Day 125
4 degrees and a 20-mile downhill
We were up in good time as we needed a mechanic. One of the bolts holding Tom’s pannier frame to his forks had snapped leaving a bit stuck in the forks. I knew just the man who could fix it but he was in Scarborough, could we find another as good in Spain?
First though we had to get to Bejar. It was a very cold morning and I wanted nothing more than a decent hill to warm us up, instead we got 5 miles of downhill, a treat normally but today I needed a work out. I soon got one, as 5 miles of climbing followed. At one point the road narrowed so we pulled over to let a car past. The driver, who had been stuck behind us for quite a while, stopped too. He was concerned we were lost and needed help. I do love the Spanish!
Finally Bejar came into view. It sits high, perched on the side of a hill. Once famous for its textile industry, it remains a bustling town. The trains used to run below and even under the town. Yes I’m talking tunnels and we know who loves a good tunnel. Tom was beyond excited as this tunnel turned 180 degrees under the town! We descended forever just so we could ride in a tunnel. To be fair it was pretty special. We got to ride it twice, as we needed to head up, up and up a bit more into Bejar. As we headed into the clouds, sorry I mean town, we passed a small motorbike repair shop. Could he help? With the aid of Google Translate, and a lot of pointing, our new best friend, Felipe Gonzalez, started work. I knew exactly what he had to do, and it was a text book repair. A simple but skilled quick job, and we had the bolt removed with the thread intact. We thanked him profusely and he grinned and tapped his forehead to show us he knew his stuff, a gesture a certain mechanic in Scarborough used often. I had to smile!
We treated ourselves to lunch to celebrate then it was back to join the railway line out of town. We climbed slowly, and I remarked, ‘why is it whenever we get a railway line we always have to climb?’
Tom said something about enjoying the view, which was stunning, when I realised we had started to descend, and descend some more. The views were to die for, a beautiful reservoir, small villages dotted in the hillside, field after field of olive groves, and still we descended. 20 MILES in total. For me the best 20 miles of the trip, well maybe! We left the line and joined a pretty deserted road for another 10 miles of descending! We then had a few miles of easy climbing but to keep us happy the hills surrounding us were full of stunning rock formations.
What a day!
