October 6, 2018
La aventura involuntaria
Sábado gigante
Martín is the mystery cycle tourist. He was up shortly after us, so we were able to have a nice chat. He’s from Barcelona and he is also on his way to Valencia, but he is really taking his time doing so. He has no idea where he will go afterwards, but he has four months in which to wander.
I asked him what the deal was with the Valencian language. He said it is basically the same as Catalan. Whatever differences exist show themselves very slowly as you work your way down the coast.
We spent the morning riding towards the day’s big tourist attraction: the castle at Peñíscola. We were delayed by some bike issues but we eventually reached it. It’s more of a walled city, and it’s filled with restaurants and various shops. Hunger and curiosity competed with one another, and hunger won out. I succumbed to the idea of a vegetarian paella, which is probably some kind of blasphemy to coastal Spaniards. But it was delicious. Sunyoung loved it too. It was our first sit-down meal of the trip. Overall it was a positive experience.
Unfortunately, this type of eating also eats up a lot of time. It was about 2:15 by the time we were back on the road again, and we had only logged about 35 kilometers. I had already booked a room in Valencia, so there was pressure on us to get within shooting distance today.
We had a choice which I deliberately saved until this point. There is a national park with a rough dirt road that mostly hugs the coast. Alternatively, we could return to the highway that we have spent a lot of time on already,with about a 10km distance penalty.
We reached the dirt road, and after a short trial run, Sunyoung suggested that we bail on it. Actually she was quite adamant about it. But I brought up our dilemma with the distance we need to cover, and insisted that we carry on. In retrospect that may have been a mistake. The road quickly became too steep for me to ride. I admitted defeat and walked my bike to the top of the hill. Then it was back to riding the rocks, ruts, and potholes for 13 straight kilometers. The scenery was beautiful, but the route really took its toll on us.
We then found ourselves riding through an abandoned apartment project. It was like touring Chernobyl. Best guess is that it was part of some construction craze that fell victim to the 2008 financial crisis. I’ll research it later.
The phone kept trying to dump us on more dirt roads, which I mostly refused to follow. It was leading us to a dedicated bike route, which was short but sweet. Then it was country roads. A little farm stand caught my eye, and we agreed that we would buy a few things to make dinner with. Sunyoung and the proprietress started chatting in Spanish. It turn out she has a little outdoor cafe business. Sunyoung and I huddled for a bit, and next thing you know, we were sitting down eating a home-cooked meal. Tortillas (the Spanish dish, not the flatbread), bread with aoli, and a pepper frittata, along with a pitcher of sangria. This was all really delicious stuff. The total “bill” was 12 euros!
Now that we had dinner taken care of, it was time to mosey on down to our chosen campground. We stumbled upon yet another one of these apartment-complex nuclear wastelands. As we continued, it finally started looking populated, and eventually we approached the waterfront and our destination. I missed our turn and we had to go up a hill and around town again to make another pass at it. It was pretty dark by this time. We finally found the campground, but there were no signs of light or life outside or inside the gate. Then it dawned on me: they've closed for the season!
Once I confirmed this, we quickly put Plan B into action. Sunyoung called the next available campground down the road, and it’s a good thing, too, because they were getting ready to close up for the night. We found ourselves on a Via Verde the entire 8km. This is what we call a “rails-to-trails”project in the U.S. We traversed this path with only our bike lights to guide us, as there is no moonlight. We even went through a pretty long tunnel (thank God it was lit). It was enchanting and spooky at the same time, but we were on a mission. We had no time to muse upon the starry skies and lapping waves.
So now we are sitting in our tent thanks to the kindness of the campground worker who stayed open late for us. This is a big reason why we tour. It restores our faith in humankind. We need that right now.
It’s getting late. Time to sign off for tonight.
Today's ride: 93 km (58 miles)
Total: 299 km (186 miles)
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