Day 10. Valencia to Girona

We had a fairly relaxed schedule, with the train not due to depart until 1pm. So we had a relaxed breakfast with the others, strolled around and then checked out and took the short walk to the station.

The train to Girona was uneventful. These medium-fast trains (around 200kph) are not pressure sealed and they generate quite a bow wave in tunnels so that our ears were popping at each one. The service was good, and Keith and I headed off to the cafeteria car to get lunch for us all.

The train made only a few stops and Keith and Julie got to see this section of the Med coast for the first time. From Barcelona onwards the landscape got more hilly and a lot greener. A stark contrast to what we had been riding through inland of Valencia.

The other obvious difference is in terms of population density. No wide open vistas here... lots of towns and villages with small agricultural lots and plenty of industry.

This complex set of supports is required because one building has been
demolished and supports are needed to hold up the neighbouring ones.

When we got to Girona it was straightforward: into a big enough taxi and up the hill to Hotel Historic to sign in and be shown the way to our apartments (about 50m away) at Casa Cundaro. The old town of Girona is definitely hilly, so I am glad that we didn't even contemplate walking from the station! At the apartment there were a couple of flights of stairs but after a few trips we had all the luggage up and unpacked.

The apartment was quite comfortable. That is until the cathedral bells started almost overhead at 6am :-) Actually I didn't mind. It is a pleasant sound and I am already awake at that time.

A beer in La Rambla, which is lined with bars and restaurants

A classic Girona view in the evening

After dealing with arrival and unpacking we headed down the hill to explore. Lots of typical narrow, twisty streets, but here many of them have stairs. It reminds me somewhat of Cortona. The town is very photogenic, especially the buildings and bridges along the Onyar river, with the cathedral towering overhead. Everywhere we went there were lots of sightseers, camera at the ready but it was nver crowded unlike Barcelona!

 I made a quick visit to Girona Cycle Centre to confirm arrangements for the next day. There we met Dave and Saskia and bumped into Chloe Hosking, ex Canberra cyclist. All seemed in readiness so we agreed to return in the morning for fitting etc.

Plaça de la Independència

We had dinner of tapas at one of the many restaurants that surround Plaça de la Independència on the other side of the river. It was a comfortably warm night, quite suitable for eating outdoors and listening to the buskers - of varying quality who went from one group of tables to the next.

Then the stroll back over the bridge and back up the hill to the apartment to finish the day.

Lots of people out in the street, enjoying a drink
or just socialising.

The entrance to our apartment

Day 9. Segorbe to Valencia

As we had previously planned, Christine and Julie set off to the station to catch the train down to Valencia with the dead bike. However bike problems were not yet over... the rear tyre on my bike was a little flat. This was with a new tube, having carefully checked the tyre for shap objects etc. the previous eveing. Not too bad, but down a little. So I rolled down the hill to the service station to fill it. Bad news. It was now going flat instantly. We had no spare tubes, so I sent Keith on his way and started the walk down town to the bike shops. More bad news, one not opening and the other not open :-( So I rolled around to the train station to discover that it was a LONG wait for the next train. Pretty pissed off I called a taxi and took it all the way to Valencia Nord. This was amusing as the drive spoke no English, so we conversed via my bad Spanish. Turns out that she is a supporter of Los Che so we talked football.

Meanwhile Keith successfully found the route to the Les Valls railway station (past the end of the via verde) and caught the train in from there. The rest followed along on more or less the same route :-) Actually as I walked to the bike shops I passed a signpost with the shortest and best route back onto the via verde but by then it was too late to be of assistance to the others who chose various longer ways to get out of town.

Julie and Christine had waited for me at Valencia Nord, so the three of us rolled our laden bikes around to Orange Bikes. I explained to the guy there that I wasn't happy with the bikes and tried to explain why. No, he wasn't going to listen. No, he wasn't going to say "how unfortunate, I'm sorry it didn't turn out well". It was all about how it was our fault and I didn't know what I was talking about. It was all about charging us full retail for the broken parts. It was all about "as soon as you leave the shop with the bike it is your problem". So it is now my mission to explain to others via the internet how shoddy the service was. This poor service was brought into stark contrast by the excellent service that we were to get two days later in Girona.

From the bike shop, still pissed off, to the hotel, the Sorolla Centro. This hotel is in a great location, a short block from the station and in an area surrounded by restaurants and cafes. We checked in, showered and washed, and then the three of us went downstairs to a restaurant for lunch and to wait for Keith. He had also been around to the bike shop and was no happier than I was! Anyway enough of that, on with enjoying Valencia...

Valencia

The ride in by taxi had shown me some more of the lovely vistas of large buildings that are a hallmark of the city. That and the Turia Gardens make Valencia a very attractive city. Although Valencia is a very busy port, perhaps the biggest container port on the Med, the old city is a fair way from the coast and the industrial elements don't intrude. However they do provide the economic activity that is needed for a large city. So in the afternoon we did some more walking and sightseeing and looked forward to our dinner booking at Restaurante Riff.

This was the second Michelin starred restaurant that we were to visit in Valencia and I had high hopes. It was only a short walk to the restaurant and after a bit of effort (it isn't well signposted and doesn't look like a restaurant) we found it. It is a bit strange in that you ring a door bell and wait for a staff member to come and escort you down a corridor to the restaurant. My high hopes were somewhat met. The good? The chef is very friendly and spends a lot of time talking to customers. The decor is subdued and tasteful. The menu is short but with good coverage of meats, fish and vegetables. The staff are well trained. Last but not least the food is adventurous and very tasty. The bad? I'm sorry but it wasn't relaxing at all. We had chosen to have wines matched by the chef for each course. This meant a complete change of cutlery, plates and glassware for each small course so it seemed that there was always someone buzzing around the table. As a culinary adventure it was great, but as a meal it wasn't so good. Waiting on some food photos from Keith :-)

Day 8. Mora de Rubielos to Segorbe

The group with Carlos

Julie and Christine volunteered to escort Keith's damaged bike on the train so they loitered on at La Casa until after lunch. The rest of us set out mid morning with Keith on Julie's bike. Today's ride was pleasantly downhill for the most part. One intriguing section of the route took as winding through a large wind power generation facility. The loud noise and deep humming from the turbines was almost deafening. Also there was the terrible stench of the hundreds of dead birds scattered around. Can you spell irony? On our train trip from Barcelona to Valencia and our later return we passed one of Spain's eight nuclear power plants at Vandellòs on the Med. I know which one I would prefer to live next to. Spain is one of the largest producers of wind-powered electricity and every where you go you will see turbines on the ridgelines.

Albentosa.
If you cross the viaduct and go through the tunnel,
you'll come to a very nice patch of blackberries.

Tunnel coming into Caudiel.

The route today included several charming small towns including Albentosa, Barracas, Caudiel where I stopped for a quick lunch and there was some sort of local festival going on and Jerica where for a few kilometers the route left the old railway line and diverted through the streets of the town. There were many nice looking bars and restaurants. I stopped at one for a quick beer (it was pretty hot by then).

Actually I was doing a fair bit of stopping as my rear tyre had developed a slow leak and I was waiting for Keith to catch up with the special security tool that was needed to remove the wheel. He never did, so I had to make a stop every couple of kilometers to put more air in the tyre. Very tedious.

The last part of the route into Segorbe used a section of dirt road into Altura and then I "followed my nose" to Segorbe. Hotel Maria de Luna wasn't hard to find and was a nicely appointed city hotel. All the riders turned up, and Christine and Julie arrived on the train. We tried in vain to get Keith's bike fixed. The two bike shops did not have a mechanic working on the day, so Julie and Christine kindly volunteered to take the train again the next day to Valencia. In fact all of us decided to ride and then take the train from down near the coast.

Keith and  I repaired the flat tube only to have the valve stem break off. We fixed another punctured tube and it appeared to be holding air OK.

For dinner Christine and I went to the restaurant associated with the hotel, which was actually about a block away at another hotel property. We we pleasantly surprised: decor, table settings and service all at a high quality and food to match. The winelist was many times longer than the menu and we settled on a Ribiera del Duero which went down well.

After Teruel: Troubles with rented bikes - lucky to be alive and unhurt

International travel with your own bicycles can be expensive (airlines especially) and damage (airlines, hotels) to them happens. And in some places, getting from A to B with bikes is difficult (can't take them on high speed trains).
So we rented local bikes from Valencia and then Girona.
The bikes from Valencia were old style city hybrids, with racks and 21 speed. I thought 21 speed stopped being manufactured in 1990s - I was wrong. Probably appropriate use for these is riding around the flat city at 10 to 20kph with some groceries.
However, we put a few days of clothing and things into panniers, loaded panniers on the bikes, and we took them out in the country on roads, gravel and dirt tracks.

We had hot dry days with long times between towns to get more water. I rode at a varied pace: ride with Julie and others, stop for photos while they rode on, then zoom to catch up.

That was what I was doing when I had the Incident - I didn't die, I wasn't even hurt, I was shook up!
I'd stopped for these photos:

...and then set off to catchup to Julie.
The good tailwind was still blowing, not hot like it been on previous days. I didn't have bike computer with me, but I guess I was pushing the heavy hybrid along at 30kph on flat. I came around bend in path and could see it was straight for over a kilometer, dipped down and back up, but no other riders in sight.
So I went up to top gear and spun hard - 40+ kph? After a few hundred metres, It happened: loud noises from behind and below, pedals felt wrong - I think "back wheel tragedy" and slam brakes on. You have got to loose the wheel momentum before it throws you sideways into a tree or headfirst onto the ground. That's what kills you. Later I looked back and saw a dead straight furrow in the gravel on top of the bitumen - great braking!

My fear was that the wheel might have collapsed but I was lucky enough to have avoided that. What I saw was that part of the rear derailleur was broken off and trying to go around with the chain. Here is the broken part:





I'd stopped the bike before it damaged the spokes, but I now had a bike without gears,  a flat tyre (how did that happen?), and no human beings around. I was in shock, I couldn't even get the bike pump to work.

I texted Julie and Patrick, pondered just leaving the bike and walking in the next 10 or 20 km.
After several minutes, Julie phoned back, and soon Sandy and Peter were coming back to help out.
Peter had a multi-purpose bicycle tool with a chain breaker, so we decided to break the chain, remove the derailleur, make a short chain so that the bicycle would have a single gear and be "ride-able" after a fashion. We did this, and it took ages to get it done. Peter was fantastic - couldn't have managed on my own. Eventually we had the back tyre pumped up and the wheel back in. In hindsight, we should have pulled the back out out further to keep the chain tight - but we were just glad to get the bike back together. It was hot & dry, and we were keen to get on to our accommodation for the night.

We set off and it didn't take long to find out that the chain would move around the rear cogs when I applied effort. Should have stopped and pulled the wheel back out to stretch the chain - but I just wanted to get going. Took ages to get to accommodation - Peter and Sandy just sat back and rode at my awful tortuous pace - thanks guys!

Day 7. Teruel to Mora de Rubielos

The hardest part of today's ride was getting to the rail trail! Earlier I've said that the Ojos Negros trail is not well signposted. Perhaps the worst instance is getting into and out of Teruel. We asked for directions at the hotel, and with the assistance of Google Maps and the GPS I found a road route that would get is to the rail trail. This road route was not the easiest. First through busy Teruel on the road and then a steepish rolling section, climbing the whole way with a cross/headwind. So by the time we got to the rail trail there were already some tired legs. Then a real problem. There was a 2m high wire fence with a locked gate between us and the trail! It later turns out that we should have used a service road that we had ridden past less than a kilometer back, but it was not signposted as leading to the via verde.

Nothing for it, we unloaded the bikes and lifted them, the panniers and the less capable climbers over the gate! It took a while and I am sure it looked strange to the passing traffic but what else was there to do?

The top of the hill

Sarrion, one of the pretty villages that we passed.

OK, so now on the rail trail! It was steadily uphill but not difficult riding to the pass at Puerto de Escandon at 1223m, then downhill for the next 20km! Along the way a few small villages and a commanding view out over the valley. Tunnels and viaducts added to the variety. After riding with the group to the top of the hill I put on a bit of speed and the group were strung out by the time we arrived at La Casa de la Estacion at Rubielos de Mora. It turns out that Keith had a serious mechanical (rear derailleur self destructed), Jeff and Gerda stopped for photos, lunch etc.

Our host Carlos welcomed us and I sat down with a couple of beers to await the others. I also had mechanical issues to sort out: a tube had ripped out the valve, due to rims being drilled too big and a VERY loose fit tyre. This problem came back to haunt me again the next day.

But meanwhile we talked to Carlos, met his family and their two dogs, did some washing and generally had a relaxing time. The homecooked meals for lunch and dinner were excellent and we were made to feel quite at home.

Day 6. Monreal del Campo to Teruel.

This was a longish day in the saddle for those who do not ride regularly, and the warm weather added to the challenge. In the end it was probably "a hill too far" for some but we all made it!

A farmer moves a flock of sheep past an irrigation channel

The day started with breakfast at the Hostal and we rolled out on quiet country roads. Quite noticeable was the elevated concrete irrigation channels, some it which appear to be still in use.

Arriving at Villafranca del Campo

Shepherd with donkey. The two sheep dogs did most of the work.

The first village along the way was Villafranca del Campo, then through Alba. Along the way some sights of rural life, including shepherds grazing their flocks on the roadside.

On to Santa Eulalia del Campo where we stopped for refreshments and a comfort stop. I asked for directions to the Via Verde and was given several routes, which would all probably have turned out OK. In the end it was a simple matter to find the right road out of town.

Onto the via verde

From there it was only a couple of kilometers out of town up a gradual hill to where we met the rail trail! We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the riding surface. In general the Ojos Negros was not well signposted but the surface was better than parts of the second via verde. The next stop was at Caude for lunch. The ride into town is down a gentle hill, past parks and similar amenities. Very attractive.

Viaduct approaching Teruel

We probably sat for too long over lunch, because after that it was quite warm. We had a few navigational difficulties soon after town (poorly signposted temporary diversion) but the use of the GPS helped me to spot where we needed to be and a quick cross-country section over a field had us back on track. The next section was fairly fast although some riders were starting to feel the distance (over 70km in total). Getting close to Teruel the terrain was much lumpier and it was not at all clear as to where we should get off the via verde onto the road. In the end we probably went further than we needed to but at least it did take us over one of the more impressive viaducts.

There are two of these towers in Teruel.
The story goes that they were built by
rival suitors for the local noble's daughter,
with the builder of the best tower winning her hand

We crawled up the last of the hills and stopped for a refreshing drink at a service station, then followed the GPS directions into town.

The first pleasant surprise was this fabulous tower. Then it was just around the corner to our hotel, the El Mudayyan which was very pleasant. Once again they were all prepared for storing our bikes, so after a quick shower it was off to explore this very attractive city.

Beer and salty nuts.
Great post-ride refreshments!

My first stop was for a beer in the plaza half a block from the hotel. I was very impressed with the quality of the architecture right through this city. Over time (and a couple more beers, most of the crew dropped by and then we all set off to explore the various sights.

Teruel is a city with fantastic Mudejar architecture,
listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Our hotel was only a few meters up the lane
that you can see on the right.
These stairs lead down to the lower town where the
railway station is.

Beautifully decorated pedestrian bridge links the old town to the next ridge.

The timing of our trip meant that we caught the end of the famous Jamon festival in Teruel. I dropped in and found a tasting plate. Five euros for the plate and glass of wine.

At the Jamon Festival

There were three carvers working nonstop to supply the slivers of jamon for the tasting plates. It was a real family occasion with jumping castles etc. for the children, music and a real air of enjoyment.





We then headed back to the plaza where Christine and I had dinner with Keith and Julie. Not too bad and certainly deserved after a longish day of riding.

K&J: Valencia

The Keogh genome has them up before sunrise and organising others. Didn't work out Monday morning - I heard Patrick moving around the apartment when it was still dark, but I rolled over and went back to sleep :-)
Eventually, at a more "polite" hour, we were all up and walking off to the central markets in Valencia. What a fantastic building with food stalls and a couple of places to have coffee. Wonderful fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, oils, etc etc..

Julie and I ran out of time to do the tourist walkaround: we had to find the bicycle rental place, sort out payment, bike fitting for 4, adjust Vodafone prepaid phone data plan, wash some clothes,... Had lunch in apartment from food bought in markets, and some wine.... Then out after siesta to finish off the chores.
Then back to pack panniers and suitcases - things with us for the week, things in railway lockers.
Patrick had booked us into a fantastic restaurant for dinner : about 10 min walk away. Very pleasant evening!

We will be back in Valencia next Saturday, perhaps see more that weekend.