ridden before, so we know what to expect.  More lonely landscapes and more hills today than yesterday. The climbing comes later on, the first half of the day is on flat roads where there are no houses, no people and no cars.  There are signs at the side of the road warning you to beware of the fighting bulls, then we spot one, he seems to spot me in my bright pink cycling top.  Now seems like a good time to pedal faster.

The clouds clear by the middle of the day and the temperature rockets, just in time for the climbing.  It is hard work, but enjoyable nevertheless, none of those annoying hills, but proper climbs.

Our accommodation tonight is in a beautiful, traditional house in the centre of an isolated agricultural village in the back and beyond.  The patio is filled with the perfume of jasmine and roses.  Who is it that comes to stay here?  It really is not somewhere you would come to for your holidays, there is absolutely nothing here, and I can’t imagine that there are people just passing through.  There is no one to ask, we have the place to ourselves.  Two ladies from the village came to let us in and left us to it.