An unexpectedly big day today!! I should probably explain: we are rushing a bit, in order to have a big four night stop at the end of our ride! That break was planned to give Iain and Corey some time together at the “handover” and hopefully Chloe will make it down too. But the extra days meant I had to trim a couple of rest days from the first leg!!
At this rate I will need every one of those four nights!
After yesterday’s orange fest…the first half of today was all about rice!! Huge areas of paddy fields about to be planted….and flooded! Funny how one does not think about rice production in Europe…but Italy has plenty (think about Risotto!)…and Spain likewise (think about Paella!).
And for a while we joined Eurovelo Route 8. The intention is to connect the whole of Europe with hugely long-distance bike paths. But only bits have been completed (or more correctly sign-posted!)…so it is currently very hit and miss! One day….!
And then it was up into the hills. Mr Google took us into some fairly rough and very steep terrain…and we had to push the bikes for a few hundred metres! Always exhausting! A few scary moments on loose rocks!
We had to wait 70km(!!) for our second coffee-stop of the day! Spain certainly feels much more sparsely populated than -say – Italy! …once one gets away from the coast of course…and I guess we need to plan better!
All in all a lovely day’s riding…but coming after yesterday’s effort…we both arrived exhausted…and of course our lift-less apartment turned out to be on the third floor!! The view was good though!
And Altea? A sweet old town…climbing up behind the ranks of beach-side hotels….
….and all of a sudden we hear lots of English being spoken! If you are wondering why? Think Benidorm!! Only 12 or so kms away!!! Hahaha….
And not only that…..after the emptiness of so much of the coast thus far…Altea is BUSY! Weird…..almost as if the weather really is not good enough for the Spanish at “their” resorts, but is just fine for the Brits!!
Actually that is not really fair…for there are plenty if Spaniards here too! Good vibe to the town, and warm enough to eat and drink outside without shivering!!
Mr Google strikes again!!! Haha! Hopefully less spiders and cows than the ‘shortcut’ in Greece last year…!