Sarrión

At 6am we were woken up by a wiery mutt barking his head off. We couldn’t believe it, there’s one house nearby, otherwise we are completely in the middle of nowhere. Whoever lives in that house let’s there dog just roam free. We did see it yesterday, and at 6am something upset him and he tore off from the house barking his head off, and that went on for about 20 minutes until I opened the door and told it to shut up.
I had big plans for today, so I had an early breakfast of Spanish tortilla, put my cycling gear on, unloaded the bike from the bike rack and then loaded it up with drinks, and energy bars.
At 8:15am I left Ellie in Wanda and set off heading in the direction of Tereul. I was riding on the via verde Ojos Negras greenway which is the longest greenway in Spain covering three provinces and 267km. Today I would be covering covering half that distance and I planned it that the route would take me uphill to start with and then downhill on the way back.
8km in I came to the first abandoned railway station that has now been fully restored as a cafe with a huge play area for kids at the side, I chose not to stop here as it was still early and pushed on.
I continued through 2 huge railway tunnels and then over a massive viaduct and the landscape started to change colour as the soil turned a bright red and I was surrounded by pine trees. 20km in I came to Barracas, another abandoned railway station complete with well and there was a small town in my right. I stopped here to rehydrate for 5 minutes before pushing on, all the time the old railway line was gently rising. I knew I was high up when I rode past the wind turbines. The wind was howling now, it was quite cold and even though it was nearing 10am the sun still hadn’t shown up and to top it off it was now starting to drizzle.
Leaving the windturbines the track descended a little and I passed through a couple of small villages and then a rock archway before entering another massive tunnel and when I came out the other side the view was spectacular. I was up around 200 meters on an old viaduct. To my right were 2 other viaducts, one abandoned and the other for the newer railway line. A small river ran underneath with grass all around it. It looked very peaceful, especially as no one else was around. Infact on the whole ride I only saw 10 other people.
50km in I was really feeling the strain of constantly riding up hill into a cold damp wind but I knew it would be easier on the way home. I was still riding faster than I thought I was going to with an average speed of 19kph.
I had mapped the ride out last night and had forgotten when I had marked the point where I was to turn around but guessed it was around 60km.
I pushed on, counting down the miles to 60km and then it came and went. 62km and my phone was telling me to keep going. At 65km I had to stop and check that it was working properly, which it was, and I had just planned a stupidly long ride.
Finally at 68km the phone told me to do a U-turn and I finally stopped by a cluster of trees off the greenway. I lent the bike against a tree, got my energy drink out and my bag of sweet nuts and tucked in. And just as I started eating the rain came with the wind. It was freezing but I was actually to tired to care. I’d really been looking forward to stopping for a long break but it was pointless trying to get comfortable here in the rain so I gave it just 15 minutes and then decided to leave and head back to one of the abandoned stations to get some shelter and have another break there.
I turned the bike around and left, travelling back the way I had come. I had almost 70km to cover and it was just after midday. Fortunately it was now downhill or flat most of the way back, and almost immediately I felt the change in pace and ease in peddling as I picked up speed to a constant 30kph.
Because of the pace I was working out in my head roughly how long it would take me to get back, approximately 2.5hrs at this pace so I decided to ride for 45 mins and then stop at a station with a bench and take 20 minutes rest. The rest by now was well needed as I had travelled 90km and I struggled with myself to get going again so I promised myself another stop in 45 mins. I pushed on riding mostly downhill and by now I was using the drop handlebars riding as aero as I could at 50kph really pushing myself. On one hand I just wanted to get to the 45 minute mark, on the other hand I just wanted to get back to Wanda so I could relax.
The next 45mins came and I stopped at an abandoned station with mile markers and it stated Masadas Blancas station was 20km away. This was my stop and I knew I was nearly there. So far I had travelled 115km so 20 more would be easy. I took another 20 minute break finishing my camelpack of water and starting my second hydration drink and eating 2 energy bars, then I got back on and started flying at 40kph until I reached the windturbines again and the wind started playing havoc with my speed. It was blowing from my right and really gusty so at the base of one of the turbines I stopped to take some pictures, catch my breath and finish my hydration drink.
As I left the field of turbines the road really dropped and I knew I was on the home straight and with just 10km left I got back into aero position and used the last of energy to get back to Wanda in just 12 mins travelling at just over 50kph.
It was now 4:30pm, I was shattered and it took all my strength just to get the back strapped back on the bike rack. Ellie had been tracking me and had already put the oven on ready for dinner. I put the hot water on and once heated I had a very quick shower to get rid of the road dust.
I had travelled a total of 136.8km, burnt off 1880 calories, my fastest speed was 52kph and my average was 22kph. I was shattered but in a good way. Today I really feel as though I got something out of my system.
Tomorrow we will be moving on and not a moment to soon as the sun has not been playing ball the last couple of days and the solar is really suffering. I just hope Barky Mc Mutt Mutt doesn’t give us another 6am wake up call.Read more