February 28, 2022
A good day to be fatties
Day 10 - Astorga to León
We left the lovely Astorga a bit late, after umming and ahhing about whether or not to take a rest day right away. We were feeling pretty beaten up after our days of intense climbing. In the end, we decided we couldn't not cycle today after eating our custard and chocolate pastries (only two between us!) that Sarah kindly went out for.
So, it wasn't until about midday that we set off, to achieve the longest distance of the tour so far - around 50km to León.
We were immediately met with another ludicrously steep climb, but we knew today would have much less total ascent, a mere 250m or so, and it was soon dealt with. Still, it was quite a painful start!
The landscape had really changed from further west, with the intense orange and ochres of the rock and earth, as well as the general dry and dustiness, making me think of Australia - not that I've been.
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Our route was almost entirely, blissfully, off-road, following the camino - first on old tarmac, and then on gravel roads through farmland.
Finally, the kind of riding our fat tyres were made for! After letting a bit of air out in the front, we were able to cruise comfortably along at over twenty kilometres an hour, despite gravel, rocks, sand, and potholes.
Fingers crossed we have a lot more of these roads as we continue eastward!
Later in the day we saw more huge and interesting unknown birds. I accidently stopped next to where they were resting and disturbed them, so they were about as close as they would ever get. Again, no long lens so no NatGeo pics.
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http://birds-extremadura.blogspot.com/2011/02/red-kite-beautiful-raptor-in-danger-of.html
2 years ago
2 years ago
They were enormous and had a strong orange colour in the afternoon light.
After a bit of the inevitable cycling into a city stress and making wrong turns, we're now in León, tired but content after a successful day. Maybe we'll make it out of Europe before the end of our visas after all! And we are DEFINITELY having a rest day tomorrow!
Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 267 km (166 miles)
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