Teruel day 1

October 16, 2023

The day gets off to a good start when we show for breakfast at our excellent hotel, the Mudayyan. the buffet breakfast here is a super deal at 9€, and starts at 7. Just what you want to find on a bike tour.

Rachael’s planning on biking one day and hiking the other in our two layover days here. Weather on both of them look reasonable for a ride, but there’s more wind predicted for tomorrow so she elects today for the bike. The walk she has in mind for tomorrow goes east, so I map out a route to the west for today so she’ll see more variety on her two outings. What a nice guy, I’m sure you’re all thinking!

We’re ready to ride at 9:30. We have a 2:00 lunch reservation, so we’ll just time box ourselves and ride as far as we have time for on the 40 mile out and back I’ve mapped out. It’s generally a hill climb, so the ride back to town will be much faster than the outbound half.

Our bikes are in a conference room in the basement, so the ride starts with me riding the elevator down to retrieve and bring up Rachael’s bike (only one at a time will fit in the elevator) before returning for mine. When we’re both on the sidewalk I find I have only one glove, so it’s back to the elevator. I’m thinking I must have dropped one out of my helmet in the basement and will have to head down again, but that’s not necessary because my glove’s waiting for me, propping open the elevator door.

Just waiting for me. I wonder if it’s been frustrating for anyone trying to call the lift for themselves.

And then there’s one other critical detail for today’s story before leaving. I glance at Rachael and see that our large room key is hanging half-way out of her pocket, an accident waiting to happen. I propose carrying it myself, but she wants to keep it with her in case she gets back first so she zips it securely into her underbag. And then we’re off.

The ride starts with about a mile long descending switchback that drops us to the train station directly below our hotel, and then we backtrack the way we’ve entered and left the city twice now until we come to our turnoff another two miles into the ride. We don’t get far before I come to a reason to pull out the camera, so she’s gone and quickly out of sight as usual.

I could have kept with her longer, but then I’d have missed this shot.

And this one. As long as it stays dry it’s really nice to see some variety in the sky.

The whole ride is really quite pleasant, in general steadily climbing for the next ten plus miles. No drama, just pleasant, empty roads. What counts for drama is the weather, as it unexpectedly looks like rain is possible and at one point it starts lightly sprinkling. On the Garmin I see that Rachael has stopped at our junction in El Campillo, and I’m thinking she’s reconsidering and will turn back soon; but then she continues on, weather be damned!

And, now that I look at the photos again, actually it was pretty spectacular - especially with the red earth fields and hills. I’d just forgotten already.

Huh. I’m not certain what we’re following here. A dry tributary of the Guadalaviar, I think.

I think we’re looking southwest here at the cliffs along the Turia, the river that runs from Teruel to Valencia.

Some red earth. I think this is the same formation that gives the color to Albarracín, which really isn’t that far from here.

The church of San Sebastián, El Campillo.

Just beyond El Campillo the road splits and we take the right fork. We’ve been on a quiet road that goes nowhere in particular, and this split doesn’t either so our quiet road is suddenly really quiet. The rest of the ride is lovely as it continues climbing and the scenery sharpens as we enter the scenic Sierra de Albarracín, the same country I took a loop ride through a few days ago.

Rachael’s been here and long gone by the time I arrive and in fact is almost two miles ahead by now. She’ll eventually turn around when she gets far enough to claim a respectable 35 miles for the ride, and we’ll meet up just as I’m dropping into pretty Bezas.

East of El Campillo. Gray, a little windy, but it’s staying dry which is all we need.

One of Rachael’s shots, from beyond Bezas.

And another, still outbound and nearing her turning point.

Enough. Coasting back now. This is roughly where the day’s video picks up.

Still coasting. Looking at this, I wish I’d stayed on task and biked further.

There’s really no drama on the way back though, which is mostly downhill all the way back to town. We bypass the option to take the public elevator up from the train station to the historical center that Rachael had been so looking forward to, because if we did Rachael would end up with an embarrassingly short 34 miles.

Video sound track: Once Upon a Dream, by Jean-Luc Ponty

The drama comes at the hotel. I take Rachael’s bike down to the cellar, and after she hands me mine she heads up to the room while I take mine down as well. When I get to the room though, the door is wide open, the bedding is stripped, and a service worker is busy servicing. Confusing, but she nods and indicates that Rachael is in the servicio; and after an awkward minute she leaves us to the room, with the assumption that she’ll return later.

Remember the room key, the one that Rachael put in her underbag so it wouldn’t get lost? It’s still down there, secure in the cellar with her bike because we forgot to bring it up with us. We realized this when we were preparing to leave for our lunch reservation, so we plan to pick it up on the way out. But then we discover that we can’t leave the room. The service worker apparently locked the door on the way out, and it’s one of those insane locks that you can’t open from inside without the key.

We’re locked in! We’re going to miss our reservation! We’re going to starve!! I try a tepid knock on the door, hoping someone will come rescue us. When this produces exactly nothing, Rocky takes over. She knocks hard, and then starts screaming Help!!

That works. The service worker shows up and unlocks the door for us, but looks confused and wants to know why we didn’t just use our key to let ourselves out. Something is lost in translation here, but it all works out and we’re off to lunch minutes later.

Lunch at Venezia is terrific. We like everything about it, and when we leave we make a reservation for tomorrow’s lunch too. After lunch we rest in the room for awhile and then I leave for a look at the town’s highlights and return just in time to take my date out for her pistachio fix for the day.

Today’s offering from Cariñena, a wine town not far from Daroca.

My starter (large enough to be a main): duck risotto.

Rachael’s starter: a vegetable millefeuille crusted with gratinated goat cheese.

Ride stats today: 25 miles, 2,100’; for the tour: 1,176 miles, 43,500’

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 1,166 miles (1,876 km)

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Gregory GarceauSomehow, I knew there would be more to the key-hanging-out-of-the-pocket story. The last time I ever heard of somebody getting locked INTO a room, it also involved Rocky . . . and a remote restroom . . . and a pocket knife . . .
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Gregory GarceauYes, I doubt we’ll ever see the equal to that memorable mishap. Still, we try.
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1 year ago

Ben ParkeThe whole using your key to lock yourself in and out of your room has always struck me as a uniquely stupid way to operate a lock. I’ve never quite understood why Europeans think that’s a good idea.
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonTo Gregory GarceauIt seems to be a pattern but it’s been a long time since it’s happened.
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1 year ago