August 15, 2015
Scenic: Hilltop before Codos to 10 km after Molina de Aragon.
Geography is not a lot of people's strong point. They think Spain is perpetually warm and sunny. It is South, isn't it. They don't take into account local geography such as altitude, or whether it's near the coast, or far inland. It's the place where most northern Europeans go seeking sun. There is no Winter and it's year round warm and sunny. Perhaps on the Costa del Sol and such places it is warm and sunny, but, in large part Spain is a high plateau continental peninsular; plains where the mean altitude is eight, nine-hundred metres above Sea-level. In Winter it can be icy cold with snow in many areas. In Summer if there's total cloud cover, it can also be a little cold and windy.
I heard it rain during the night and dreaded that it would be a wet morning, but thankfully it is dry, though big banks of thunder cloud block out the sun most of the time, resulting in a murky cool morning, with a moderate north-westerly wind.
From my car park campsite near the hilltop, I climb about a hundred metres more, then descend steeply eight kilometres to Codos, a shamble of brick houses from the valley bottom stretching up the hillside. Here, I was for taking a left for a place called Mainer, and although looking to be a more direct route on the map, it climbs up the steep street of the village and continues up, so I remain on "A" for Aragon 1504 continuing on along a valley, taking me the same way but less directly. Also with a fair amount of Michelin's green outlined road for scenic itinerary.
The valley is narrow leaving the village with a grove of beach trees following the river on the left, in among which, is a picnic area that would've made a great camp spot if I had have continued on a bit longer yesterday evening.
I am trying to get as far south as quick as possible, as much of Northern Spain is drab, but today, would be a surprise of quite fabulous scenery as I reach ahead into the country's centre, east of Madrid.
The valley soon widens out into a wide agricultural plain. The road straight with after harvest cereal stubble, ploughed fields, sunflowers and rows of vines either side for a few kilometres until very gradually rising up over a crest to where a great hollow opens up below, which the road ahead drops dramatically down into, becoming somewhat like Patagonia. There are greyish and chocolate coloured barancas, or steep rising ground up to an elongated tabular hilltop the far side.
The road below passes a village with a dominant church-tower, swings right and follows along the bottom of an arid valley a dozen or more kilometres to Calatayud by the main autopista through-route. A large town. I pass an Aldi and a little further, a Simply hypermarket on the way in, both have empty car parks and are lifeless it being no ordinary Saturday, but "Feast of the immaculate conception": the fifteenth of August and a day when everything is shut in catholic countries. I was hoping to buy bottled water somewhere.
The main drag in the centre have lots of festivities, the people are out and there are small shops open where I buy my water and some fruit. A little further along the street is a tapas bar; here, I hoped to charge the camera, as it has gone below fifty per cent of charge, but don't see any power points inside. Well, if I'm conservation in my snapping, it should last a while yet.
I have coffee and choose a tapa, an open sandwich-thin slice of baguette with a marinated red pepper topped with a sardine, very tasty.
I take A202 on toward Neuvavalos, crossing an arid plain followed by a climb through pine lined roadside, then drop down into a steep sided valley with a river meandering through the level middle, crossing over which on a modern bridge, the road swings sharp right into town at the base of a cliff-sided tabular hill with a lake upriver beyond town.
Either side of the uphill through street, are cafes full of lunchtime diners. The main tourist attraction it would seen is a monastery three kilometres further up on the hilltop. This is where I aim to reach for lunch as I suspect there to be amenities like grass, trees for shade, it now having warmed up, and perhaps a picnic table. When I climb as far, I find a large full car park. An attendant tells me there's a place for bikes inside the monastery walls, but I tell him I'm just looking for a place to eat and rest: he then directs me along a gravel laneway, well away from noise of cars and visitors, with tree bordered grass bays either side and no camping signs. I relax here for an hour after my sardine sandwich, reading my book. It's serene until a car comes along and stops and two girls get out. Looks like I'm in luck today. The younger asks in rapid Spanish where something is, then older girl in her thirties asks again speaking slowly, where the cascades are. This happens often; they see you on a bike, so think you're local and ask directions.
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The way on follows a shallow rocky sided valley, where I meet another cyclist coming the other way in a yellow raincape, looking cold and seems to be struggling as he approaches. When we're level we exchange the usual where are you coming from. He is from Malaga and heading north, complains about the headwind. He's anxious to keep going, so we continue our respective ways, which for me rises up out upon an undulating plain: the kind where you roll downhill a few hundred metres, bottom out then climb a few hundred metres over the next rise. I'm mainly in the big chain-ring, the tailwind bowling me along, which I hadn't much noticed before meeting the other cyclist, though it is drafty at times when the sun goes behind cloud, so I stop often to put on a top, only to stop again to take it off when the sun reappears and it instantly warms up.
At a point the straight road reaches a welcome sign as I cross from Aragon into the province of Castillo y Manche, the road on is CM210.
I descend into Molina de Aragon, a town overlooked by a hilltop castle as the sun sinks in the west; then there's quite a climb upon CM210 onwards. There's a blob of green on the map indicating forest roughly ten kilometres on, a place to camp, which I reach at dusk.
Today's ride: 129 km (80 miles)
Total: 8,951 km (5,559 miles)
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