Today began with the same multilayers of clothing: tights, arm warmers, vests, wind jackets, fingered gloves. We seem to be stuck on 4C these days. We've also been told that we may be facing headwinds all day - sigh! The good news, no rain in the forecast and possible sun sighting.
Someone said we'd be riding across the plains of Spain . . . well, so far the plains of Spain aren't flat.
Apparently we are riding in an area well known for vultures and we saw at least 15 of them circling above us. That's what the specs up in the clouds are: Eurasian griffon vultures. I believe they are the largest vulture.
We were told about a possible side trip down a dirt road to a monastery that overlooks the gorge. Of course we had to go see for ourselves and the view didn't disappoint.
We continued down the road until we came to the small village of Fuentidueña with castle ruins on top of the hill. We climbed up the hill through town and found an old church, Iglesia San Martin, but it was locked up tight. There was fencing all around the access to the castle ruins keeping it from being easily accessible and we weren't willing to hike up the hill in cycling shoes. But we wandered around the church and hospital before finding our way through the old village gates. It was a great little discovery.
It was time to get a move on since we have a winery tour this evening, but that was easier said than done. We turned into a full on headwind for the last 20 kilometers. One of those rides where you put your head down and just go . . .
We arrived in Peñafiel and found our quaint hotel and then met up with our group to walk over to the Protos Winery for a tour and tasting. We discovered Protos a couple of years ago when we were in Andorra to see the Tour de France and really enjoyed their wine.
