Avila to Tarazona....

The hotel receptionist stood in the road waving us off in the morning. Although there is an increase of 5deg in the temperature of the last 24 hours, there is still extensive, thick snow on Sierra de Paramato to the S. Trees are winter bare until we drop down to the plains approaching Segovia. Hillsides have eroded to expose sandy banks in which rollers nest & perch on telephone wires nearby. Kites, eagles & vultures are such a common sight that we no longer stop the bikes to look at them. If you are ever whizzing past this way on the Autoroute, take a small detour to visit the charming, quaint village of Valdopardes.

Our route in to Segovia is not the most scenic direction to approach this majestic city, passing 'council flats' & building sites, but the only campsite, 'Camping Acueducto', is on this side. It has excellent facilities, helpful staff, & wonderful near views of the even more snow-covered Sierra de Guadarrama.

Similar to Avila, but less austere, Segovia is a World Heritage Site that has city walls encircling a Cathedral, churches & leafy plazas. The honey-coloured stone is everywhere highly decorated. The Roman 1st Century aqueduct is an astonishing 163 arches of huge granite blocks. The Alcazar at the NW corner of the walls is like a fairy-tale castle, visible for miles. It has steep slate roofs, complex turrets & towers. It is relatively modern as the original 14c building was burnt down in 1862. There are attractive buildings also outside the city walls, especially to the N. where chuches, a convent & a monastry can be approached through a pretty hamlet bridging the rio Ciguiñela. There is a lovely walk under the city walls through shady woods & past allotments.

A Scops Owl, or similar woke us in the night, calling nearby, & in the morning we had to clean off the tent having inadvertently pitched under a magpie's nest. We felt kindlier towards the hoopoes & skylarks that were competing in song as we headed off N.E. A wonderfuil days cycling over rolling hills of stone villages, all the time accompanied by views of the sierras to the S. We were aware that this part of Spain has a harsh winter, followed directly by a hot summer, & summer has now definetely arrived at about 25degs.

The extensive wild thyme & ambulante shepherds remind us of Andalucia. The sheepdogs are bigger. Here they are like a tall cross between a St Bernard & a wolf! So far they are curious rather than aggressive. The stony fields have been picked, with piles of light-coloured stones in the middle of fields or around trees. We cycled 75 miles today, & wild-camped in a pine copse.

We set off at dawn, down into a red valley, dark red soil & houses in red sandstone. Some villages have lots of simple old stone crosses, others old derelict towers, possibly defunct windmills? On the ridge to the S., we counted more than 120 wind turbines. Cervantes & his creation, Don Quixote, would be impressed with Spain's modern tally of windmills! Roasting hot so have along lunch stop with a 'menu del dia' in a tiny village (Retortillo de Soria). Half a gallon of potato & meat soup, large veal steaks cooked to perfection with a salad, followed by natillas postres (desserts like creme brulee) & coffee plus a cold beer included. We enjoyed instead cycling in the cool of the late evening, to great effect as we completed 95 miles (a record for us on loaded bikes). This placed us in a good position to cross over the Puerto La Cascara (1200 metres) at dawn, mainly a long downhill swoop into Tarazona, through lush orchards & vineyards.

Again with no campsite, the Lonely Planet Guidde led us to a 'palace', The Palacete del Arceidenos Hotel. The lady owner was upset that she could not find the key to the ground floor store, so we had to carry the bikes up 3 flights of a grand marble staircase. Our room has views of snowy mountains in the distance (the Sierra de Moncayo) & a hotpotch of ancient houses etc in the foreground. We added to the local colour by hanging our sleeping bags out of the window to air. The 'palace' is like the rest of town, dignified but decaying. They know how to enjoy themselves - on our arrival their was a short colourful fiesta procession with flamenco dancers & men on horseback. Later, as Sue booked in at the hotel, Mike was delayed with the bikes whilst the processionary dancers filled the hotel courtyard to briefly perform a flamboyant dance. Now the town centre is filled by the beautifully-dressed guests waiting for a bride to arrive at the gorgeous old Town Hall. They have built a new bullring out of town, & have converted the old one into flats & bars to great effect.

Tomorrow we head N for Tedula & the rio Ebro