WHERE are we going?
The hotel we stayed in last night was in the middle of a gorge. We woke to sunshine, however, it was difficult to judge the temperature. I put on a in thermal just in case, however, it wasn’t long before I stripped it off! We had a wee hanger on, a wee grasshopper who survived for hours attached to Ed’s wing mirror!
As usual, Ed had planned a route, straight away, we were heading through hundreds of twisty bends, surrounded by cliffs, beautiful trees and a river. Out of the gorge, after a good warm up, very high on the ‘weeeeeeeeee’ factor, we headed off up the mountains. On the way up it was very quiet, and got a bit of a surprise to see the car park nearly full at the wee café at the top. Coos with their bells dinging, magnificent mountains really set the scene. It was a pity about all the other tourists and the mahoosive big cow pat that I hadn’t noticed beside Smoggy. Squelch. Nice.
Back down the hill and along another gorge. Luckily we found fuel before we started the next part of the adventure. Ed said we have 40 clicks to go until our next turn, however, that was short lived. He was stopped beside the road next to a random seriously steep road. I nodded my agreement….what the hell. Just do it. When we eventually stopped at the wee hamlet, Ed was consulting with Fanny the sat nav. He had a big grin on his face, the ride up was gorgeous and very, very twisty. He said when he saw the road at the bottom, it said ‘I dare you!’ He was convinced the road went further on. Ok, let’s give it a go. My god. I’ve ridden some roads in my years of adventuring with Smoggy, but this was something else. It was concrete, with traction grooves in them. You needed it. Constant switchback bends, very challenging, and oh for crying out loud if we had met anything coming down the hill towards us, that would have been erm….. interesting. Fully laden with panniers just throws in an extra challenge! There was no where to go. Then the concrete disappeared and it became gravel. At the top, we had the most astonishing view. It was like we were on top of the world. I can confirm that it seemed like it…. My ears were popping constantly and I also had a strange feeling between feeling hungry or was it nausea? I think the altitude was playing tricks with my mind!
The road to nowhere
We had the company of coos (very pretty) and a solitary pony who looked as though he got on just grand with the coos. One car came up over the hill, obviously heading to one of the two houses we could see. Fanny confirmed it though. There wasn’t a road down the other side. Ed said we had to turn and go back down. My first thought was ‘oh, fuck’, however it is much, much easier going down those switchbacks. At least you can get a view of anyone coming up!
Going back onto ‘normal’ roads and once again they were just fabulous. I’ve only been overtaken once this holiday and that was a national park land rover – the driver knew the road a damn sight better than me so I let him pass. All in all, there wasn’t much traffic on any of the routes we have been on.
Lunch was in Potes, a very old, pretty, busy town. The trouble with Spain is people eat and restaurants serve from 9pm. That’s just too late for us, and by then I’ve normally had far too much white wine! I have to say, my riding this afternoon, after lunch was better for my concentration. Out from Potes, we found a view point, had a blether with an English couple and Ed realised he had left his vape (cigarette substitute) in the town. Oh well, back down the twisties again. Overnight stay here, in Potes, a beautiful place.
Potes
I can feel an early night coming on!