We woke and were loaded up and gone from our digs by 08:15. The temp was much cooler being so far north and in the mountains and the top of the mountains were covered with cloud/ mist. Jules, Kirky and Jase all chose to put their jacket's on but I didn't fancy the bulk of mine and was living in hope that the cloud was only due to the early start and that the sun would come out during the day. Instead I put a different base layer on and put a neck scarf on and these with the heated grips was perfect for me.
A short commute back down the road to rejoin our TET route and it wasn't long before we were on our fist trail, and boy oh boy what a trail it was!!!
We started to climb up, and up, and up so high we entered the clouds! At the top of the mountain (El Tunelon) we were at 1604m. Shame it was so early and the cloud was still low as the view would have been amazing (......but we experienced amazing views later in the day)
This trail was emense and we were on it for about 2hrs. Such a variety of riding terrain. Trail riding heaven.
We continued on and despite thinking we were heading down to a major(ish) road the trail would turn back and we'd srart rising again to pass another mountain ridge.
On one of the tarmac mountain roads linking the trails I said to the guys on the comms that the green stuff lining the middle of the road under the trees looked sketchy and literally at the second I hit it and skidded the back wheel and got the bike all crossed up and I was heading for the steep drop off the side of the road. Fortunately I managed to save it but the boys behind were roaring in my ear at the spectacle they witnessed.
Other memorable moments on today's ride were the bar on top of the mountain with a very tame deer and the views from the ridge at La Degollada (I've seen other adventure bikers on YouTube at this spot, some with awesome drone footage)
A total today of 169km (100miles) and I'd honestly say we were on trails for 90% of it. Awesome, but very tiring and come 4:30pm when we decided to pull stumps riding for the day I was feeling it, as we all were.
We found a cafe for a drink and to find digs for the four of us. I was almost falling asleep I was that knackered from the days riding.
We settled on a Camping Bungalow in a town called Arriondas which was a short 18min hop from where we were. We arrived, checked in, then grabbed a few beers from the campsite bar and sat on our bungalows decked area and chatted about the days riding. Showered and changed we headed to the campsite restaurant for a lovely dinner, including dessert. The tennis was on TV and lot's of locals were cheering on the Spanish player so there was a good atmosphere. The TV then switched to football, Spain Vs Portugal so again this added to our evenings entertainment.
Time to hit the hay soon and get ready for another fay on the trails amd hopefully to meet back up with our two other compadre's Taff and Marc.
