Molina de Aragon
June 18, 2009
Everything worked out better than I expected yesterday after discovering my pump won’t work. Roberto picked me up at the hotel at 9:30 and we got to the sporting goods store just after they opened. He is from Paraguay where he worked as a police officer for 16 years. He speaks a little English, but talked to me almost entirely in Spanish. I’m not sure I totally understand why he came to Spain, but he’s been here for three years. When I offered to buy gas for his car he told me it wasn’t necessary since he’s always worked at helping others. Between his English, my Spanish, and the dictionary we were able to carry on a conversation there and back.
A funny thing happened last night as I was leaving one of the local bars. A group of 6 women were huddled around as one of them opened two bottles of wine. I think they decided to buy the bottles rather than pay for it by the glass. The one with the cork screw looked up and said something to me. I made my usual reply of “hablo espanol un poco” then added “pero vino es vida y agua es para los pescados” (but wine is life and water is for the fish). They laughed then just as I went around the corner I heard one of them say in English “I want to go with him”. She was embarrassed when I looked back around the corner but everyone had a good laugh.
I left Albarracin at noon and am now in Molina de Aragon. I am very tired although I felt good on the bike. It’s hard to manage the physical side of things in the heat. I’m never able to drink enough while on the bike and have to drink (water) like a fish when I get to the hotels. After the day off and with the late start I probably pushed harder than was wise.
Molina de Aragon
The route went through more amazing countryside: Pine and oak forested mountains; hills with green wheat in the valleys; and open dry hillsides. There was also plenty of climbing.
In the mountains
wheat growing in the valleys
Just outside Molina I met a touring cyclist. Florin is from France where he rides his bike every day as a mailman. He left Versailles ten days ago, crossed the Pyrenees, and is headed to Andalucía in southern Spain. He’s suffering from the sun and rides with long pants and long sleeved shirt. He gave me some information tomorrow’s route since I’ll be taking the same small roads. Florin makes the forth touring cyclist I’ve talked with (not including the ones I saw doing the Camino de Santiago). I did see a couple on fully loaded bikes three days ago. We passed on a very steep climb, I was going up and they were heading down. The man didn’t say anything and the woman just said halo. They seemed like they could be Dutch or German and I’m still confused why they would just ride by. I don’t think they had time to notice how bad I smell.
Tomorrow I’ll get an early start and try to make it halfway to Pamplona. It might get interesting since there aren’t that many towns in the next stretch.
View Larger Map
Everything worked out better than I expected yesterday after discovering my pump won’t work. Roberto picked me up at the hotel at 9:30 and we got to the sporting goods store just after they opened. He is from Paraguay where he worked as a police officer for 16 years. He speaks a little English, but talked to me almost entirely in Spanish. I’m not sure I totally understand why he came to Spain, but he’s been here for three years. When I offered to buy gas for his car he told me it wasn’t necessary since he’s always worked at helping others. Between his English, my Spanish, and the dictionary we were able to carry on a conversation there and back.
A funny thing happened last night as I was leaving one of the local bars. A group of 6 women were huddled around as one of them opened two bottles of wine. I think they decided to buy the bottles rather than pay for it by the glass. The one with the cork screw looked up and said something to me. I made my usual reply of “hablo espanol un poco” then added “pero vino es vida y agua es para los pescados” (but wine is life and water is for the fish). They laughed then just as I went around the corner I heard one of them say in English “I want to go with him”. She was embarrassed when I looked back around the corner but everyone had a good laugh.
I left Albarracin at noon and am now in Molina de Aragon. I am very tired although I felt good on the bike. It’s hard to manage the physical side of things in the heat. I’m never able to drink enough while on the bike and have to drink (water) like a fish when I get to the hotels. After the day off and with the late start I probably pushed harder than was wise.
Molina de Aragon
The route went through more amazing countryside: Pine and oak forested mountains; hills with green wheat in the valleys; and open dry hillsides. There was also plenty of climbing.
In the mountains
wheat growing in the valleys
Just outside Molina I met a touring cyclist. Florin is from France where he rides his bike every day as a mailman. He left Versailles ten days ago, crossed the Pyrenees, and is headed to Andalucía in southern Spain. He’s suffering from the sun and rides with long pants and long sleeved shirt. He gave me some information tomorrow’s route since I’ll be taking the same small roads. Florin makes the forth touring cyclist I’ve talked with (not including the ones I saw doing the Camino de Santiago). I did see a couple on fully loaded bikes three days ago. We passed on a very steep climb, I was going up and they were heading down. The man didn’t say anything and the woman just said halo. They seemed like they could be Dutch or German and I’m still confused why they would just ride by. I don’t think they had time to notice how bad I smell.
Tomorrow I’ll get an early start and try to make it halfway to Pamplona. It might get interesting since there aren’t that many towns in the next stretch.
View Larger Map
posted by Gary and Jani at 9:16 AM
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