Back in the saddle again, we set off north in the direction of Segovia.  We broke the ride into two days, planning to stop the first night at the base of Sierra de Guaderrema, the mountain range lying to the north of Madrid, and to climb its 6000 foot pass at the start of the following day before dropping into the Castillian plain to Segovia.  We more or less stayed on this plan; however, the ride out of Madrid was a navigational disaster.  We did well to reach the edge of the city but then failed completely in finding our intended route north, adding 25 extra kilometers in the process, mostly on noisy, divided lane highways.  It made for a thoroughly frustrating morning.  It was very dispiriting to bike 70 km and then encounter a sign for Madrid at only 40 km away.

Finally, escaping the suburbs, we stayed on thack for the remainder of the day, climbing up and over a series of small ranges on the route to Cercedilla, a village at the base of the masive range looming over the northern horizon.  We stayed for the night at a lovely resort hotel in Cercedilla.  The village is at the base of a hiking and skiing area, and although it was nearly deserted it looked as though it receives a fair amount of outdoor tourism in season.

We ended the day with a picnic in our spacious room, which was really large enough to serve as an apartment: a bottle of wine, cheese, bread, pistachios, and dessert.