A nice training run in Casa de Campo

Just went out on a nice training run on the MTB in Casa de Campo. By far most of the time the trails will be dry here, as Madrid does not get much rain. Now that it has been raining though the terrain was quite different. Besides the rain having created cracks in the normally flat dirt tracks, it was challenging to keep my "footing" at times due to the mud.

Besides many tracks I had not been on before, I also passed by the dreaded downhill where I crashed recently. This time I descended with skill and grace, bummer there were no witnesses. At 8 in the morning it's very very quiet in CdC. Neither Frans nor Edwin were able to join today so I guess they'll have to take my word for it.

All in all training is going well, should keep this pace up and pick it up maybe a little running up to the Camino early next year.

Am writing this blog post from the warmth of our local aprés-MTB hang out, a bar at Lago called Montaloya. The café con leche and tomato bread went down real well.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe
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The Kodak Zx1 pocket camera

Was given a great gift today, and it´s always great to be given a present, especially when this gift is a way cool new gadget... It is the Kodak Zx1 pocket camera.



The point of this camera is to easily shoot HD footage, to be used on YouTube or whatever. This particular pocket camera is ruggedized, and all buttons are rubberized. So sand and spots of water will be no issue, because of this rubberization as well as the fact that all ports (USB, SD etc.) are sealed off with thick rubber seals.

The camera comes with a cover, so that small incidents such as a massive MTB wipe out, will not matter as much (for the camera anyway). It also ships with a special mount strap, such that it can be easily mounted onto say a helmet or perhaps the handle bars of an MTB.

This newby to pocket cameraism will set out tomorrow on an MTB trail. I will be on a mission to bring you some glorious footage from the mountains of Madrid.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

Camino del Norte planned for 2010

Following this year's Camino to Santiago (St. James Way) from Madrid, we are planning for another and similar adventure in the new year. In April or May we will be heading out on the Camino del Norte.

The Northern Way (Spanish: Camino del Norte) runs from France at Irún and follows the northern coastline of Spain to Galicia where it heads inland towards Santiago joining the Camino Francés at Arzúa. This route follows the old Roman road, the Via Agrippa, for some of its way and is part of the Coastal Route (Spanish: Ruta de la Costa).



This Camino will be a little bit longer than the one completed this year (820 km vs. 740 km.). It will also be quite different in other respects. As it largely follows the coast lines of the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia, it will present us with many short climbs. All in all though, at first rough calculations, it will be an overall climb that exceeds the cumulative climbing we did on the '09 trail. Needless to say, we have started getting in shape for this 820 km feast that we will want to complete in 7 days. One thing's for sure, we will be eating well, as the regions we will cycle through are well known for its good food.

More on our preparations in upcoming posts.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

A good weekend with two separate trails

Madrid has a number of really great spots for mountainbiking, of which many are really close to the city. Yesterday we decided to do a trail in El Pardo, a large nature reserve of which part is open to the public.

It is just north west of the city, and surrounds the village of El Pardo. This is partly known for the palace of El Pardo, which during the Franco years was the private residence of Franco himself. In below picture you can see Frans posing in front of this palace.

The MTB trails in El Pardo are great, but there is a lot of loose beach-like sand, so cutting corners here and there proved to be rather tricky. Only one minor crash though.



Today another trail in the Casa de Campo, and it is amazing how many hidden trails this gigantic city forest still has for me. Today I discovered a number of trails I had never been on before. I also descended the dreaded hill where I crashed the other day... this time I made it down OK. Casa de Campo is real popular with Madridś MTBers, and the restaurants at Lago usually serve as the watering hole for after a descent work-out.



We have started planning our next Camino, for 2010, and are considering doing the Camino del Norte. Essentially along the coast from San Sebastian in the Basque country, to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Among other great sights this will take us over the Picos de Europa. Cannot wait, we are condidering anywhere between March and June. We will be training through the winter, wanna make sure I'll be fit for this one. More on our plans in upcoming posts.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

A delightful day in the Casa de Campo

well, the day was simply amazing. Blue skies, no wind and 24 degrees centigrade made for perfect conditions for some mountain biking in Casa de Campo. This is an enormous park, a forest rather, bordering the city center of Madrid. To give you a feel of its size, it is five times the size of New York´s Central Park.

Casa de Campo is also where the mountain biking world cup was held this year in May. So we were obviously keen to try out some of these WC trails. This was by no means our first time there, in fact we have cycled through it many times before. Its extremely convenient location in the city as well as its great tracks make it perfect for a few hours of MTBing.


All was well today as we ascended and descended, until I decided to gun it down one of the more challenging and steep world cup runs. It was very steep and somehow my front wheel got a bit stuck. I soon found myself airborn and doing a bit of a somersault, with bike and all. The landing, face first, in the dirt took the wind out of me for a bit. Part of the landing was broken by my helmet and I was glad to be weiring all finger and tough gloves. Besides some token blood (to impress the girls) I was fine and left the area of the crash unscathed. It happened right underneath the gondola, and am sure it must have provided some of its passengers with a spectacular scene. I aim to please of course... ;)

anyway, the bike will need to be tuned a little bit and will go in for service tomorrow, will want to head out again next weekend of course.

hasta la próxima
Douwe

La Pedriza, Madrid

I have done Pedriza twice before, once in April (although we did only a snippet of the entire trail) and once on June 20 of this year. An amazing circular trail, which we did counter clockwise. This meant that we had the steapest climb to start with with a long descent to take us back to where we had parked the car.


This trail is not particularly difficult, technically speaking. The difficulty is in the steep and long climb as you can see in below diagram.




Once you start to climb a little bit the views start getting better and better. There is a viewpoint (mirador) at the top of the trail, with stunning views of the peeks of Pedriza and down below Manzanares and the lake. In the distance you can also see the city of Madrid and its unmistakable 4 towers.



This trail is definitely worth going for, but don't underestimate the climb. If you stay on the track, a pretty smooth dirt track with small rocks and gravel, it is very easy going. Next time I am keen to take some of the forest trails that are around. The park, up until you reach the hight of the mirador, is pretty much a pine forest with huge rocks. Am looking forward to doing a winter wonderland trail once there will be snow later in the season, is supposed to be amazing.



We only had one incident happen yesterday, one that has now got Frans convince that he will in fact bring his gloves and helmet next time.

BajaBikesMadrid now on YouTube

With Baja Bikes you can explore Madrid in a unique way, you will see the best highlights of the city during a relaxed bicycle tour. You will cross the old city centre, the Retiro Park and cycle past many interesting sights. The BajaBikes Madrid guides know the city and its history very well, and will open up a complete new Madrid for you.

cycling through Madrid, awesome!!

at first I was a little skeptical about cycling through the center of Madrid, but after having been here for three years I have gotten to know the city quite well by cycling through it. It must be said, it is best done with someone who knows the best routes, better yet.. which streets to avoid as Madrid is quite the car-rich city and can be a tad chaotic. But if you know where to go and how to best navigate through the stunning center of Madrid it is really cool and a brilliant way to see the sights.

I recently came across a great guided bicycle tour company in Madrid who employ very knowledgeable guides. They take you through the center of Madrid in three hours, native speakers of English, Dutch and German. check it out on BajaBikesMadrid

Back on the saddle again

OK, so it has been a little quiet on the MTB front lately, partly due to the hot summer and vacation period, and mostly due to a fairly busy travel schedule. But, am back on the saddle and have started training. This week I started by going to work by bicycle. You might think, big deal.. but going from one side of Madrid to the other, which is far from flat, can be a bit of a workout. Click on below Google Map to get an idea of the distance... The route take me right across central Madrid.

View office home route 31 aug 2009 in a larger map

Besides the work-out it is also a learning experience. For instance, you get to know the city quite well. I have taken this route (back and forth) three times this week. Not once did I take exactly the same route, which helps me get a better feel of the lay out of the city. You also get a better understanding of typical driving behavior and how to anticipate. Luckily I have been on a bicycle in many cities, so it helps.

What´s funny is that many of the stereotypes are well confirmed. For instance, the typical BMW driver does not take it well at all being overtaken by someone on a bike. The (usually) male drivers of this type of vehicle cannot help but demonstrate their frustration of not being well endowed, and they need to have their revenge by overtaking you no... matter what it takes.

Other than that though, fairly easy to navigate through town. A refreshing way to leave a day´s of work behind and burn some calories.

We will be picking up the schedule again, and are in fact planning for an awesome 200 km mountain bike trail in the south of Spain in October. Will need to train for this as it appears to be a fairly tough and technical route.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

From an MTB to a windsurf board

Ok, so nothing to report on the MTB front as I have been on vacation in the Caribbean for a couple of weeks. Not much in the way of mountainbiking on the island of Bonaire, but did manage to get a fair amount of windsurfing in whilst I was there. Check out below YouTube video for some of the footage.



Am keen to get back on the bike, check back soon for some more MTB stuff from Madrid and the Tarragona province in Catalonia.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

30 K ride near Rascafria

We initially intended to do a rather tough ride around the mountains surrounding the town of Rascafria. What started real good ended up in us getting terribly lost, to the point where we ended up on a rather difficult and in the end impossible trail.


What followed was a lot of climbing where we had to dismount and carry our bikes across some very rough terrain. The surroundings were beautiful (see above picture), but it was not the one we intended to ride today.

We will do this trail again soon and will write a more inspired and detailed description of it. We'll make sure to prepare better to make sure we can find our way around. Even the GPS did not help us today. So more about this supposedly wonderful ride soon.

Hasta la proxima
Douwe

4 July, Tres Valles MTB trail from Cercedilla

I was intending to do a small triathlon, but as I was still recovering from a minor injury that I had from a cycling tour (a small rock smacking into my shin) I was not sure if neither running nor swimming would be a great idea. The movement for cycling does not bother my shin, so decided to head out on a 50 K MTB trail near Cercecilla with a couple of friends. For details of the trail in Google Maps click here or view below map

View Bike Trail 4 July 2009 in a larger map

The trail started in Cercedilla (alt. 1150), we set off in direction Fuenfria, first hitting the viewpoint of Vicente Aleixandre (alt. 1670). By this time we were on the Caretera de la Republica, a road that was intended to connect this part of the valley with Puerto de Navacerrada. Construction started just before the civil war, and well.. the road was never finished. In the second half of the 20th century it was reopened for recreational purposes for hikers and cyclists, but never paved an left in gravel. No cars on this trail as it is all fenced off.


Next stop was Puerto de la Fuenfría (alt. 1796), essentially where Madrid and Castilla y Leon border. By this time we had climbed a little over 600 meters and had warmed up nicely. Puerto de la Fuenfría is also where we retook the Camino de Santiago downhill, but only for a few kilometers. Passing the ruins of Convento de Casarás, we took a sharp right onto a smoothly paved connecting road. This path lead us up to the CL 601 highway. This was a fairly steep downhill, essentially loosing most of the altitude that we had just gained with blood sweat and many tears.


At the CL 601 we turned right and cycled for about a kilometer,to find the continuation of our trail on the left. Passing another barrier, one of the many that keep the cars off the mountain trails in this nature reserve, we started a much more serious climb. The first few kilometers were not that bad, but the last stretch leading up to Puerto de los Cotos (alt. 1830) was very tough. Technically the terrain was challenging, but it was also steep. Below at the CL 601 we were at 1400 meters altitude, and Cotos is at 1830, so we climbed 430 meters in just five kilometers. This really got our hearts pumping and we were glad to have made it up to Cotos.

From Cotos we took the M 604 country road all the way to Puerto de Navacerrada (alt. 1860). At first a slight descent, which of course meant we had to climb a fair bit at the end. At Puerto de Navacerrada we had reached the highest point of the day, so our spirits were up. Now all we needed to do was to find our easy descent back to Cercedilla and we could call it a day. We had a bit of a hard time finding our intended trail down, so when we asked some fellow cyclists they recommended that we follow them.

What a mistake... Although the Schmidt trail (leading from Puerto de Navacerrada to Puerto de Fuenfría) was amazing, it was much more in terms of technical skill and endurance than we had bargained for. It was stunning though, and with hindsight I am glad we did it, but at the time we figured it might have been the wrong choice.

Back at Fuenfría our way back to the car was easy, a long and fast downhill.

This is a trail I would certainly recommend, the most thrilling one I have done in the Madrid area so far and I am sure to want to do it again. Be advised though, you will be looking at 50 kilometers with an aggregated climb of 1125 meters.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

40 Km MTB trail in Cuanca Alta del Manzanares

Today I cycled approximately 40 Km´s with some friends just north of Ciudalcampo, in an area known as Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Fairly easy terrain wihout too many long climbs, but it was a nice work out. Amazing I even made it, we set off at 8:30 AM and had some difficulty getting out of bed after a rather pleasant and late BBQ party last night. I managed to drag my ass out of bed though, and drove the 25 or so kilometers just north of town where we were supposed to gather to push off. My breackfast consisted of a delicious and large piece of left over home made tortilla, breakfast of kings.



I forgot to bring my GPS, but of you want to have an idea of where we cycled, I drew up a quick mock-up on Google Maps. Will make sure to register the trail on GPS next time.

On the way we crossed an MTB race, which looked real cool. Kind of triggered me to look at entering a race after the summer holidays. Some time to get fit still..;)

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

Back in the pool

The pool season in our neighborhood, and therefore also in our building, started a few weeks ago. Great for cooling off of course with temperattures that are already high as it is, but that are looking to get to around 40 Celsius the further we get into summer. Also perfect for some exercise, especially as I have decided to do a mini triathlon on 4 July. For more information, check it out.

It is indeed a small triathlon, so nothing to get worried over. But as it will be my first I thought it wise to get back in the pool for some training. I used to swim competitively and played water polo, so the technique is still there. Now for some more endurance. Swimming, cycling and running I have all done to more or lesser extents. It will be interesting to combine the three in a row. We´ll see...

70 kilometers on the race bike

I dusted off my race-bike yesterday and figured it might be fun to go out for a bit of speed for a change. So this morning I took it out and pushed of to Colmenar Viejo. There and back is some 70 kilometers and there are frequent ascents and descents, not very steep but enough to break a sweat.

For those of you interested in cycling this route, which can get you as far as Soto el Real, there are various comprehensive Spanish descriptions on the web: Here is an example. The bicycle lane takes you right along the M 607, so is not the prettiest of routes, but if you are set on cycling a long stretch without having to cross busy roads and deal with the dangerous Spanish motorists, than its perfect.


I left home at around 6:30 AM, right around the time that it started to get light out. There was a fair amount of wind, luckily frontal on my way out which gave me confidence of an anticipated tail wind for the way back. The other way around would have been much worse. My usual route to the Colmenar bicycle lane is by taking a bit of Madrid´s so called green ring, or anillo verde. Essentially this is a bicycle lane that acompanies the M40 ring road all around Madrid. It is not bad for easy cycling, but as there are many crossings and thus places where you need to stop, it is not that well suited for a bit of racing. At this ungodly hour in Madrid however traffic is very light, so was able to make my way to the Colmenar lane quickly.

The weather was stunning and once on the Colmenar track you are immediately awarded with a very nice view of the mountains, the ones I was cycling in only yesterday morning. I pedalled quickly and soon found myself at Colmenar, figuring that it was probably a good idea to turn around.

I really enjoyed being on a racer again for a change after having had my ass firmly planted on an MTB for the majority of my trails lately. The first few kilometers took a lot of getting used to, but after a bit I was flying down the streets and the bicycle path. I do believe to have a preference for mountain biking however, which if done well gets you to the most beautiful and remote places. What struck me as odd was that a large percentage of the cyclists that I encountered on the bicycle lane were actually on mountain bikes, what´s the use I thought... off road with an MTB is so much more fun.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

La Pedriza, an amazing 40 Km trail

The alarm clock woke me at 6 AM this morning, I had plans to do a trail early in the morning at a time that the temperature would still be bearable. Pedriza was my destination, a name for part of the nature reserve Cuenca alta del Manzanares. I got there a little before 7 AM and set out on a stretch that is actually part of the Camino de Santiago, I was here a week earlier on our way to Santiago.


The trail, including a little stretch leading up to where I had parked my car, is about 40 KM. I opted to ride the trail clock-wise and started with my climb, which promissed to be an aggregate of a little over 1 Km. I had done the Pedriza before with Frans, in fact it was the first training run for the Camino. When I look back at it that now, and remember where we decided we had had enough of the climb, I now realise that we actually only climbed 1/3 of the total. It seemed so heavy at the time, but I now know how heavy this trail really is. I was glad that I had set out at such an early hour as the 18 degree temperature was great and I was dreading having to do this in 35 plus degree weather. At the top of the regular trail there is an extra run up a peak called La Nava. It looked amazing, but I figured I would keep that for another day. I did the entire trail within three hours which I thought was pretty good. During the descent back to Manzanares I passed loads of MTBers that were working on their first ascent.

I will definitely come back to this amazing trail again soon.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

We are checked in and ready to go

Amazing, seriously the first time ever for me that I have experienced an effortless check-in with Ryanair. Usually it's a big pain and they make you go back an forth to another desk for previously unadvertised extras you never thought you needed. It must be our Pilgrim karma that paved our way through what's usually a Ryanair hell. Perhaps I am jinxing it by being this positive before getting to Madrid and picking up our bikes from the belt in good condition. We'll see...so far so good.

As we entered the airport we saw a couple of Dutch pilgrims fannying about with Iberia bicycle boxes, desperately trying to get their bikes to fit whilst working towards a check-in deadline. We looked at each other and agreed that we did ourselves a great favor in preparing as well as we did.

Hasta la próxima, in Madrid
Douwe


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Preparing for our trip back home

We have a semi early flight back to Madrid tomorrow, so decided to prep all we can in terms of packing up our bikes. Knowing how the luggage Neanderthals throw around luggage, including items marked fragile, we made a trip to Decathlon for travel bags and the next door DIY for half a mile of bubble wrap. We wanna make sure our precious gear gets back home in one piece.

We are nearly done and than it's off to a nice terrace for beer, general relaxation and extremely bad jokes.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We are official

We just queued for nearly 2 hours, but have our document confirming our pilgrimage. Filling out the form you could state the reason for your trip, religious, other and religious, and non-religious. As Frans took the second category and I the third, we soon discovered that the nicer document is definitely for the religious types. Go figure.

We are off for some beers.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Santiago, we have arrived?

720 Km's
Approx 100 Km's per day
173 hours in total
About 8 hours on average on the bike per day
Effectively 57 hours on our bikes
4,5 liters of water per person per day
Frans used 4 liters of factor 50 sunblock
500 grams of pasta per person per day
4 pieces of fruit per person per day
7 cups of coffee per person per day
3 liters of sweat per person per day
25 swear words on average per person per day (with peeks on the peeks...;)
10 ML of blood in total (Frans)
25 liters of beer in total
And 25 stamps each

Just some of our trips statistics in case you are preparing a Camino of your own. We arrived safely, and are queuing for our official Camino document. It is quite busy, heaps of Pilgrims. We smell so badly that what must be a stench does not even faze us. The clean everyday tourists passing by however are giving us wide birth.

After we are done here we will find our hotel, check in, shower and plant ourselves on a terrace somewhere.

More later.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Getting ready for the last 36 km's

It is a little foggy outside, but we are up and getting ready for our last bit on the Camino. We think that it might be a tough last 36 k's as it pretty much is up and all the way with a number of steep climbs. But, all in all nothing we have nor already conquered earlier on this journey.

So, more from along the route and of course from Santiago.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Arzua, our last watering hole before Santiago

We made it to Arzua, our last stop before we set off on our victory sprint to Santiago. We toyed with the idea of continuing on to Santiago today, but decided against it as we entered Arzua. This was our scheduled stop, and we wisely chose to take it. Checked into our hotel we are now enjoying a bit of a beer and just realized that leaving Madrid seems like ages ago, while we only left last Saturday.

Frans had a minor crash today, see bloody knee photo. It is nothing serious. If you ask me it is God's way of telling him that he should not have taken as many short-cuts on the Camino as he has. At one point Frans calls me explaining that he accidentally took the wrong turn, I guess the yellow markers were not obvious enough. Consequently Frans awaits me, feet-up on a terrace as I arrive just after completing the most horrific and muddy stretch of the actual Camino. Need I say more. But God is forgiving, it was only a warning, a mere flesh wound. So mom and dad of Frans: He is OK.

We find ourselves having beers on a terrace right on the busiest street of Arzua. So after we finish up here we will see if we can find something more in line with our mood: Chill.

More tomorrow, as we embark on our finish to Santiago.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Having a quick bite to eat in Portomarín

What an amazing ride. From Sarria we headed deep into the wilderness, where the Camino took us through some extremely muddy terrain.

In one of the villages we were greeted by two very chirpy French Bulldogs, who were snoring of delight as we stopped to pat them. My parents had French Bulldogs in the past, and I can tell you they are as friendly as they are ugly. The French might want to follow their namesake dog's example, some of the French Pilgrims on the route are downright bitter. It is interesting to see how different the reactions are from some of the walking pilgrims. Most are actually fine. What's striking is that the Spanish tend to react with the most enthusiasm, especially when I sound my Camino horn. The Spanish love any kind of noise ;)

We decided to stop in Portomarín for an early lunch, as we already completed 50 km's. We parked our somewhat sore asses on a terrace for some pizza and general relaxation.

The weather is actually perfect for cycling, overcast, not too warm and dry.

More from our next stop.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Sarria, a good place to break for coffee

We just wizzed from Triacastela to Sarria, a little over 25 km done. It's a little foggy in the mountains but we are pretty sure to have great weather further down as the mist settles. It's just passed 9:15 am and we are making good progress.

The next stretch will be a slight climb to Feirreros, after which it's pretty much up and down all the way to Santiago.

We might actually decide to go to Santiago today, we'll see how it goes.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Goodmorning Triacastela

Once again we slept like babies and are completely refreshed after 8+ hours of comatose sleep. Frans jumped into his jeans and ran to the hotel garden where we had locked up our bikes for the night. Turns out he had a nightmare of our bikes being stolen and us having to catch a smelly bus to Santiago. Luckily also in this case dreams don't always come true :-)

Our hostel is right at the 129 Km marker, so no guessing how far we have left. Today we will see how it goes, but we want to do a minimum of 100 km, such that if we overnight before Santiago that we have little left for tomorrow morning. The plan is to have at least half a day there before we catch our Sunday morning flight back home.

It's been an amazing journey so far, a lot of which we captured on video. As soon as I will have had a chance to edit them, they will feature on this blog.

Time to get ready for what will be a tough day. More later from along the trail.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We arrived in Triacastela

We arrived, after the climb we were able to descend pretty much the last 20 km's. Pretty spectacular, the views as much as the descend it self.

We found our hotel without any problemsn, and have a room that thus far is the most kitch of all places we have stayed at. But, a room, a hot shower and some restaurants at spitting distance.

Now for a hot shower. We have a pretty heavy day ahead of us tomorrow, a little over 100 km's.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Resting our legs in El Cebreiro

OMG!!!! We are on what is most likely one of the toughest trails this week. We just climbed from 500 to 1300 m altitude, after already having climbed some 750 meters on this mornings track.

But, we made it: "con dos cojones" as the Spanish would say.

The weather is great, a little hot (35 degr.) so we are taking in simply liters of water. A lot of it comes back as sweat, and quite a bit we cop-dust along the route. What's remarkable is that when we relieve ourselves, it sort of stains the grass a similar yellow as used for the Camino markers. Hope we're not misguiding too many fellow pilgrims with our urine graffiti...

El Cebreiro is a little hippie place on the edge of the Galician border. We are indeed in Galicia!!!! Getting pretty close now.

Ok. More when we get to Triacastela.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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Having lunch in Villafranca de Bierzo

Another 20 km done, which puts us at 50 for the day. We decided to break for lunch in Villafranca del Bierzo as we have a rather heavy trail still ahead of us. We are facing a 750 meter climb. Triacastela seems another world for us now, but I am sure we'll make it.

Bierzo is a lovely district, also known for its amazing red wine.

Lunch is mediocre, Frans his Cordon Blue is deep fried it seems. But the sun is shining and we are enjoying actually sitting down on something other than a saddle.

More after our monster climb.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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A coffee break in Ponferada

We just cycled to Ponferada, 30 km's. This puts us at the 200 minimum for cyclists, that is if you want it all to be official. From here we need to get the minimum 2 daily stamps. We will get our first of the day here at the Ayuntamiento which is right at the terrace where we stopped for some coffee. Well, tea for me actually, as I woke up last night and projectile vomitted out my supper. Am pretty sure it must have been the Gazpacho that was dodgy. In any event I was not in my best form this morning. Cycling seems to be going alright, but I will have to watch what I eat today.

The first part of today's trail so far was made up of a relatively short climb, and a spectacularly long and winding descent towards Ponferada. It helped us get here relatively quickly. We need it as we have another 60 km to go today, which includes a tough and long climb.

After coffee we'll go and visit the castle of the Knights Templar. After that I am sure we'll need to make our way towards Triacastela, our target town for today which is in Galicia.

Meanwhile we are enjoying the sun and resting our legs.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We made it to Rabanal del Camino

We made it, a cool 70 km's, it turned out slightly more than anticipated. But the weather was amazing, and all the rain and ugly weather preparations were unnecessary in retrospect. Hind sight is 20 : 20, and we learned earlier on the Camino that preparation is of paramount importance. It's all tough enough as it is.

The B&B we just checked into is more like a country manor. It is amazing and we have not one but two queensize beds in our large room. The bar is great and Heineken flows gently into pint-sized glasses whilst we come to the realization that we have only got some 240 km's to go until we are knighted über-pilgrims as we enter Santiago de Compostela.

During our previous stop, as Frans was fixing his bike, we caught up with two fellow Dutchmen who actually started in Groningen. OMG!! They left mid May and made sure we knew that they actually sleep in a tent. When we mentioned our accommodations along the route, they frowned and we tried to break the ice by admitting that we are in fact Camino Preppies (or Camino Kakkers in Dutch..) I was quick to add that I am from Groningen originally, which seemed to help a little bit. In the same town, the pueblo known as Astorga, we stocked up on water and chocolate. Astorga is known for its chocolate, no doubt through some Belgiam pilgrim that got stuck and never left. It was lovely and a great energy boost.

The scenery from Astorha to where we are now has greatly improved from near-motorway and strip-mall suburbs of León to a countryside that more resembles the highlands of bonnie Scotland than your stereotypical Spain.

We are off for a much needed shower and a dinner that is served at an un-Spanish early hour. (Kitchen closes at 10) Just as well as we have a killer program ahead of us tomorrow.

Hasta la próxima.
Douwe


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