Portugal to Northern Spain, 7 - 20 June 2015

A slightly 6 week late blog, sorry been pedalling, eating, sleeping, pedalling, eating, sleeping!!

The plan from here was to cycle straight up to northern Spain to Picos de Europa, a huge national park but still a few hundred kms away. We made our way through Portugal close to the Spanish border, the river and mountains dividing the countries,  grapes growing on the Portuguese side, olives on the Spanish side. We had run out of water so after 40 km headed down, very steeply, into a Spanish hydro village, Salto de Saucelle,  across a dam. There is always a water supply in Spain. It was Sunday afternoon and no one to be seen. There was a huge open sided cabana in the centre, tables, chairs, toilets, kitchen and water, we stayed there under the shade for a while then went down to the river for a dip. We made lots of noise and dropped rocks in and watched the snakes slither away.  Sussed out a spot for our tent but just as we were about to put it up the clouds rolled in, thunder and lightning all around so we hightailed it back to the cabana, getting drenched on the way. The first rain in over two months. We thought we could wait it out but the rain did not stop, there was still no one about so we had dinner, put up our tent in the cabana and stayed there perfectly dry. The next morning the caretaker dropped by on his tractor  just as we were packing up and just shook his head! It was a  hard slog back up the hill into Portugal.
65 km to Mougadoura. A nice ride, we stopped at a few more castles, looked around some very old churches, some 800 years old,  nestled in quiet villages, just the cafe showing signs of life. It seems we have ridden quite a lot of the 'castle tour', we finished the day in a nice town, an enormous campground with just a few cycle tourists and a couple of camper vans.  Another late afternoon storm, the sound of the thunder was incredibly noisy from inside the tent. I called a rest day the next day, well overdue! We lazed about all morning, checked out the castle then hung out in a cafe all afternoon, 4 slices of pizza, 4 coffees, 4 pastries and 4 beers, total 13 euro!! Plus free WiFi. We only left because the thunder started, I bolted back to get our washing in but our lovely cyclist neighbours had beaten me to it, meanwhile Trevor got stuck in the supermarket for an hour and a half waiting for the rain to stop. Consequently we had far too much food to carry the next day plus another whole cooked chicken for dinner, this has been a great find in Portugal.
Mogadouro to Vimiosa, 45 km
We had to stop early and  race to the municipal campground as the afternoon storm arrived even earlier. The girl at the office said don't worry about putting up your tent in the rain just stay in this nearby building which was like a conference room, table, chairs, had its own bathrooms, kitchen, tv, electricity, all for 4 euro, unbelievable... There were 2 other campers in tents ready to leave at 8 am but we were all locked in. We found the auto gate opener under a mat about 9, noone had made it to work by then!
Vimiosa to Figurela de Ariba - 49 km
Virtually no  traffic for 20 km as we headed to the border, suddenly we were back in Spain, coffee cups bigger, slower drivers, older towns, houses made of schist rock in the province of Zamora. More agriculture flat land and greener. I think we have left 'tick' country too - that was just something else to worry about.
Figuruela de Ariba to La Baneza, 97 km
A big day across rolling plains to find ourselves camping in a trailer park with just a few little squares of grass available for tents.  Arrived late, then had to race to find food,  the 'I am exhausted' feeling hitting half way around the supermarket.
La Baneza to Carrizo de la Ribera - 40 km Left before the locals were up, 9.30 ish and a cruisy day's riding which intersected with one of the camino Santiago walks, lots of walkers and people trying to send us in the wrong direction but great cafes giving tapas of bread and pie and muffins with our coffee. Numerous stops that day. Trevor had been mentioning a sore knee so a shorter day was in order. It was just starting to drizzle as we rode into a campground. This time it was totally a trailer park, apparently not for casual campers but that took some for the owner to get that across to us. It was a conversation that went " camping yes, camping no, camping yes camping no"  a number of times but then he showed us a spot and said 'unofficial' for the night and wouldn't let us pay. Next morning Trevor could not walk (let alone bike anywhere, despite what he thought)  and in pain from his knee. Overuse syndrome with overtight IT band was my diagnosis. Stretch, stretch stretch Trevor! So I packed  everything up and went in search of a hotel. Raining, as cold as we have had in months and a Sunday in a rural Spanish town. Not ideal. The hotel we found was interesting! It was run by this very old couple and a helper (not a word of English spoken)  and it was like upstairs/downstairs. Antiques and stuff everywhere, huge dining room and lounge but totally in a time warp like nothing had been changed in 40 years. We were the only customers.  And so cold. It was the longest day/night ever.  Just two cafes open in town where we waited in one until we could check in.  Breakfast the next morning was stale bread and jam with sweet biscuits that had gone soft but the coffee was good. The lady was very concerned that Trevor was going to cycle while still limping and really wanted our assurance that her hotel had been ok... What could we say!!
Concito de la Ribira to La Magdalina - 30 km
The town was amazingly lively on Monday morning with all the shops open and a fruit and vege market, hard to believe it was the same place. A packet of ibuprofen and off we went slowly and not far up the rd to a better place to stay and a good walk around to use some different muscles.
La Magdalina to Vegacervers - 41 km
This route took us up a valley to the edge of Picos Europa to a campground with great views. Next day went up about 15 km along a picturesque gorge and then a steep hill to some caves. Pretty impressive but after an hour underground I felt like I might turn into one of those stalagtites myself!
Vegacervers to Riano - 65 km A long day following a river where we decided to freedom camp rather than tackle the big hill over the dam late in the day. We must have been spotted as the local gendarmerine visited the next morning just as we were packing up. They checked our passports and in halting English said "  this area no camp" so we said ok, gracias and off they went.
Riano to Santa Marina de Valdeon - 62 km Continuing the climb through another valley into Picos de Europa to a high point with stunning views, (photos) then a steep descent, so steep we wondered if we would be able to cycle back up, to a gorgeous campground surrounded by bush. This is definitely the most stunning area we have seen in Spain.