Day 11: Just weird

June 22, 2015

I was hoping to see a cave with prehistoric things in Atapuarqa. Roxanne, from the alberge the other night, said there was a cool prehistoric cave to see. Except when I arrived I discovered that you have to go on a tour. You take a bus 15 km and the next tour is not until 5pm. It was only 10am. Reluctantly I declined.

"You can still tour the museum," the woman said. "It's free."

I often don't mention small time museums but this one had something I just wasn't sure what to make of. Along with typical things like hands on fire building techniques and reproduction of area prehistoric cave art, it had what I estimate of over 1/3 of the space dedicated to prehistoric sex.

Now, I'm no expert, but I can't imagine prehistoric sex was THAT much different to sex today. Frankly, I was wondering if the museum curator needed therapy?

I don't object to the subject matter, but the proportion in relation to the other displays just seemed odd.

The rest of the museum wasn't noteworthy.

I have a hard time picturing a prehistoric couple taking a stroll in the woods as if they had just seen an evening showing of Gone With The Wind. Where is the archeological evidence for this event?

...then we had a nice display of reproduced cave art...

Anyway, after that experience I set out to ride. I had just come over a really rocky stretch that involved walking on some of the downhill as well as the up. Honestly, I'm amazed at how The Trucker is holding up in all this. I have beat the heck out of her on some of these roads, which are often little more than rocky trails. I met some other fully loaded cyclists and I seem to be the only one on the same road as the walkers and mountain bikers, who are bouncing around with their suspension, and lightly loaded, if loaded at all, bikes. Most of the "touring" cyclist have different maps that weaves them around the paved roads.

In spite of the terrain I am enjoying this, but riding a fully loaded bike on this route is not for the faint of heart or anyone without some serious mountain bike experience.

After The Sex Museum I road a long section through the forest which was both challenging and beautiful. Steep grades and rocks made it difficult, but I'm glad I did it. If it hadn't been so early in the day I would have camped up there. It was beautiful with stealth camping possibilities galore.

I ended up in Belorado. I thought about going further but I was outside a church kind of looking around and heard someone yell, "do you need a place to stay, this is an alberge," in a German accent.

Margareta was from Switzerland and we hit it off at once, with the same sense of humor.

"Can I sleep outside in the garden?" I asked her. "I'm done with people snoring and wanting to sleep with the windows shut. I need fresh air." Which was fine with her, and the price was only 5 Euros so how could I say no.

Margareta said that some organization in Switzerland sponsors the elberge and only Swiss people staff it in the summer. Her stint is 2 weeks.

All in all a great day.

Tomorrow I start heading north. Until then