We packed up at a very unsociable hour but we weren’t the only ones disturbing the peace – the birds were already up and making themselves heard! After a quick breakfast of fruit and yoghurt, we were on the road again. Our route took us a little way into the mountains then back out again through farmland towards the town of Ponts. We had a lovely first few kilometers as the sun came up, soaking in the mountain views along a lake.

Bridge crossing

Morning mountains

Then we had to leave the lovely mountain road and were taken up and down through fields on the shoulder of the well-used C-13. The truck drivers were considerate but it still didn’t feel all that safe. The scenery was a bit dull but we made good time and (after a short section of steep uphill) arrived in a village for second breakfast.

Our view for the morning

We carried on through the fields, saw corn being harvested, smelled barns full of pigs and chickens and were very sad to see an injured snake writhing around in the road after being hit by a car.

To the mountains!

As we approached Ponts, the mountains were back on the horizon and we rode into town around 11am having done 50 km. First stop was the bakery (of course!).  We took our giant pastries to the park and settled down to spend the hot afternoon in the shade.  Dave was just lamenting his tiny roll of belly (we’ve been eating rather well on this trip) when he unpacked his pastry and tucked in…

I’ll burn this off in no time, right?

After lunch, Dave realised that one of his new gloves was missing! Nooo! We looked around the park and he rode back to the bakery but there was no sign of it. He was pretty annoyed with himself, having had them for less than 24 hours.

Sad hands

I did some yoga whilst he was searching, then we did a class together once he’d calmed down a bit! Then we discovered the free park wifi and hung out there a bit longer.

We got an email from the organiser at the next project saying that we could go along, hurray! We will be there tomorrow afternoon, it’s only another 55 km.

Just chillin

Once the hottest part of the day had passed, we packed up and headed to the supermarket, which opened for its afternoon slot at 5pm. We restocked, cooked a disappointing dinner and set off for another evening ride. On our way out of town, we saw another tourer! A local man who was out from Girona for a one week trip. We had a chat and he headed to the park for some stealth camping whilst we rode on.

It was still hot as we climbed up the steep hill out of town. The road was still quite busy but the traffic was good to us. We were heading for a big lake on the map to find a wild camping spot.

Evening light over the river

The double riding day is really nice, we get to ride in the morning and evening with a long break in the middle. The only downside is feeling extra sweaty and gross! The possibility of finding a wild camping spot with no running water was plaguing us on our way up the hills. So when we saw a petrol station ahead, we pulled in to ask if there were showers… yes!

By the time we’d both showered and done laundry, it was 9:30 and the sun was down. Behind the petrol station and its car park was a big area of open space and trees and a few picnic tables. There was also the start of a walking and cycling trail, and no signs that said ‘no camping’… looks promising. It wasn’t exactly scenic, the ground was pretty scrubby and there were a few piles of rubble around, but beggars can’t be choosers. We mooched around as it got darker, picked a spot, hung up our laundry, had dinner and then pitched the tent just after 10pm. The moon was coming up, full and bright and big.

Our not-so-wild camping spot!

We settled down for the night and were just dozing off when we heard a car come down the track towards the pile of rubble about 50m from our tent. What are they doing in an empty car park at midnight?!

We heard someone get out the car, walk around a bit, then start digging. Digging! Clearly whoever it is has murdered someone and is burying the body right here. Then they’re going to notice that we saw them and kill and bury us too. There is no other rational explanation.

We were both pretty nervous but didn’t know what to do so just lay there peeking out at the headlights and listening for noises. After a while, the car drove around to the other side of the place and parked up there for a bit, making some banging noises. Then off it went and parked at the garage, where the lights were off for the night.

And so Dave went to sleep. And didn’t even wake up when he drove back down half an hour later, headlights shining right into the tent, and parked somewhere else, did something else, then left again.

Not sure I slept very much… and how I will hate that 5:45 alarm!

– Anna

We slept well again – and woke up late. We decided we would stay here at the well equipped but very expensive Camping La Noguera for two nights so we could get a few chores done today and get an early start tomorrow, instead of starting late and having a hot ride today. So we had brekkie and did our laundry at the campsite sinks – even the PJs got a wash! We also needed to check in with Yvonne at Rewilding Europe. We came to Catalonia to visit two projects in the Pyrenees, but Yvonne has been liaising with them for us, and she’s been out of the office for a week so we didn’t know if we could just turn up or not. So we sent her an email and asked if we could have a chat sometime today.

After writing up the blog from yesterday, at about 1pm Anna had a sudden sugar crash and it turned into a terrible day. We really needed to go into town (about 10 km away) for food and to get some kit, but Anna couldn’t face it. I think eventually when I said I would go on my own, FOMO got the better of her and she resignedly got her stuff together. Just before we left we got an email from Yvonne to say she could talk to us at 3 pm. It was 2.20 at this point – so we had to get into town pretty fast. Luckily once we set off the breeze cheered Anna up a bit and we made good time into Balaguer, arriving at 2.45.

The narrow old town streets of Balaguer

We found a café and logged on just in time to chat to Yvonne. We found out that at least one Pyrenean project, La Muntanya D’Alinya, is keen for us to visit, which is great! Yvonne is going to send through contact details and the address so we can plan our onward route. Feels good to be sure we definitely have a reason to be here!

After chatting to Yvonne we went to the supermarket to get some food – the budget has been suffering a lot in the last few days – it’s much more expensive here than in Galicia and Portugal. Hopefully we can find a way to get the costs down! Anyway we went for delicious picnic lunch in the shade of a white birch tree by the river and watched some ducklings bobbing about on the water with their mum, and a solitary heron stalking the weir in search of careless fish.

Sated, we went in search of a bike shop. We needed cycling gloves for me (I stupidly lost one out of an open pannier while doing some ridiculous climb in Portugal a few weeks ago), chain lube and an expert to look at my gear cassette, which has been alarmingly failing to freewheel of late. We amazingly found an open bike shop (it’s still a fiesta here) and got the gloves and lube with minimal fuss. Now, to explain a stuck cassette to a guy who I didn’t share a language with….. With a lot of pointing and odd words of Spanish thrown in we eventually reached an understanding and he advised my to lube the hub for a few days. I’ll see how it goes. The guy was great, he also tuned my gears for free – I think he thought that’s what the problem was in the first place before I explained clearly with my expert Spanish and pointing. The shop was amazing, bikes and bits of bikes and tools all over the place, and a few ancient motorcycles outside – I think he does them too!

I’m sure I helped a bit

A piece of history

Chores done we headed home, uphill but with the wind behind us, found a shady bit by the tent and enjoyed second lunch at 6pm!

Lovely afternoon ride home

Now all that remains is to do laundry again, contact the rewilding project, check emails (I’m supposed to be buying a flat today and have no idea if it’s gone through, argh!), plan the route for tomorrow and pack away so we can get away early tomorrow. Easy!

– Dave

We got up late after our late night and planned to resupply in town before riding out in the evening.  But once again, our plans were scuppered by the fiesta day.  All the shops were shut!  We sat outside the closed Decathlon and used their free wifi, wondering what to do with ourselves.  We decided we’d leave town that evening without our supplies and save the shopping for Barcelona (by which time there will probably be another fiesta).  So we headed into town for lunch.

Cafe outside the Lleida cathedral

There was a nice vibe in Lleida, a gorgeous sunny Sunday holiday with people milling around and a fair on in the town park.  We went through a slightly rough part of town that reminded us of Peckham and everyone was chilling out in the street with some music on.  Then we went to the historic centre to have a look at the castle and cathedral on the hill.  It was so warm though, we moved pretty slowly!

Lleida from the top

Not moving very fast

Cathedral by the castle

Park siesta

After a mooch and finding an open shop (hurrah!), we went to sit in the park before finding a cafe for first dinner.  Then, rather unusually, we hit the road at 7:30pm.  With only 36 km to do, we thought we should make it before dark.

It was still very warm but the edge was taken off the sun’s rays as it started to sink low in the sky.  It was a beautiful ride through fields, although there was more traffic than we’ve become used to.  There was also a lot of roadkill, which we don’t normally see.  We saw a stoat-like animal, a hedgehog and a huge swollen boar, looking like it was fit to burst at any moment!  Ride past, quick!

Through fields

Long shadows

We rode through the lovely town of Balaguer then off the main road onto a minor road that was heading for the mountains!  Luckily our campsite for the night was just before the first of the hills but we enjoyed riding towards them as the sun set and the sky turned orange and pink.  We had a stiff headwind by this point and were pretty glad when we saw a sign for the campsite in 1km!

Dave at sundown

At about 9:30pm we pulled into the campsite, ate tortilla in baguette, pitched up and showered.  What a lovely evening ride!  Time for a glug of Mario’s wine and then bed.

In the night, I woke up and contemplated getting up for the toilet.  We’d left the outside door open so I was looking out of the tent from inside when I saw something walk past – is that a lynx?!  Or maybe a genet!  It was definitely a massive cat with a long fluffy tail and pointy ears….

We looked it up this morning and it was most likely a wild cat, which is very exciting!  I’ve never seen one of those before.

– Anna

We woke up at 6 today to make sure we could get to the station for our train at 7.40. We only pitched the outer tent let night, and it was so good to be cool all night, I think we both slept really well for the first time in days! We got on the cycle track that we’d been told about last night and zipped along by the river as the sun came up over the trees and startled ducks flapped away from us across the water.

River at daybreak

We came to a crossroads and were a bit stuck as the GPS wasn’t working, but of course, within 20 seconds a car pulled up and offered us directions to the station. Aaaah, Spain!

We got to the station in good time and spent a leisurely 15 minutes loading the bikes. Now I’m not a train geek, but I am starting to be a bike geek, and the bike rack on this train got me a bit excited!

Genius!

We had been mocking the Spanish system where you can only put three bikes on a train, but once we’d settled down into the roomy comfy seats and plugged our devices into the handy armrest plug sockets it all started to make sense. As long as you book early you’re guaranteed space for your bike and you can chill out about the whole thing. Compare the UK where you never know whether you’ll be fighting for space with pushchairs and other cyclists, or having to constantly apologise while wrestling your bike past 20 standing passengers to park it unsupported near the toilet!

Our train was going from Salamanca to Madrid, which takes about 3 hours on the Media Distancia train. Anna took the chance to have a snooze while I enjoyed a bit of Don Quixote – never read it before and thought it would be a topical time! I’m really enjoying it – I always assumed it would be inaccessible to an ignoramus such as myself, but like Candide, it’s really easy to read, and is still funny several hundred years after it was written.

When we arrived in Madrid we checked our onward travel options. We wanted to end up in Lleida in Catalonia, but we assumed it would take a few journeys to get there. It turned out that there was one direct train from Madrid per day, but it left at 3.45 pm and arrived at 10.40 pm. We decided to go for it and booked our tickets (luckily there were bike spaces available), then we retired to a cafe to try and find accommodation for the evening in Lleida. It seemed there was nothing available, even the Hostelling International hostel was full – we suspected correctly that it was ANOTHER festival day. Eventually we found a cheap hotel, but with no booking options available I had to phone up and do my best in very token Spanish to book a room for the night. Even though the guy spoke little English eventually he got tired of listening to me coming out with sentences such as “Dos personas, hoy….eleven pm….Si, hoy……” and asked me to tell him in English. I was a bit unsure by the end of the conversation whether we’d booked a room or not, but we decided to hope for the best!

We went out to explore Madrid and get some food for the day. Once again we hadn’t really researched the city, so we were just biking around hoping to find somewhere nice. In the end we bought lunch from Lidl and ate it in a small park surrounded by roads. Oh well… After that we rode off and found another park to have a rest in the shade.

Madrid!

Madrid lunch

Madrid posing

It was soon time to head back for the train and start the next leg of the journey. We turned up expecting more space age bike racks, but this time we were on a Regoinal train, which I think is basically a stopping service. The bike car here was just a normal carriage with fold down seats along each side. I stacked the bikes as best I could, but within five minutes of setting off I could see they were moving around a lot. I went back to check it our and realised Anna’s pannier rack had made a deep scratch into my frame. What an idiot. So I ignored the conductors previous instructions and re-arranged them separately, taking up more space but hopefully saving further paint damage.

So we spent 7 hours on a train. It was fun, we ate a lot of messy food, played cards and enjoyed the landscape. There were loads of weird hills, valleys and castles, and we occasionally had vague envy that we weren’t riding. When we saw the GPS dot eating up the miles to Catalonia though we felt justified in our choice!

Train Dave (thanks Anna!)

View from train window. Looked nice!

We popped out into Lleida in the darkness and prepared for a ride through the city. As it turned out though the road we needed was pretty much straight, with a bus lane and went along beside the beautiful river. There were people wandering the streets and sitting at cafes and the air was cool and refreshing. The hotel was also super easy to find. It was lovely after the predicted stress!

Night riding in Lleida

The receptionist at the hotel was super friendly. He helped us carry both bikes, fully laden, up the stairs. I think he got more than he bargained for, he was breathing quite heavily for a few minutes after! We found out that today is s festival day, and we had booked the last available room. We saw another couple arrive just after us and get turned away. I was suddenly very glad of the nightmare phone conversation earlier on! The Receptionist said he was off for dinner, and gave us both a free can of beer! What a hero. The hotel was pretty basic but it was clean and quiet, and when we got into bed we were both out like lights after a non-active but somehow very exhausting day!

– Dave

It turned out to be a good one, but it was touch and go for a time!  Last night it was really warm and we were both tired and grumpy.  At midnight I changed the alarm time from 5am to 5:30am but it was still horrible to have to get up then, and it was still dark!

Happily we were efficient though and packed up quickly and quietly, had a delicious breakfast of fruit and yoghurt and hit the road as the sky was turning red in the east.  Over the river we went, the dawn light making the river and reed beds look particularly beautiful.  The castle had a pink glow and as we rode around the town the red sun came up straight ahead of us.

Dave rides into the morning sun

It was lovely and cool and we rode up and down the gentle inclines past fields and orchards.  The blonde grasses were shining beautifully in the early light and the roadsides were scattered with delicate flowers in purple, poppy red and lemon yellow.

After 20km we stopped for a quick snack in a town square then pushed on for another 15km before we found a petrol station with public toilets.  I was starting to feel the fatigue in my legs and felt that 5 hours of disturbed sleep is not enough to repair a day of hard riding.  Dave suggested we do another 10km before stopping again so that we’d be halfway done for the day when we had lunch.  I thought I could probably make it so off we went again.

Lots of cow-nibbled trees!

We were in prairie land now, surrounded by miles and miles of fields of crops, trees and cows with only very gently rolling hills.  It was nice for an hour but it wasn’t particularly inspiring!  The storks still seem to be thriving though and they love the tractors, following them around when they’re ploughing or bailing.  (Imagine, making hay bails in May!  It’s very dry here.)

Storking the bailer

With another 10km under our belts we started looking around for a suitable lunch spot, but no spot was forthcoming.  After a minor tiff about the suitability of one spot, we continued towards the next village, which I said was only 200m off the road.  We got to the sign for the village and started heading down the road, 500m, 1km, 1.5km… oh, there it is, at the top of that hill!  We rode up to the church in search of salvation in the form of a bench and a fountain, but all we found were closed up windows and doors.  Oh dear.  This not a happy Dave did make.

So we ate and argued a bit in front of a nice view then got back on the road.  I was feeling tired and unrejuvenated after the disappointing lunch stop and Dave was getting annoyed that I’d slowed down.  I dropped back a bit and we chugged along quietly.  Then… what’s this in my rear view mirror?  A fellow touring cyclist?!

Bruce caught up with me and we had a chat and I cheered up a lot and we caught up with Dave and the kilometres flew by as we shared tales of our travels.  He’s from New Zealand taking time off post-university to do some travelling in Europe.

Dave and Bruce

Into Salamanca (spot the giant cathedral)

We arrived into Salamanca around 1pm with 92km done (a full 4 of those were unnecessary lunchtime kilometres).  Bruce guided us to the library via a pastry shop and we sat outside eating and chatting until the sun encroached on our bench.  Then we were parting ways and we waved Bruce off with a cheery Bon Voyage!

Dave and I set off to find a supermarket and the train station to get tickets for tomorrow.   The only train to Madrid with room for 2 bikes tomorrow is at 7:40am, damn!  Another early start then.  Then 5km out of town to our campsite where we had the evening to set up, do chores and chill out, ahhh.  We made friends with our English neighbours who told us there’s a cycle route to the station, hurrah!  So we’ll take that in tomorrow.

– Anna

We got up at 6 this morning and had sleepy breakfast with Johanna, packed the bikes and were on the road by 7. Amazing. We rode with Johanna to Figueira, Anna and I loaded down with our panniers once again, and she with a massive rucksack for work. We have cycled the route a few times now, so it was nice to be able to relax and just roll along enjoying the cool morning chatting and thinking about the fun times we’ve had in Faia Brava.

Rolling out

Anna and Johanna having a lovely time

As we got into Figueira we saw the Reserve’s two rural workers, Abel and Jose coming the other way. They gave us a toot and a wave, it was nice to see them once more as we were heading off for good. Once in Figueira we went to the famous (locally) Cafe Rosinho. Johanna got a coffee and sat down to wait for the office to open (it was only 8 am), and we bought our last genuinely Portuguese tarts (we crossed into Spain today). We said goodbye to Johanna and headed out onto the open road. It felt great to be exploring new territory again! Especially when the new territory turned out to be gentle rolling hills with a helpful tailwind thrown in!

We had 80 km to cover today in order to get to Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain. That’s equal to our longest day so far! Anna was confident we could do it, but I was a bit sceptical given our previous performances, and the fact we’ve just had 2 weeks off. Never let it be said however that I’m not up for a challenge, we pushed on in tight drafting formation, and apart for a quick stop to pick some wild cherries we had covered 20 km before having second breakfast (which was leftover tortilla, perfect cycling food) at 8.30.

We only stopped for 5 minutes before thrusting onwards once again, and blow me down if we didn’t find ourselves in Almeida, a tiny village with an improbably massive fortified wall around it 20 km down the road less than an hour later. Almeida has an interesting history, it is near the Spanish / Portuguese border, and when it was captured from the Moors in the 12th century by the second king of Portugal (brilliantly named Sancho the 1st), it was heavily fortified. Even though it’s a tiny place it was then re-fortified several times over the centuries – the current town wall is a massive 16-point star which could probably fit the village inside it about 10 times. We didn’t have any problems getting in though, and once we’d breached the defences we stopped there for a quick first lunch. We were delighted to see from our hilltop position that the next few kilometres looked gloriously downhill!

We were in such great form that we were soon at Vilar Formosa where we found the unguarded border with Spain. At least we thought it was unguarded, but as we shot through we saw the one guard chatting with a woman and her young daughter. We gave him a cheery “Viva Espana” as we went through and he gave us a wave back so presumably he was happy everything was in order.

After this we headed onto a main road that looked suspiciously like a motorway. We didn’t see any prohibitory signs though so we trusted to Google maps (you’d have thought we would have learned by now) and carried on. This time we were in luck, our road split off just before the actual motorway started. Once again we found our road ran parallel to the motorway at a distance of about 20 m for the next 30 km. It was glorious, if a waste of tarmac. Almost immediately we started seeing white storks by the side of the road again, these have been almost absent on the Portuguese side, we missed them! There was one we saw today that had built a huge nest on top of a small building. There was a chick in it, but the funny thing was there were also about 15 smaller birds who had moved in to the lower storeys of the nest. They all shot out as we rode past, it was a bit of a shock!

The afternoon was getting hot, and after another 17 km we pulled into Carpio de Azaba for a break. We managed to shelter from the sun on the steps of the village church. Good old God Delusion, it has a lot to answer for, but it did us a favour today! Obviously the pace was starting to tell, I wolfed down a cheese sandwich and was halfway through a mango jelly when Anna caught me at a low ebb.

The gritty reality of cycle touring

A few minutes later I was back in the game and we set out to do our last 11 km to Ciudad Rodrigo. It was still very warm, but we had the nice fuzzy feeling of knowing there was an open campsite waiting for us so we were happy enough. As we rolled up to the turnoff for town we noticed a bit of fly-tipping by the roundabout. As we got higher we realised this was actually just the edge of a massive rubbish dump, which I think might be bigger than the actual town. There are strata that have started to become re-forested, but you can tell they are there by the way they rise from the rest of the landscape. A great introduction! Things improved as we got closer though, and spotted the grand old castle on the hill, nestling behind the huge town walls. Very impressive!

We found the campsite and got set up before heading up that steep steep hill into the old fortified town. We had just showered but we were wearing again by the time we got there! The old town was really cool, narrow cobbled streets winding between spacious plazas brimming with cafes and little shops. We went to the cathedral and found they have turned part of it into a museum. It looked interesting but we baulked at the €3 entry fee. Sucks being on a budget! The outside of the cathedral was really cool, there were loads of holes in the front wall which I think are from cannonballs coming over the fortifications. We’d probably know if we’d gone inside!

Anna and cathedral

We went and hid from the heat in the shade outside a cafe and had an ice lolly, then Anna settled down with a tea while I rode round the town exploring a bit more.

Mmmmm, lolly!

Castle and river

We tried together to get into the castle, but the only accessible bit appeared to be a hotel, and we were running out of time so we bailed and went to the shops. Then it was back to camp for tasty dinner, a sip of Mario’s  delicious wine, and bed. Having just equalled our best ever distance we ned to beat it by 10 km tomorrow, so we want to be up at 5 am to avoid the dreaded sweaty afternoon riding. Goodnight!

– Dave

Last night was our last night on the reserve!  We’re sad to be leaving such a great place but excited to see where the road will take us next.

Today was spent packing up at the campsite to head into the village.  We are going to spend the night at Johanna’s to allow us to get an early start tomorrow.

We had to wash the tent (so covered in pollen!) and some of the panniers (cheesy), sort out all our kit and pack everything away.  It is getting really warm again so we were pretty lethargic and it took us ages to sort ourselves out!  But everything is clean and dry and packed away now so that feels good.

Around 2pm we were rattling up the rocky, sandy track for the last time and took a farewell picture by a meadow on the way.

Leaving Faia Brava

We spent some time in the cafe using the internet and drinking tea, then we met Johanna and went to her house.  Dave made delicious tortilla, Johanna made salad using her neighbour’s freshly picked leaves and we had it with Johanna’s home made elderflower cordial – so tasty!  After dinner on the veranda at sunset, we took a little walk up to the chapel on the hill.

Cafe time

Checking out the view

Viewpoint

On the way back into town, we chatted to Mario the wine maker neighbour and asked to buy a litre of his wine.  He refused to sell us any but gave us 2 litres for free!  Then also poured us a glass each, brought out some home cured meats and we chatted and snacked as our eyelids began to feel heavy.  What a fabulous way to end our time in Algodres!  I’m so happy we met Johanna, she definitely enriched our Algodres experience.

Night sky

When we leave Algodres tomorrow morning, it will be 2 weeks since we arrived.  We’ve had a great time seeing the reserve, meeting the lovely people from ATN and helping out wherever we could.

Here’s to the road tomorrow, whoopee!

– Anna

Today we helped Tiago put in more of his tree regeneration survey plots. For once everything happened on time and we set off into the reserve in the relatively cool morning air. We already had the feeling it was going to be a very hot day though!

Lily?

Paul the Romanian ornithologist came with us, and almost immediately he saw a lizard hiding in a rock crevice. He wanted to wait for it to come out but we had a lot of plots do do, and no time for such frippery. We managed to drag him away eventually. Approaching the first plot Anna spotted a small snake, and this generated further excitement with Paul. He was convinced it was a type of adder that had never been recorded in the reserve before. He said it was venomous, so we had to be careful. The snake was long gone, so we went to get on with the plot. Fifteen minutes later we had just finished when Paul appeared, holding a small snake in his hand. So much for being careful! I didn’t really approve of his catching it, but I have to say I wasn’t shy about taking photos. Here is one. I await an update on the species and whether or not it is indeed a new record in the reserve.

Snake!

Eventually the snake was released. It appeared extremely irritated as you might imagine and we all gave it plenty of room as it pushed off into the brush.

We all cracked on with the plots, except Paul who was more interested in watching the birds. Fair enough I suppose, that’s why he’s here. Loads of the plots today were right by the road so we made good time and managed four before lunch. we saw the horses again, which is always nice!

Horses!

We had lunch in the shade of a big rock and chatted about Monty Python. Paul was playing birdsong from his phone and managed to attract a couple of warblers into the tree next to us where they sat for a while, probably quite confused!

After lunch we pushed on. We had three more plots to do in order to finish everything on our side of the river. These last three were much harder to get to and we sweated up and down ridges in the afternoon heat. Paul was becoming less and less enthusiastic about the whole walking thing and we just about managed to get him to the last plot where he sat in the shade while we marked it out.

The road

After the last plot we had an hour to get back to base so Paul and Tiago could get a ride back to Figueira where they live. Anna, Johanna and I had no such limits as we are local folk, so we split off and went to see some prehistoric rock art that was near the trail. It was really cool that we were able to just wander up and look at it, although I don’t know whether being in the open air is doing much good for the images, they are pretty hard to make out now!

ART!

The last 40 minutes back to camp were hot and horrible. We had run out of water. I was trying to think of things to take our minds off being thirsty, but I’m pretty crap at small talk and the chat kept returning to ice cold water. Anna shot off in front and left me and Johanna to make a more leisurely journey. When we were five minutes from camp however, Anna came walking back down the track with two full water bottles for us. What a hero!

Back at camp we chugged more water from our plasticky-tasting filter and had apples and pears to get some sugar. So good! Then me and Johanna biked back to Algodres, she to her place for a shower, and me to the only cafe in the village to upload the blog. I’m hoping there is tasty dinner being prepared when I get back to camp, but what with emancipation, who knows. You have to roll with it! I think I’m still dehydrated….

– Dave