- Elizabeth Cameron-Smith
Day 34 - Coria to Oropesa - Spain
Updated: Jul 17, 2019
Crazybikeguy had an early start today- he hadn't realized that he had changed time zones sometime between Portugal and Spain!
A headwind became one of his challenges for the day coupled with sandy tracks and others that were soft rutted gravel....mud and sand made progress dangerous and rather tedious later on in the day.
The scenery was awesome and riding into Plasencia gave Grant the opportunity to stop for a bit and take photographs of the beautiful cathedral and surrounds, to quench his thirst as the temperature had started to climb as the day wore on.
As he moved onward toward Oropesa many little towns that he passed through brought more interesting photography subjects and gorgeous landscapes. Although getting in and out of Plasencia was extremely difficult and confusing as he had to cross over so many freeways to get into and out of the town, doubling back more than once.
Leaving the town involved a lot of climbing, but in the end he was happy that he had persevered as it was worth a detour visit!
The route that led (in a more direct way) to Toledo from Coria was broken up into segments - some parts were road, some rutted gravel track and some track with loose stones on overgrown pathways, to join this varied riding route together would mean avoiding the constant zig zaging to try and get there on another way but it also meant that the progress was slow and exhausting and required intense concentration.
So on reaching Oropesa Grant traveled straight through and out but then decided that he needed to stop as he was tired and another 30 km of this terrain wasn't really going to be pleasant and it was getting late.
He turned around and went back into the town to find a place for the night. It was still light and and he had a quick shower and went for a walk through this absolutely stunning ancient town with cobbled streets and beautiful old majestic structures that seemed to have been built in another time and place.
He was so happy that he had decided to stay and waxed lyrical about how really beautiful this town was.
He wanted to add 40kms on to the final distance for the day but he felt too weary to carry on to Talavera de La Reina in less than perfect conditions.
After 151 kms and eight and a half hours in the saddle with 1500m of climbing - Grant decided it was just about enough for this day!
Toledo would still be there!
At this stage we were still in Portugal and contemplating making a train trip to meet up with him in Toledo. After a lot of consideration we decided that it was going to be a tough ask as the children were extremely upset when we said goodbye in Figueira Da Foz and we didn't want to put them through another emotional farewell....that and the fact that there is no direct train from Porto to Toledo; which meant an overnight trip on the train to Madrid and then catching a different train to Toledo or flying to Madrid and then catching a train to Toledo - all a bit much for two little people.
Our mission.Their future.
'Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations'
-Anon
#grantcrazybikeguy #spain#cycling