February 22, 2022
Bad night, good day
Day 4 - Portomarín to Sarilla
As mentioned, the hostel / hotel we stayed at in Portomarín was lovely: friendly, good facilities (lavadora!), great location in a nice town surrounded by beautiful hills, vineyards, farms, and the impressive Rio Miño.
That said, our bedroom had something of a flaw. Despite being a private room, it was surrounded by other rooms and dormitories, and above us was the nice bar and restaurant. The sound insulation can't have been up to EN standard and the resultant combination of door slamming, chair screeching, showering, hacking, spitting, and general babble, left us both unable to achieve the quiet night's sleep we had hoped for, despite our ear plugs.
So, somewhat unsure of our ability to tackle the mountains, and not quite well rested, we decided on another short day - 25ish km to the town of Sarilla, which contains the bike shop who turned around my problema so quickly.
The day started misty and quite cold again - the humidity here is crazy, at or approaching 100% every day so far.
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We were soon getting stuck into the climbing. Komoot told me we were on gradients of between 3 and 13% for several kilometres as we ascended from river level.
But... What was this? Success? We were doing it! We hardly had to stop at all! I even felt like I could recover on the flatter sections and we managed the steep bits with hardly a groan.
What a difference a day makes! Really feeling fitter already. It's happened to me before, but with the cycling being more challenging than predicted, the magic of cycling yourself into shape on tour, and it happening so quickly, is a big relief. Touch wood it isn't just a fluke...
... Because the biggest hills are yet to come. The next few days into and out of Ponteferrada will have the steepest, longest climbs for the whole of our route through Spain.
Today's ride: 26 km (16 miles)
Total: 112 km (70 miles)
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2 years ago
Haha we are almost starting to enjoy them. Any particular recommendations or tips for north central and north east Spain?
2 years ago