| Day # | 60 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 47 miles | km | 679 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 2553 miles | km | 110733 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
Today I left Fuente Dé and cycled east, then north and then west to get to Arenas De Cabrales in the northern, central part of Picos de Europa. The 45 mile ride to the campsite (there were an extra couple of miles accrued going to a supermarket beyond the campsite) was almost entirely downhill!
Yet despite this, my legs were feeling it more than they should. Surely there was almost no pedalling required, right?
Sadly this was not the case. The Mule has developed an annoying character trait. Reluctance. Reluctance? Yes, reluctance to move. And this requires me to deliver encouragement with my legs, where usually none is required.
OK, for those of you with orthodox minds who do not accept my bike has a character, never mind character traits, I shall give you a more traditional, engineering-based description of the issue. The front wheel is not spinning freely. I don't know why but first noticed it after I had a broken spoke repaired back in Logroño. I'm not suggesting there's a relationship between the two events, just saying it's then that I noticed the problem. I took the wheel off by undoing the quick release catch and it was spinning OK when not mounted. I checked the brake pads were not touching and they were not. It has to be something to do with the bearings in the hub. After refitting the wheel, it seemed OK. But not today. There was a noticeable affect and rather than accelerate downhill when free-wheeling down significant gradients, I often found myself pedalling. It's very annoying but worse, I fear a complete failure of the hub. That would be a showstopper. I think I've got a total of 9 more cycling days before I'm home again. Will the bike make it? I do hope so!
Anyway, 25 miles into the ride, the wheel seemed to start behaving properly with the friction that was slowing me down, absent! So, who knows what's going on. Nothing good is all I know!
The ride was otherwise very nice indeed. A great deal of the time, when heading north and when heading west, I was cycling in a narrow valley or perhaps a gorge and alongside a river. It was very scenic.
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| Heading east towards Potes |
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| Now heading north in the first of the gorges |
There were sections with lots of steel nets above the road to catch rock falls. And there were a lot of skull-crushing rocks in those nets!
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| Check out the rockfall nets |
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| Now heading west.... I think! |
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| I'm making an artistic statement with my finger over the lens |
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| The river has cut its path right through the limestone |
One section of road didn't have the nets and it looked like a rock fall had made a hole in the road and the bridge it passed over.
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| Big hole in the road with big rocks in it |
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| I'm camped by this river |
Not far from my destination, I saw a large flock of Griffon Vultures, just like the ones I saw in the French Pyrenees.
The campsite seems excellent. I'm camped next to the river. There's a bar with seats and tables I can use for blogging and the Wi-Fi works! Excellent.
The weather is still very volatile though. It was dry and when the sun got high enough in the sky to get past the mountains, sunny all the way here. I hand-washed my cycling kit and hung it on the line and it instantly started to rain! It's sunny again though, so just maybe my clothes will have a chance to dry.
I'm staying here at least two nights. I have no idea what I'll do tomorrow but I hear there's the highest village in the Picos to visit and a highly rated gorge to hike. Maybe one or both of these options will be selected or maybe I'll stay here and relax (especially if it's pouring down!).
It's day 60 of the trip and I've cycled over two and a half thousand miles. Go me! :-)
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