Day 11 — Sunday 8 May 2011

Puerto Peña – Guadalupe

I left the camp site in good spirits waving to the Swiss couple as I wheeled my bicycle out of the site, up the gravel track to the main road and along to the dam where I took a photograph in the bright morning sun. The road wound high above the lake with occasional views of the water. The surrounding pine trees and wide open fields made for delightful cycling in full sun with a cooling breeze. I found that I was talking to myself saying thank you for the near perfect conditions but at the same time reminding myself to be careful on the road. It’s all very well bowling along without a care in the world but it’s at those moments when accidents happen when you forget to look at the road and to be conscious of the things around you.

I have no note of where I got lunch, only that it was a bocadillo with hot bacon in a bar.

At the highest part of the route, Puerto Llana (800 m) I came to a wonderful sign saying that the camp site at Guadalupe was 10 kilometres away. I had some difficulty at the roundabout just south of the town as the campsite sign was faded and it was impossible to tell which way the arrow pointed, but eventually I found Camping Las Villuercas throbbing with a party of lively cyclists from Madrid. It was exciting to be amongst so many people and chatted to them in broken Spanish for a while. I paid for the night at the bar and a chap came to show me where to pitch. The site was still in full sun and I put myself in sunny spot rather than in shadow to get good drying conditions for my washed kit. The service block was excellent, but I had to shoo a group of excited children away so that I could have a shower in peace. They all wanted to speak in English to me and giggled as they said their set phrases. I found a half full bottle of hair shampoo in the showers, and to my shame I used and kept it!

I had a meal in the restaurant and was the only person there. At home Liz had gone to a friend’s birthday party and I got text messages from several people there, so I spent some time ../../images/tar-leh/tar-leh/.