Part 4 - Europe: Northern Spain
Magnificent day's riding today! Back on the tiny rural Spanish roads we felt as amazed as we did in February at the fabulous condition of these roads that carry no traffic. Back then we were in Catalonia and assumed, well it's a farming area, it's just the end of winter, nothing doing yet hence the quiet roads. Today though, it is May and the weather is good and still no traffic. We got a late start as we went to a supermarket in Verin first, only about 5 km from our campsite but we had second breakfast anyway and then left after 10:00. We were straight out of town and into the longest climb of the day, about 800 m elevation gain with a picnic area on top. We just love it up in the mountains here, the views are beautiful, the vegetation is all flowering and the air was very crisp and cool, even cold.
We spent the rest of the day along a big dam called Encoro das Portas. Our little road was far above it and we had views of it for hours. We also had interesting bird's eye views of the railway line, even as it came out of tunnels through the mountain only to enter another tunnels. These tunnels were long, it gave a sense that the train line was swallowed up by the mountainside. We took many rest breaks to enjoy the scenery, the sunshine and the stillness, for there was almost never a car in sight. We had the road to ourselves all day. Hardly a car passed us. It was almost eerily quiet, as if the road had been closed and we didn't know. The route follows the Caminho de Santiago and we saw a few hikers.
We had a few shorter climbs to go, at one time we dropped down under the dam wall to cross the river there and climbed up again. We also had a steepish climb up to Vilarino de Conso. We stopped there to buy bread but the bakery was closed. The lady who ran the pub sold us a baguette. About 5 km further we found a pretty good campspot in a tiny pine forest.
Another beautiful day, great roads, no traffic and amazing views. We love Northern Spain! We headed to Manzaneda which was at the 20 km mark. The ride was all pretty woodland, mainly oak and chestnut. The chestnut trees which you see here are ancient and well cared for. The villages were ancient too, beautiful stonework. After Manzaneda there is actually a grove of the trees declared a national monument. The town had a lovely atmosphere. After this we were headed for the hydroscheme at the confluence of the Rio Bibei and Rio Navea. It was a big descent right down to the small bridge which crosses Rio Navea. The views as we descended were brilliant. The tiny narrow road was perfect on bikes. We had tea at the bottom and then decided to head along the river route, with the other option being the massive 700 m climb through Navea. We followed the river to the dam wall and then climbed again into the mountains, the road was good and the climb was fine. We descended into Quiroga where we lay in the shade in the park and ate lunch and relaxed. We decided from here to complete the next climb of the route, leaving the town at 16:30. We underestimated the steepness of the climb. It was a beautiful climb in the mountains but it was hard and it was late in the day. It was hot when we left town and so we were pouring with sweat. We were both exhausted. It had been another big climbing day, nearly 2 000 m vertical meters. About 3 km from the top there was a pull off under some chestnut trees were there was water pouring from the mountainside, held in a stone tank and then pouring out a pipe below. We decided this was too good an opportunity. It was the first time on the trip that we could camp at water. We even showered by standing under the outlet pipe which was bliss. We decided to complete the climb tomorrow, it was nearing 19:00 and time to call it a day.
We are finding it a bit more difficult to get up in the mornings! First sign that you need a rest day! Portugal is an hour earlier than Spain and we were waking up there at 05:45. When we came back to Spain we set our alarms for 06:45, but have now adjusted them to 07:00 and even then we just like to grab an extra 5 minutes. We both felt a little daunted by the ride today. We have always known that the first 200 km riding from Viren (first large town we came to in Spain) to just after Ponferrada would be difficult with a lot of climbing, but when Mike looked at the elevation stuff it showed nearly 7 000 m in 200 km! You sort of hear that number but then put it out of your mind because it seems impossible. Yesterday we had made our lives much easier by choosing the river route as opposed to the climb through Navea, and even earlier in the day had managed to cut out some distance and climbing, but today we had no such luck!
We finished the climb we were on, about 1.5 km to go and 150 m and came out on top at Alto do Boi, 990 moh. Then it was downhill pretty much for quite a way. Again the road was narrow and the views were sweeping. A bit more traffic on the road due to a large quarry. We picked up water at a village and kept descending. A van carrying passengers forced me off the road when it tried to overtake and there was an oncoming vehicle, so it pulled off the road on top of me before seeing me. Luckily I was able to roll off the road and stop. The driver got a bit of a fright I think as well they should! Around the next bend they waved an arm out the window I suppose to apologise. At around 19 km we stopped to eat as the the hill climb of the day was about to begin. This was 914 m climbing over 19 km. The area, now that we had dropped all the way into the river valley, was a canyon with high sides and the river gushing away. As we rounded the first bend, Mike spotted a van which had ploughed off the road and into a gorge a few metres below the road. He had the feeling he should pull over and look as it appeared very recent, the windows were broken and airbags had deployed. It could have happened today or yesterday. Come to think of it, we had seen an ambulance pass us from Quiroga and then go back there later in the day. Anyway, fortunately there was no one in the car, but you never know. As Mike said, it could be everyone just drives passed thinking there is no one there. We then hit a section where the road was being widened so there were some active roadworks but they did not impact us riding.We stopped to buy a fresh bread at a village store.
The climb was fine, the gradients were okay, nothing too steep at least not for too long. There were a few stretches of 8% for a few km's. The road was also quieter and wider. These climbs take hours, we reached what was almost the top after about 2 and a half hours. We had something to eat at a busstop next door to a couple of cows who were very friendly. When I leaned my bike against the fence, one cow wanted very badly to lick the handlebars, so I moved it away and it licked me instead. After this we had a little more to climb and we were on top. Here we joined the EV 3 (euro velo route 3) and also the Caminho Santiago and started to see many walkers and a few cyclists. We are about 175 km from Santiago de Compostelo. From here it was pretty much easy riding, except for where we wanted to get onto the N6 which was closed (?!) and had to take a worrying track but in the end we could get onto the N6 from the end of the track and then deviated off it along a river route through some villages. After days of really quiet places, suddenly there is so much activity as the walkers use these villages. We were amazed to find out that some years 350 000 people walked the Caminho in one year! Obviously a huge source of income locally. There is a lot of road walking involved though, the road has concrete barriers built along the shoulder to create a seperate walkway for them. We got caught in a heavy shower so were pretty wet when we arrived at VillaFranca de Bierzo, where we went to the Hostal Burbia to book in for two nights. We could store our bicyles in the gargage which was nice and our room looks out over a rushing river. We look forward to resting here tomorrow.
We had a great day at Hostal Burbia and enjoyed being in VillaFranca generally. It rained quite a bit but we managed to get to the laundry in town to do our washing. We are still really impressed with the laundries in Spain and Portugal. They are self-service and very quick and reasonably priced. The detergents they use must be really good as the washing is always very clean and smells great! We were not in a rush to leave the hostal and got going at 10:00, as the rain started. We rode about 4 km when the rain stopped and it started warming up so we took our rain gear off. By the time we got 20 km down the road to Ponferrada the rain had set in again. We bought second breakfast at Lidl and put on our rain gear. It grew very cold. We were to spend the rest of the day in rain gear, mainly only rain pants and gaiters. From Ponferrada on we saw many, many, many people walking and some riding the Camino. This is not the height of the season for walkers but it is still quite a sight, especially in towns when the walkers look quite downcast. As all the people are walking towards Santiago we are going in the opposite direction which works well as they see us coming towards them. The walking route is sometimes off the road but many walkers choose to walk on the road and also the route is sometimes on the road. We did not understand the spiritual significance of the Camino de Santiago, many people undertake it as a real pilgrimage. We had our last BIG climb until we leave Spain today, which started shortly after the beautiful village of Molinaseca with it's famous Pilgrim Bridge. This climb was 950 m in 14 km which is a lot and it saved the best til last with the 11, 12 and 13 % climbs coming thick and fast in the last 5 km. It actually helped to have the pilgrims to greet and smile at as it took your attention away from the climb. Conditions were not great today as it rained a lot and often heavily off and on but we were all in the same boat which was a novelty for us. Usually it's just us out there in the rubbish weather.
We really enjoyed the scenery on the climb, the flowering plants, all yellow and purple-pink were beautiful and the rain made everything seem quite bright and clean. There was fresh snow on some nearby hills. Just short of the top of the climb was a big picnic area and pilgrim site with chapel and cross on a mound. A busload of hikers spent time at the cross singing a religious song. We made tea in an undercover area nearby. There was a bit more climbing after this and we reached the high point 1 516 moh. The view of the flatlands below us was just amazing, another whole world on the other side of the mountain. After this we flew downhill in the pouring rain, it was very cold. We stopped to pick up water in Astorga at a ridiculous bubbler that took ages to fill the bottles. We actually had stopped just before at another water tap which did not work so we persevered with the bubbler. After this we joined the camino path proper, turning off the road we were on. Here there was an infinity stream running from a tap and also from a drinking gourd held by a statue of a camino walker! It was very clever. Another super steep little climb and we found a nice place to camp in a small pine forest.
The heat we experienced in Portugal is a distant memory, even on those climbs when we first crossed back into Spain, only a few days ago it was really hot. Now suddenly it is freezing cold! It feels like it did in February! Today we rode through the flatlands of Spain with a tailwind so the riding was easy peasy. I wore wet weather gear mainly to dry it out. Mike wore his rain jacket and longs. We wore beanies, buffs and warm gloves all day. We can't remember riding in rain jackets all day when it wasn't raining! It was that cold. We rode from village to village. As it was Sunday nothing was open. We managed to buy a couple of baguettes this morning at a petrol station shop. We went nto Sahagun at the end of our day as there was a bakery which was open, and got some treats. Otherwise the larder is pretty bare and we shall have to stock up tomorrow. It is very nice to be back in rural areas, a few cows, sheep and horses about.Of course also the "camino's" as we call them. Walking, walking, walking. All along the road, mostly on their own little path. But when we think of our day which was 112 km and we saw literally nothing except a few falling down churches and many nesting storks, well they are probably only walking a quarter of that distance and seeing nothing divided by 4. As all the walkers are coming towards us, heading to Santiago, we see their faces. Many return our smiles and are friendy but most look pretty miserable. The whole thing can only be a total slog. The attraction for us of travel by foot is that you can go where bicycles and cars can't go; into mountain ranges and the wilderness. There doesn't seem much point if you follow the same route as a car or a bike. But 350 000 people a year can't be wrong, right?
We stopped for tea in a small village after about 30 km and sat next to the village church on a bench The whole time we were there, a woman over the road swept her pavement. Never seen anyone so thorough with a broom. Every village has a postage stamp sized area making a little feature. It is like a village square but smaller. Sometimes it sits in the middle of the intersection of roads in the centre. It will have nicely pruned trees and a statue or water fountain or something and some benches. I can't believe we have been seeing these areas in Spain since February and we always think "In summer it would be lovely to see the village ladies sitting in the shade of the trees escaping the heat". The trees in the village today had not even grown spring leaves yet!
Another resting spot was at a large statue showing three walkers in various states of exhaustion, huddled round a cross. We rode until we spotted a small pine forest good for camping and ended the day at 17:15 which was a nice early finish. The evening shower was pretty chilly! We are loving getting into our sleeping bags to warm up. No rain today, which was a bonus, but pretty overcast.
Very chilly morning, only 4 degrees! The first 30 km of our day passed quickly as we were in the camino throng, so many walkers to greet, so little time! One stretch was along a dirt track and the camino's were all over the place, so we were weaving in and out saying "hi" every second. It was a sunny, if a little hazy, morning and the view was all green wheatfields, blue sky and white puffy clouds. The day was beautiful, like a painting. It reminded us of the European cycle tours we went on years ago. The beauty of the morning infected the camino's who were all smiley and bright. We hit the Dia (supermarket) at Carrion de los Condes, a pretty village where we sat and ate at an old church. Mike serviced his Rohloff hub, 5 000 km oil change . After this the day just rolled on, beautiful green fields, rolling hills, many camino's walking along. We have noticed now that the camino's seem happier in the mornings and as the day wears on they sort of droop a bit. I suppose we do too sometimes, but not today. The road was pretty easy to ride and we had a tailwind! Tree lined quiet little roads, pretty villages and fields all shades of green. Also the view was so wide today, we could take it all in.
We saw quite a few cycling camino's today, also coming towards us as the walkers are and they were battling into the headwind, also going uphill into it. Well, we've all been there! We did feel for them. Rain threatened around 16:00, we quickly filled up water at a village fountain and cycled the last 10 km to a bushy area Mike had found with a cycle route going into it. The route was on a pretty muddy clay track and I made the mistake of riding through some puddles which clogged up my wheels with mud. At the spot where we decided to camp I spent quite a while cleaning the wheels. We were able to sit outside and have our dinner in the sunshine which was nice. A very gusty wind is blowing but we are sheltered.
It rained all night and the gravel tracks back to the sealed road were wetter than last night. It is not as cold now though, which is good, but we did wear wet weather gear this morning as the weather looked very threatening and it did rain a bit. There is a national road called the N120 which we have liked riding ever since we got back into Spain. The A roads (or autovia) have replaced the N roads in Spain as the major roads but this N120 is an excellent road with a wide shoulder and very quiet as most drivers pick the A road. The N roads travels roughly parallel to the A road. However, from Burgos (major town en route today) until Santo Domingo de la Calzada there is no east-west A road, so all the heavy vehicles like trucks plough along the N120. The road still has a perfectly wide shoulder, and we would happily ride any road like this with the traffic it carries. However, in Spain as we have mentioned it is forbidden to pass a cyclist within 1.5 m and so even though we ride way to the right of the shoulder, the trucks and any other traffic will still give us a super wide berth, even crossing into the next lane if there is no oncoming traffic. If there is oncoming traffic the truck will not pass us even though there really is 1.5 m of room between truck and us. As a cyclist it is a privilege to be treated with this level of respect, but it does make us feel as if we are inconveniencing the drivers. In any other country with a road shoulder like this we would not expect a truck to even budge for us.
Anyway, we stopped in Burgos for second breakfast and felt very cold. Getting in and out of Burgos was fantastic on amazing cycleways, especially going out, that one was brand new and was divided from the road. We had a climb to come on the N120 and decided to go back onto the Camino route, which was sealed on the downhill but after a small village we joined a track for 8 km uphill (steep to start) on a pretty ragged surface which was incredibly muddy in parts. Added to this was the stream of camino's wandering down towards us as we dodged puddles and people. We are very friendly to the camino's and some are friendly too but time of day and weather have a big impact on camino's so we do not get a smile out of everyone! The track ran through very beautiful forest and it must be strange if you are a camino that wants to get away from it all as you would be surrounded by people all day.
After the climb up on the muddy road we got back on the N120 for the descent. The road was very heavy with truck traffic and we kept our speed down and concentrated on holding a steady line staying in the shoulder as we went down. After the downhill the road straightened out a lot giving the trucks a clear line of sight so it was more comfortable for everyone. Also on straight roads the traffic moves much quicker. We passed through a village where people had signs up saying "A12 autovia YAH!", clearly showing their support for the extension of the autovia. It's madness to see all those trucks drive down the teeny village main streets here. People literally would have trucks passing 5 m from where they sit watching tv in their loungerooms.
Around Belorado there were roadworks and they were in fact extending the A12! Everyone is happy. We turned up passed Granon to get to a beautiful little oak forest filled with birds (and also flies and ticks) where we could take a walk into the forest to camp. It is beautiful. We love the bird song here, you can always hear a cuckoo. We do get many ticks in the forests where we camp. Generally they walk onto and into the tent and will also hop on anything warm, except our bodies which is a relief. There are many ticks around but we haven't been bitten. We are enjoying the riding here a lot. Today we were up amongst the wind turnbines for a bit, luckily another tailwind day for us.
Absolutely perfect day's ride today! Starting off from our oak forest campspot we were on a minor road until Santo Domingo de la Calzada and had fabulous views of distant mountains, closeby wheatfields and the ever-nodding blood red Flanders poppies which dot the road edges. We are even seeing Queen Anne's lace and blue cornflowers now. Makes you almost believe summer is on it's way! The morning was pretty fresh and we cooked brekky outside an historic church building in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Well, every building in the village seems to be historic. These places have been on the pilgrim route for hundreds of years. They are the real deal. Of course hundreds of years ago the pilgrims had nothing and relied on these "hospitals" often funded by aristocracy and the church to be fed and allowed to rest, sort out ailments which creep in after weeks of walking and limited resources. Nowadays the pilgrims seem more affluent, certainly I never see a camino in a Lidl, Aldi, Mercadona or Dia supermarket! Actually, we don't even ever see them filling a water bottle at a fountain! So we guess that the Camino now provides a massive income for Spanish villages, various tour companies, support crews etc. As we sat, eating our oats on a bench outside this beautiful building, we watched as a van pulled up, dropping off some muddy e-mountain bikes for two blokes who hopped on and rode off with a pannier each. At the same time an old bloke came along on a tricycle, loaded down with his stuff and various signs, flags and banners as he tootled off. So many people, so many camino's!
We were headed for Najera along our favourite road, the N120! It is so good this road, not a soul on it, everyone on the A12 alongside. We spent a bit of time sitting in a park by the river, letting Solly have fun in the sunshine. It is day 5 out of our last hotel and we have both burned through our 10 000 MAH battery packs and are on to our 20 000 MAH batteries. You do not get any charging opportunities here, there are no lonely electrical sockets in parks or even Macca's. You sometimes get them in a laundry. So when there is no sun we are stuck for charging. But our battery packs are good and we have never run out. We were surprised by how good the weather was. It was lovely sitting in the park and a very pretty town.
Next stop was Logrono, which is a big town just south of Basque country. We entered the town along the camino route and it was a lovely ride through parks and forest, many picnic benches and just really peaceful. We spent some time in Logrono, doing some shopping and also waiting for a massive thunderstorm to hit which suddenly appeared turning the sky summer blue to moody black very quickly. It never arrived though and eventually we headed off, taking a lovely cycleway out of Logrono. We only had around 20 km to some forest Mike had found for camping and it grew pretty hot as we rode, humid too and no wind at all. Leaving Logrono along the river the air was filled with the white snow of the cottonwood trees, it lay in drifts on the ground. The landscape is changing now, it seems more arid and we passed many vineyards and even an olive grove. The roads we are riding now are really brilliant, great condition, very quiet and good shoulders. No tourist traffic either and these roads are mostly not part of any cycle route. We would definitely recommend Spain as a cycle touring destination, it is brilliant.
Our campspot was at the end of a gravel track under some pine trees, next to a cell aerial. We were there before 16:30 and still no rain! Mike serviced my pedals. I am still using my oneup's and they are going well with Mike servicing them every 1 500 km. The thunderstorm did hit, after 18:00 and we had some thunder and light rain
We can only say that we had never thought that in mid-May we would still be hoping for a day free of rain! It rained a lot overnight but this morning we only had irony looking skies and just hoped the rain held off. We have now crossed the flat plains and have more climbing but not too much today. We had a headwind as the northerly wind crept up. Our route was really good though and we enjoyed the riding. Just before Estella we passed by the famous wine fountain. There is a vineyard which has for a number of years provided free wine to pilgrims by way of a tap next to the matching water tap. It is a pretty impressive arrangement to see and also smell as the rich red wine pools below it. They provide 100 l per day and when it is finished that's that, so that is incentive to get here early. While there we got talking to an Irish woman who had walked the first part of her Camino from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France as far as Estella and had now hired a bike and would now cycle until another point where she would walk again. I wished we had asked more questions about how she organised this as she had a tiny backpack so one of the transport companies must be dropping her stuff of each day at her overnight point. She seemed to think she would ride the Camino as is but had two days coming up of 150 km each to get to her pre-booked accommodation. She was so open and optimistic about her arrangements, the Irish are so beguiling. Mike gave her some advice about roads ie. take the N120! We had passed a village on the Camino route which was really high up against the hill and looked beautiful but we could see the ruts in the clay track from our road!
We popped into Decathlon which we find a really good store for all sorts of equipment and clothing and hit Lidl right next door for second breakfast. We were frozen by the time we got going again, cold wind and low temperatures so were wearing long gloves, beanies, buffs etc. We saw many cyclists today, all coming towards us. At pretty Puente La Reina-Gares we picked up water and headed off up the hill of the day. It wasn't too bad, starting with 400 m to climb in 9 km but the steeper section was in the last 3 km. We had a really strong headwind which made the climb difficult, but it was not long. We rested at a busstop which had free wifi and did some phone updates. The road was proper quiet, again all the traffic was in the A12 which ran alongside. From the start of the climb we could see the wind turbines way in the distance and they got closer and closer until we passed them at Alto de El Perdon. Here we had massive views of Pamplona which was only 10 km away. We were able to camp on top of a small hill in a pine forest.
The gusty wind died down a bit overnight but we could still hear the massive "whoosh, whoosh" of the wind turbines which were very closeby. We got up and on the bikes quite early to get to Pamplona. It was a steepish downhill start with the wind but we dropped quickly and soon were back in Camino country, the camino's were thick and fast as they left and we arrived in Pamplona. One expert camino asked us, "Aren't you going the wrong way?", sorry to break it to you, Mr Camino, but all roads do not lead to Santiago. Thank goodness. Too many travel companions. Some days the camino's just annoy us.
Number One priority today: charge batteries, Number Two: laundry. With any luck we could accomplish both at once. First: breakfast which we ate looking over the castle in a verdant park. Cornflakes today. Then we just rode along pretty quiet streets and pedestrian malls until we found a laundry and it had wall sockets. Two birds, one stone. We chatted to two camino's also doing laundry who hail from Manly in Sydney! We were able to ask all those camino questions that had us wondering. They like walking for a few days with people they have just met and then one party has a day off somewhere and you never see those people again. There is dormitary-style accomodation which most camino's use, like one in Pamplona sleeps 120 people. Most accomodation can't be booked in advance so people scurry off in the morning to be first in best dressed. The couple we met had aready walked 850 km, so they started in France way before Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port which is the start of this Camino and will walk to the west coast of Spain about another 850 km. Like us they were running up to the limit of their 90 Schengen days. We liked these camino's. It passed the time speaking with them while our batteries guzzled up power. As usual, excellent laundry, this one cost 7.90 EUR wash and dry which is standard and pretty reasonable considering. After this we made our way at a leisurely pace through Pamplona which is an okay city that we were keen to get out of which we did following a cycle route along the river. We stopped again at Huarte as the sun was still out so Solly could charge stuff (1 hour in a laundry is not enough time to charge all batteries fully) and we could relax in the sun on a bench and have lunch. Mike fashioned a replacement front mud flap from a one litre plastic milk bottle as his other one had broken. The route from there into hillier country was seamless and we were on a good road. There was a headwind. The views were of wheatfields and far off mountains. We turned off onto a teeny rural road, more wheatfields and then took a dirt road parallel to a decent road. We stayed on it as it looked like there would be more camping opportunities as it ran alongside a beautiful, clear river and through forest. It was a beautiful valley. After a few kilometres we came across another track with a space to camp in the grass, next to the river. We had our first river swim this trip. It was amazing in this crystal clear and deep stream. A cold river swim beats all. It was a relaxing evening, our first in ages where we could just sit outside and have dinner and not worry about wind or rain or ticks. We loved it! Tomorrow, France. Adios, amigos!
This morning we woke to blue skies and not one cloud! Typical that Spain serves up a perfect weather day the day we leave! We had the most amazing climb up to the Col Ibaneta, following the Urrobi River upstream. We passed Lake Nagora shortly after the start. The river was beautiful and the valley we climbed up was green and full of light. The road surface was perfect and it was quiet. A few road cyclists passed us on the climb which was way easier than we have been used to. It wasn't even steep until the last 2 km. Total climb was 26 km long. Over the top hurtling down to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, many camino cyclists came towards us. The climb was far steeper from their side with many, many hairpin bends, we only had one! What a baptism by fire to have that climb on day one of your camino from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, which is the starting point for the camino we have crossed along our route. It is a massive climb! Being a Saturday, there were many motorcyclists out for their weekend ride in the glorious sunshine. A few kilometres before the town we crossed the border into France by way of a small bridge. The town itself was very pretty and of course historical. We had lunch and left Solly in the sun. Mike bought a bottle of essence C (white gas) at the local bricolage (hardware store). It was also pretty if a hardware store can be called that! So cool to be able to buy the stuff easily. You cannot get it in Spain.
Leaving the town we had to choose, either take the main route or the EV 3. We decided on the EV 3 which immediately headed off passed the cemetry on a crazy climb. These roads are not built for our load, and seeing as we did not have to do it, we went back to the main road, which was 10 km shorter in distance and 300 m less climbing. We picked up water with 15 km to go and then towards the end of the day we had to go back onto the EV 3 to find a decent wild camping spot in the forest. These EV routes are ridiculous. If it wasn't for e-bikes we don't know who would even use them! Many people tour on e-bikes now with very light loads and go from hostal to gite etc. But these little roads have brutal climbs and steep descents. The road did take us passed a dairy farm with lovely cows and into a beautiful oak forest. We spotted an area just above the track we were on and Mike went up to investigate. Brilliant camping amongst some sort of derilect forest activity centre with ropes and wooden ladders still up in the trees, even an old tree house. We lazed around for a couple of hours before getting into the tent. It was a lovely warm evening. Tomorrow we have a choice in route again, either a very long river route or much shorter option along lightly trafficed roads. As we are due a rest day and the day after promises rain, we might do the shortter route and grab a hotel stay for two nights.