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The sun here doesn't start rising until half seven, very late for Summer, so that's explanation enough for not moving until near eight o' clock. Spain is too far west for CET time. Just as I dress, I think I've left it too late, as I hear a tractor which appears to be on the track approaching, but when I'm out and look, it's cutting grass in the next field. False alarm.

I am on the road at nine riding the remaining nine kilometres to Tauste, where I climb into the hilltop town-centre, needing an ATM. Then as tomorrow will be a religious holiday and I expect all shops will be shut and the day after Sunday, I need to stock-up on food for three days. When I've to carry so much, I forget about fruit and vegetables, being too bulky and heavy; instead, make do with processed and reconstituted food. So I put in my trolley three cans of tuna, sliced processed bread, three packets of instant soup and two packs of cookies amongst other things. Luckily it is overcast and therefore cool, so I don't need to carry much water.

It's another fifteen kilometres on A127 until it crosses the Zaragoza bound autopista and the road becomes N122 thereafter. The countryside is industrial; lots of factory pig farms; lots of Lucerne grass being harvested and hauled by huge tractors and wagons to dairy herds kept permanently indoors; and lots of wind turbines. There's a stiff westerly crosswind, meaning I wait until reaching a truck stop layby with a skip to shelter behind before taking my map out to check the best road ahead to take. The rain cloud upon the dark outline of hills ahead doesn't look promising.

Should I continue upon this N122, a red road on the Michelin map continuing southwest to the north of Madrid. It has lots of stretches with green outline, meaning scenic itinerary, then plot a route through the mountainous area "Sierra de Guadarrama" with lots of smaller green outlined roads, to the north and west of the capital. It is tempting, but it's quite a detour to continuing straight south, to the east of Madrid.

In the end the wind is too much to continue in that direction today, so I turn left, as per original plan, upon A121 southeast where I experience a good tailwind, bowling me along counting down the kilometres, as there is little else to see on this dead straight road, forty-three kilometres to La Almunia. With something like ten kilometre left I pull into a peach plantation to lunch, with rows of peach trees the only shelter from the wind.

There is a Mercadona hypermarket in La Almunia, a bit of a distraction looking at new cameras, tablets and seeing have they anything useful like a good touring tyre in the bicycle department. They don't. I buy chocolate flavoured longlife milk, useful for muesli in the morning and a few other snacks.

It is a gradual straight incline for twenty-two kilometres onward to Carinena. Then right upon A1504 into viniculture country with neat rows of vines striping the increasing hilly itinerary and a huge co-operative winery on the way into the village of Aguaron; shortly after which, the road winds up a pine forested hillside, the gradient nine per cent and upwards slowing me to walking pace. Early on I come to a good camp-spot in among widely spaced pine trees, but think there'll be more such places further up. Then I'm attacked by a cloud of flies able to keep up, hovering around in front of my face and lighting upon me. The only place that'll be free of them, will be out in the open with a bit of wind. There most probably will be a parking area near the top where the wind which has settled to a breeze will keep the flies at bay.

So there is when I've climbed as far, with a level place to the side where I put up the tent.