It's one thing to arrive late and knackered in tiny place, when all you want to do is have a beer and a shower, and it's another thing to arrive early. What was I thinking. Today was much too short and I was in Tábara by 2.
Day 19 Camino Sanabrés - Mombuey
Today I've spent a lot of time on the N525. 'N’ roads historically were the national highways before the relatively recent construction of the Spanish motorway network. There are a bit like 'A’ roads in the UK.
Day 18 Camino Sanabrés - back in A Gudiña
I'm back in A Gudiña. I'm in the sa
me hotel, and maybe the same room, as the one I was in 5 days ago. It's a tiny bit weird, and particularly during the first part of today's trip it felt like I was being rewound and going back in time. Part of it was on the same route but I was heading in opposite direction, so I kept seeing familiar sites but from a different perspective.
Day 17 Camino Sanabrés - back to Ourense
Hannah, my daughter and a mum to be, asked me the other day if I'm now a mountain biker. She’s a road cyclist, has been faithfully reading my blogs, and I think was worried that I'd gone over to the dark side. Well I haven't. I'm too old to be hauling my bike up steep mountain sides and not talented or brave enough to come flying down them. Cruising along flat grassy or gravely paths, through the middle of the countryside, now that's a different matter. I’m not sure what that is, mountain biking for softies perhaps, but there's been lots of it on this trip, and yes that's my stuff.
Day 16 Camino Sanabrés to Santiago del Compostela
I'm in Santiago del Compostela after cycling the final 53 km. The route was fine, it didn't rain until I arrived in the City, but it felt like a long way. I guess I'm just knackered. I've been cycling without a break for 11 days and the recent tough going (1500m of climb today, mostly off-road) and bad weather is draining.
The woman at the hotel near Lalín was still in bed this morning when I got up for breakfast and her husband was there to do the honours. After dealing with a huge party at lunchtime yesterday, which didn't leave until 5, she then fed me at 8-30 (fish, very nice) and another huge party, all men, which sat down to eat at 9-30. I guess she needed a lie in before the Saturday rush. Anyway dinner, bed and breakfast came to 25 euros a real bargain.
Day 15 Camino Sanabrés off-road to Lalin
Today was a big adventure, I'm not quite sure whether it was a great day or a nightmare, but it was a big adventure.
Firstly a bit of context. When your travelling off-road in Spain without a guide you have no real idea what's around the corner. I have a route which is displayed on a map. The route was the best one I could find and the maps are the official Spanish ones. It's almost impossible to explain to an English person, brought up on Ordnance Survey maps, how bad the Spanish maps are. We are used to a path on a map being a path, a track being a track and a road being a road. These things don't apply in Spain where the maps are ancient. On the detailed maps motorways are not always there. So what looks like a track may turn out to have disappeared, be impassable or it may have acquired a lovely tarmacked surface. Particularly difficult to predict is when a track has become a “camino agricola” and has been given a nice gravel surface.
Unless you have a guide, cycling off-road in Spain is a bit of a gamble, particularly in the mountainous parts. Today I was ahead with my winnings, then I lost them all and was seriously behind and then, with one last desperate bet, ended up evens.
I had decided to split the 100km to Santiago de Compostela and stay somewhere cheap near a place called Lalin. Only 55km, so a nice leisurely start, no need to rush. Given the time I had, I was determined to stick to the off road version.
Day 14 Camino Sanabrés - off road to Ourense
I’m in Ourense, in a very nice hotel, with all my washing done and things drying nicely. After two days on wet, muddy paths everything is starting to get unpleasant. I've got a family suite so the bike has its own room, I'm tempted to put it in the shower.
Yesterday was grim but despite dreadful weather today, I've managed to get the miles in and feel good.
My decision not to cycle onto Laza last night was definitely right. It was a tough first two hours today with a long descent along a badly surfaced road. It was not the trip to contemplate if your knackered.
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