Monreal del Campo

October 10, 2023

We’ve got another hot, full-sun day again today, but in a surprise it looks like they’re running down fast. Just a day ago the forecast showed that we were going to keep seeing sun for the next two weeks, all the way to the end of the tour. I almost said something about it. That’s all changed now though, and in three or four days the temperature is supposed to drop fifteen degrees, and showery or rainy days are predicted for the next ten. Quite a change!

We’re often slow getting started in the morning, but it’s even worse today and we aren’t outdoor and the bikes loaded until after ten thirty. Finally we’re going though, but we’re only about fifty yards down Daroca’s rattletrap cobblestone Calle Mayor when I hear a call from Rachael. She’s at a dead stop in the middle of the street. I call to her to at least get off onto the sidewalk but she doesn’t budge so I walk back to see what’s up.

It’s the cargo net, which is disengaged and has wrapped itself around her rear cluster. She did the right thing by stopping immediately and not making the problem worse.

I’m respectful of this problem, which has cropped up a few times before. Once it resulted in the destruction of the strap, which created one kind of problem for us. Last year though a different sort of problem occurred when the strap suddenly freed itself, contracted quickly, and ripped out one of my brake pads in the process.

Nothing like that this time though. We lift her bike onto the sidewalk, unload it, and I flip it upside down and sit down on the sidewalk and stare at the tangle. It’s not too bad fortunately, and I’m able to unwrap it without mishap.

So that’s good. But it means it’s nearly eleven by the time we’re moving again, biking south through the lower gate for the last time. It’s getting warm already.

Today’s ride figures to be one of the less interesting ones, as we’re riding the national highway the whole way to Monreal del Campo. It’s really the only option here unless we want to go way out of our way and add a ton of climbing, which we don’t. It’s a quiet road with a good shoulder, but mostly it looks like just a ride. At least it’s easy riding and the miles go by fast, the road rising gradually as we continue following the Jiloca River up to the head of its valley.

Most of the day will look like this. We’ll have the sun in our faces the whole way.

Especially in the first half of the ride though it’s quite pretty if you look to the side across the valley; and every few miles we come to another village, most of them with a mudéjar tower spiked above it.

Looking across the Jiloca Valley. That dark ridge behind is the one I climbed up and over yesterday.

Quite pretty, in a quiet way. As slight as the flow in this small river is, it allows for a long ribbon of agricultural development.

This must be the same red formation we see back in Daroca.

About ten miles into the ride we cross another provincial boundary. Teruel! It’s another name that’s been running through my head for a long time, one I’ve always mentally associated with remote, deep Spain for some reason. It’s one of the least populated provinces in the country, second only to Malanquilla’s province, Soria. And it’s depopulating fast as younger generations leave the land. Over half the province’s population lives in villages with a population of under a hundred.

We’ll be taking our time here, getting a good look with extended stays in both Albarracin and the city of Teruel.

What a creative welcome palette! They must think they’re living in a colorful corner of the world here.

We’ll pass through a string of riverside villages as we climb up through the valley. This one’s San Martin del Rio.

Burbaguena. These churches all have Mudéjar features.

From a distance this looked like a banyan tree to me.

I like the diversity of the styles. The tile patterns are all distinctive and different from each other.

When we come to Calamocha, a large commercial center, signs say that we’re now on the El Cid cycle route; which is nice, but this stretch still looks like just the shoulder of the national highway to us. A bit strange.

We’re on the El Cid cycle route, here a highway.

We arrive at Monreal del Campo and head straight to our hotel, a converted mill about a half mile out of town. We’re expecting to have lunch, but it’s not available today. Communication is a barrier but we figure out that the restaurant won’t be open until eight this evening so after we unload our gear into our room we bike into town to the one cafe restaurant that’s open. Monreal is a small place without much happening and we’re happy to find anything at all. We sit outside and share a huge, excellent goat cheese salad and then we have our mains - Rachael gets an array of ten gambas that she struggles to peel and eat, and I have a revuelta with mushrooms.

The meal was fine enough, but for Rachael the best was the ice cream treat she got at the end of the meal - a large delicious thing almost like an ice cream sandwich, which she was generous enough to share a whole two bites of with me before she pulled it back close to her and happily polished it off.

Monreal del Campos, a quiet place. Odd name for the place, since we’re in the middle of a large plain with the nearest mountains miles away.

Nice to have our bikes right beside us while we eat. I carried my lock with me for nothing.

It’s still hot when we return to the old mill, so we of course go up to our room and relax for the next two hours. Around 5:30 though I head downstairs and sit on the patio above the mill race, delighting in watching the flotilla of six resident graylag geese drift from one end of their small world to the other and then back again. It’s very refreshing out, so I phone Rachael to come down and join me, and we sit there watching a young girl feed the geese until the sun sets and it’s chilly enough to drive us back indoors.

Our hotel in the old mill is a bit of a museum.

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Ride stats today: 29 miles, 1,200’; for the tour: 1,016 miles, 35,700’

Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 1,006 miles (1,619 km)

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Graham FinchSpain v Scotland tonight.

Will you be cheering for Scotland?
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6 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Graham FinchI won’t divulge my loyalties, but we missed it. Unfortunately we got seated at an outside table on a warm summery night and they didn’t have the telly outside. Sounds like Scotland’s still got some work to do yet though, so that’s good. Keeps the suspense in the game.
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6 months ago

Ron SuchanekThat 10:30 start is pretty luxurious!
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6 months ago