Stage 16 Albacete to Salobre
59 miles
We had a good meal out last night and felt reasonably well
rested when we woke. As our confidence rises that we can actually make it to
Gibraltar, we are noticing however that our energy reserves are gradually
depleting. We had a good breakfast and prepared for the day ahead. Day 16 is
one of our rest days, initially designed to be only 30 miles in length, but due
to difficulties in finding accommodation we had to extend it to 59 miles....never
mind, it should be a fairly steady day. We set off at 8:30am, having noticed in
passing through the hotel foyer that the weather forecast was predicting the
temperature to rise to 36 degrees in the shade today
We had a easy first few miles out of Albacete, the road was
smooth and despite the gradient being a gradual incline for the first 44 miles
of the day, we did not notice it at all. Both to the left and right of us the
crops in the fields were being irrigated in the cool of the early morning. The
temperature was holding firm at a cool 22 degrees. As we pressed on we noticed
many snakes along the road, all dead having been run over by passing cars. It
is a shame really, these creatures only venture onto the road in the early
hours to soak up some of the heat that is still trapped within the road. They
are not quick enough to get out of the way of motorists. We don’t know what
types of snakes these are but these are two of the many we have seen. Any ideas
what species they are anyone?
We had a first stop at Balazote, Steve once again finding us
a shady stop to have a drink and a bit of food. We limited this stop to 20
minutes as the mercury was starting to rise very quickly. It looked like the
weather forecast was going to be right. As we set off again the road started to
twist and turn. When looking at the map you could have called this route ‘Snake Pass’, for all the snakes living
along the route and the way in which the road curved its way through the hilly
terrain. It was Sunday and this brought out many motorbikes, using this section
of road as a way of testing their handling skills as they wound the throttles
open through the twisting bends.
Having had a great rendez-vous with the our newly found
cycling buddies yesterday, Peter (now nicknamed Pedro) was sporting his new
cycling shirt that he had swapped with our Spanish friends.
The road was still on a gradual incline, but we did not
really feel under any pressure, except for the heat that was building. The
irrigated fields we had seen earlier had disappeared and the landscape looked
quite barren and dry. Our next stop at 42 miles at Robledo loomed ahead and we
were grateful for the break. We had eaten little at Stop 1 so this was a good
time to tuck into some bread, cheese, tomatoes, cake and lots of water and
fizzy orange to drink!
There was only 17 miles left to go, a fairly steady day, but
as we set off the mercury rose to over 40 degrees. This is 104 degrees
Fahrenheit and is really energy sapping. We also had a headwind. We spotted an
old bull ring on the outskirts of town, it looked unused and a little
dilapidated and a few miles further on we spotted some Spanish bulls as well:
We knew that one of our biggest challenges as we headed
South was the heat and it was proving to be the case. In the shade it might
have been around 30 degrees, but out on the black tarmac road the heat bounced
back up at you from below as well as beating down on you from above. If there
was no breeze, you would draw in huge lungfuls of hot air that drifted up from
the blacktop. Foz had steadily been feeling a little nauseous during today and
we think it was this overbearing heat and mild dehydration. We needed to get to
Salobre as soon as we could.
With a last climb over that did not last too long, we descended into another small valley and worked our way upstream and found Salobre. The village square was quite busy as we passed through and we attracted some stares from the locals, probably wondering what these bike nutters were doing out in the midday Sun. What was it they used to say, mad dogs and Englishmen......!?!
Our Hostel Complejo Ribera de Salobre lay on the far side of
the village, where we were warmly greeted. Having negotiated the Alsatian guard
dog, we parked our bikes round the back and headed upstairs for a well earned
rest. We had done it again, Day 16 done. We have now completed 1,270 miles with
330 to go. We had only been in the saddle for 4 hours with an average speed of
14.3mph.
But are we getting complacent? We need to be careful, this
heat is becoming intense and could still prevent us from reaching Gibraltar.
Riding for 6 to 7 hours in temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit is a real
challenge. But we must do it, we are riding for the children who are being
cared for by Great Ormond Street Hospital. We have to find a way of dealing
with this heat so that we can make it to Gibraltar. Onwards we go..........
The Fozball Team
