Head Down And Rugged Up To Palencia.

Tonight we are in Palencia - I am trying my best to come up with something exciting that it's known for but it seems its greatest achievement is to produce the fourth highest statue of Jesus in the world. Captain Parker I know will not be happy until he has cycled to and bagged the top three. 

Today wasn't fun. We left the digs this morning and for 85 miles we have been head on into a 25 mile an hour wind. The Peacos Mountain range is not pretty and for the first three hours of cycling it chucked rain at us. It was bleak the visibility low and so were the tourists. We parked up some 20 miles in and stopped  for refuge like drowned rats. I was aware that we were ultra wet and this was confirmed by the locals who sat quietly giggling. 'Why would you go out on a bike in that weather' I translated. Even if I could speak Spanish I wouldn't have been able to give an explanation.

We push on another 30 miles and stop for some food at what we decided would be our last stop. From then we ride heads down to Palencia. The wind was unbelievable and spent the journey plodding in anticipation of the rare trees and banks that were available to offer respite to our predicament. The 200+ wind turbines we counted were a clue and we both agree not there forearm balmy conditions. Our passage On the N611 was a strange one - it tracked the motorway and was obviously the old road nobody uses anymore. It was weird to be on such a big road and travel such a distance and probably only be passed by around 50 vehicles for the whole day. Everybody used the big road and the derelict fuel stations and closed shops that we passed were less than lifting. We eventually arrived at end destination - we sit with a beer and the Sun Shines on us in the square we have found next to the Cathedral. We check up on tomorrow's weather and it looks better with 105 miles to crack tomorrow we are relieved. Our digs tonight are fantastic courtesy of booking.com probably the best app I have ever downloaded. You can sit having a beer and decide where you are staying rather than run round the city like a headless chicken which we have done in past lives. We treat ourselves tonight to fish soup and a big fat steak. I am impressed with the captains command of the language he assigns the fish soup with a strange waving of his right hand in a charrards  type gesture and orders his steak with a moo. It wasn't budding linguist stuff but it certainly was very effective. The meal was fantastic and the Spanish lady who served us was as good as a Mum. We were under the wing and spoilt. Tomorrow we hope to make Salamanca it will be weather dependent so fingers crossed touch base from there tomorrow. Beat up like a bust up sofas but not broken xx Los Dos Ciclastis