Strange encounters

Day 8 - Sunday 12/09/2010 - Soria to Matillas - 73 Miles

A late start after the long day yesterday, I left last at around 10:30 with Tim S and Guy, leaving last seems to be a bit of a habit recently, but in our defence, we were helping pack the spare bike in the back of the van.

The route was much better than yesterday, rolling roads generally between hills, so there were trees alongside the roads, which were not highways. We did get a bit confused when the route took us down a closed road, but climbing over armco barriers quickly resolved that.

We then found ourselves going down another closed road, this time the top layer of tarmac had been scraped off, there was lots of gravel and sharp stones, an ideal recipe for punctures, but we could see no other route to follow, so rode very carefully, trying our best to avoid stones.

After about 3 or 4 miles we got to a proper roundabout, only to find it led onto another gravel road, only this looked to be in even worse condition. We stopped for a bite to eat and a bit of contemplation, the gravel road was running parallel to a highway and had obviously been dug up after the highway had been built. We zoomed out on our Garmins to see the gravel road followed alongside the highway for around 10 miles, with the track then turning off for the first stop at a junction on the highway. As there were no signs saying bike could not go on the highway, we decided the worse that could happen would be the police escorting us off at the next junction, so we rode around the roundabout and onto the highway.

What a ride we had, the wind was behind us, the road was slightly downhill, the surface was super smooth and we just flew along, without even slipstreaming we were going at 35 mph!! After a few miles we saw some of the others slogging along the gravel road, for some reason they did not seem very pleased to see us as we sailed by waving at them. It turned out there had been a number of punctures, Tim F got 5 on his own and had to borrow Mike's spare tyre. Also the following wind we were enjoying was allowing the flies to keep up with them, these were the biting type of flies that knew a good thing when it came along and were having a delightful feast of English blood !!!

We covered the 10 miles in no time at all and got to the first stop ahead of everyone else, hearing the news about the punctures from Hannah, who had been called on the phone and was getting some of the spare tubes provided by Peter Hansfords ready for riders to collect. We decided it might be best to move on before the others turned up, just in case they were not too pleased to see us, although we were joined by Andy B, who had ridden all along the gravel road ahead of the rest.

Now a group of 4 we left the stop, but less than a mile out we ran into young lad called Andy on his way from Gibraltar to Yorkshire, he'd heard about us from his friends as he was riding north and had been hoping to meet up with us, his website is www.gibraltartoyorkshire.co.uk, good luck to him in his endeavours.

We carried on over what Andy B called 'undulating' hills, generally long and rolling, with a few bends, the uphills were not too hard and some of the descents were quite fun, as you built up your momentum to get as far up the next slope as possible.

The sun was now fully out, we were glad we had sun-cream on and the cycle shirts generously provided by Knorr Bremse and Peter Hansfords are really proving a benefit, they are very lightweight, the full length zip means we can keep cool and they dry out very quickly once you've stopped. We were eventually joined by Andy G, Neil and Rob, although Andy G soon turned back to help some of the others along the way.

When we got to lunch stop there was no van, it seems there are two places in Spain called Cincovillas and the van was over half an hour away having followed the satnav directions to the wrong one for quite a while before they realised they were going the wrong way! Neil asked a lady where the local cafe was, only to be told it was 8 km away, but she then asked if we would like a coffee or tea and brought drinks and biscuits out for us.


Scott watching the Italian Grand Prix

Others arrived and finally the van turned up, we ate lunch and gave lady a translated flier to explain what we were doing, she then came out with a donation for the charity, the only thing we could offer in return for her kindness was a few packs of English biscuits. We later discovered she lived and worked in Germany but was back in Spain looking after her father who was in the late stages of cancer. It make you realise what we are doing really strikes a nerve for so many people.

The final leg of 21 miles was with Hannah, Guy, Tim S, Tim F, after a while we passed Caroline and linked up with Mike and Barnaby. Tim F and Mike then had a bit of fun together and raced away from us, although we caught them up about 3 miles out where they were waiting at a bar with ice creams. Thinking that was a good idea, we went in to get our own ice creams, expecting it to be quiet, but the bar was packed with people playing cards and talking loudly to each other, another little experience of local culture you would probably never experience during normal Spanish holidays.

An oasis in the middle of nowhere

Tonight we are in the middle of nowhere, staying on a family run bar/ hotel next to what looks like a disused cement factory and a railway track, the rooms are excellent and for the first time we had a sit down meal as a whole group, the excellent 3 course meal cost just 12 euros, including water and wine, a brilliant end to a good fun day.