This is Mequinensa, the bridge over the Segre river: Alcaniz, where we did the first stop: Rita in the petrol station where we stopped: Close to Castellote:
Ermita del Llovedor (the little church almost carved in the mountain). It's on the left of the picture, mid height: Rita watching the little church. This bike is hot! Embalse de Santolea (water reservoir): Another view of the Embalse de Santolea: And this is me!
Hola Marta, when you mentioned Alcaniz, I was set back some years. Great place! I hope that the weather will remain calm till the end of your trip! Cheers Dirk
Nice pics Dirk! Earlier this year i went to the Touratech Travel Event in Niedereschach. Had your book in my hands but didn't buy it in the end (ended up buying the supports for the panniers ). I still regret it! Being myself Mediterranean, your book is very high in my wishlist. Sure i'll get it for Xmas!
Gracias Marta! I was at the TTEvent, too. But obviously too many people there . And there's no reason to regret: The supports will do more for your journey than the book Happy travels and see you next time at TT or on the road Cheers Dirk
Looking forward to the pics and report. Looks like you'll be heading through the town where my family comes from, Gijon. Kinda jealous.....
I'm behind my RR, I know... No internet one of the days, no time the others Very busy riding, enjoying the landscape, eating good food and sleeping very well Yes, holidays can be stressing!!! But found a bit of time to catch up. Not with all the info I owe you, but a little bit! Hope you like it! Day 2: Wednesday 17th October, Cedrillas (Teruel) Villalba de la Sierra (Cuenca) 290 Km Today it's been a really nice day. Sunny and no cold at all. Bit windy, but nothing to worry about. It's taken me 290Km to go from Teruel to Cuenca, two cities that can't be more than 140 away from each other if you take the state road. But I've enjoyed every Km of the little roads I've done! Spend all the day between two different mountain ranges: Montes Universales (close to Teruel) and Serrania de Cuenca (close to Cuenca). Never been there before and I've loved it! The highlight of the day: NO TRAFFIC. Incredible. Hours withous seeing a soul/car. Left Cedrillas, the place where I was sleeping around midday. Yes, was taking things very easy... Spent some time in internet posting RR, tidying pictures and... having a huge breakfast! Two big toasts, with minced tomato on top and a lot of Terue ham. Delicious! That would keep me going the whole day! No need for a lunch stop. This is the route I've followed today: Cedrillas Puerto de Cabigordo A-226 road until it ended A bit of the road A-23 to avoid getting in Teruel, and to catch road A-1512 Gea de Albarracin Albarracin Torres de Albarracin Tramacastilla Bronchales Orihuela del Tremedal Puerto Orihuela Griegos Guadalaviar El Portillo Puerto de el Cubillo ('border' between Aragon and Castilla la Mancha regions) Tragacete (visited 'El Molino' waterall, very close to where river Jucar is born) Alto de la Vega Collado Manchego Masegosa Beteta (beautiful little river canyon named 'Hoz de Beteta') Puente de Vadillos Canizares Fuertescusa Las Majadas (nice forest road) Villalba de la Sierra (sleeping in 'Hostal Bayo', next to the little road) I'm not postig a map screenshot (sorry!). Takes quite some time to find all these little points in Google. Don't know whether I told you before or not, but Rita and I are not travelling alone. Daniel is the third member of the team. Daniel is a Garmin navigator I bought just before my holidays (my first gadget like this) and we're still building trust between us. To be honest, I'm finding him a bit useless if you want to do nice little roads and enjoy them. He does not quite understand so far that neither the shortest or the fastest route is the better but the nicest and most twisty! But this option is not in his menu so, following a GS-friend's advice I'm inputing as many via points as possible. Then it works! Happy to see that the rider's brains still needed! But don't take me wrong, I'm loving Daniel. It's fun seeing in his screen how the road looks like ahead of me, seeing km to destination, ETA... (avoids lots of mental calculation!). I really enjoy seeing the height and direction we're following. Lots of interesting data! And of course, if entering big cities, I'm sure he'll be worth all the money! Some highlights of the day: Just after leaving Cedrillas I did 'Puerto Cabigordo', a little mountain pass. Beautiful views from the top. Close to the town of Albarracin I saw the ruins of a castle from the road (Castillo de Santa Croche). Beautiful, but was feeling lazy to climb the hill... Didn't stop in Albarracin. It's a beautiful town, but had been there before and was feeling for riding :) Lots of nice little roads. Many of them surrounded by tall rocky walls and a little river next to it (canyon-like but little one). So beautiful. I wanted to see the place where the Jucar river is born but didn't get that far. Stopped at one of the waterfalls ('El Molino' waterfall). Beautiful! But had to leave Rita almost in the middle of the road (no parking close to the path) so didn't enjoy the walk much (was worried about Rita being run over by a farmer's 4x4). Also on my way to the waterfall had an 'encounter' with a couple of mastiffs. I was riding slow because the little road was full of fresh sheep-poop and was expecting to find the owners of the poop in the next corner. But instead of the sheep, I found the guards of the sheep, just next to the road, warding the herd. They were not quite happy to see me so close to the sheep and started chasing me. Adrenaline rush! They were biiiig! But Rita was faster!!! Was a bit scared on the way back from the waterfall, didn't want to find them again, but was lucky and this time they were not there. I love dogs (really love them!) but don't like them chasig me in a little path! And think that's all for today! And now some pics
Rita on top of Puerto Cabigordo: Views from Puerto Cabigordo: Santa Croche Castle, close to Albarracin: Nice road: Another nice road:
Rita in one of the 'canyon-like' little roads: 'Autumn Rita': Nice views from the road to Bronchales: Road sign: (have a bit of an obsession with road signs, I know...) Orihuela del Tremedal:
Orihuela mountain pass: El Portillo mountain pass (no sign, ugh!): Little River Jucar close to its birth place: Somewhere close to Beteta: Stubborn pine - Always think that lonely trees on top of cliffs like this one are great reps of survival instinct: