Medina de Rioseco

Well finally crossed into Spain! I awoke to eagles circling above the Douro gorge that makes the portguese/ Spanish border and they remained a feature of the first couple of hours cycling. Rocky plateau covered in dry stone walls constructed between huge menhirs every few yards. There was no signs of ( current) life for the first 20k of Spain- a bombed out petrol station and a boarded up village- and eagles. Gradually this made way for cleared land and large scale crops and I joined a lovely valley where I gate-crashed an ultra running race and cycled down(up?) to Zamora with one of the spectators cycling home. I was able to sneak around Zamora's impressive castle on bike as it was Sunday free day and there were disabled access ramps everywhere😉. A mega tail wind and flat cycling was too tempting so pushed on to Toro for lunch. For the same reason decided to add another 50k to the day and was blown into Medina. Castles everywhere- must be why this area is called Castilla y Leon. Very much on the Camino Frances here so will try and follow it for a while to get the pilgrim vibe/ mow down pedestrians/ cheap accomodation🤪Læs mere