Soggy cycling to San Leonardo de Yague

Today's 65 mile route took us up into the Sierra de la Nela where apparently there is a big wolf population and it is frequently the coldest area in Spain in Winter. No sign of wolves but the weather was definitely chilly and very wet.

It was dry for the first 30 miles but the 1452m of climbing was made more challenging with a delightful head wind. The scenery was just stunning and plenty of animal obstacles to keep it interesting.

A rather ominous cloud formation.

A beautiful reservoir high up in the mountains.

The villages are beautiful with big churches.

And of course the animals...

The climbing got rather tough and I had to have the obligatory pause to hang over the handlebars and let my heart rate come down to a vaguely acceptable level.

The roads were by now very wet (as was I) and the added horse/cow poo made the descent particularly challenging. I did a rather good/scary wheel spin/skid on a hairpin bend just in front of Andy in the support van.

The picnic lunch was moved into a bar at the bottom of the descent but as it was only 15 miles from the hotel and I was soaked and frozen, I decided to push on, fuelled by a kitkat. 

Rusty was already at the hotel so I thawed out in a fabulous hot shower and we found a bar with beer and sandwiches. I think I stopped shivering after about an hour. Grimly hanging onto the bike has given me rather sore neck and shoulders and the rubbish weather is due to a storm moving through, so tomorrow's forecast looks pretty grim. As I have done the 'EFI' achievement across the US last year and I hate being cold and wet, Rusty's Ka may well have a passenger!