But i rode all that i had marked in the map, plus the dotted line from about Zaorejas to Molina de aragon.
When i rolled out of albarracin, a bikepacker came pushing up the hill, riding into town. We greeted each other, then i rode along the canyon again and after a few km turned onto a nice gravel track.
When i was approaching the town Bronchales, the bikepacker i saw earlier caught up with me and we went shopping, ate something on a bench and chatted a bit, then went into a cafe. He was a spanish guy, livong in uk lake district. He rode a single speed bike, that’s what he has stored at his parents in spain. Very strong cyclist i guess, he does ultra racing and also trail running etc. Later two more guys showed up in the cafe, they were from a town in the french alps, also here to ride the circle. Spanish guy had to go, he wanted to do another 100km that day, so i chatted a bit more with the french guys, then left. I was sure they would soon overtake me, i was carrying a lot of stuff that made my bike heavy. A bunch of peaches, beer, coke, water… I was kind of worried to not pass anymore shops or bars because of the warnings of the route creator, but at least on the bit i rode it wasn’t bad really. Next town i passed had a warning on the gpx: single trail up the hill. I stumbled around, pushing my bike zig zag up the hill but could not make out anything that looked like a trail. So i just followed the gpx straight up the grass.
from this point i stumbled onto a single trail. I don’t think it could be found below
Kept cycling, mostly surrounded by trees, to the nacimiento de tajo, i guess the source of the tajo. Few km further i called it a night and made myself comfortable in a refugio.
I wanted to air out my sleeping bag outside a bit but it got all wet from the dew. It was really cold again. Got some cookies and coffee in and then cycled about 35km to the next village to look for a bar to warm up, it was really cold again.
Finally rolled into Checa, found a bar, drank some coffee and ate so.e tostadas just when it started raining. The woman in the bar said it’s gonna rain all day, so after another cafe con leche i said fuck it and went out in the rain. It was starting to rain heavier, i was freezing again and hummed the old LL Cool J classic “I need gloves” to lighten up my mood. Why didn’t i buy any in Alicante?
In the next valley the rain had stopped and the road looked like it hadn’t even rained here. It was a nice quiet climb up a small asphalt road with some really mean short grades, to the spectacular village Chequilla. Crazy red rock formations. From there it kept going on asphalt, spectacular canyon road again along the Tajo river. I stopped in the next village and drank a coke. I called one of my bosses, wanted to ask about only showing up at work in the second week of july, and she asked me if i didn’t rather want to take all july off too instead. I said i will be able to kill that time, so yes. This sounds all great but it is due to the fact that the industry i work in is in a crisis and we don’t have enough clients willing to work with us right now. I get paid 60% salary though so much better than unpaid leave i guess.
photo is actually from earlier today, still at the tajo though
The track following the tajo turns to gravel for the rest of the day, amazing rocks and potential spots to swim in the turqoise water, if it wasn’t so cold. Shortly before Zaorejas i turn into a refugio again and call it a night. I am a bit bummed that i haven’t met anybody that day, i mean there were a few people, but i was kind of hyped to meet all these cyclists in that one town and thought it would maybe continue a bit like that. Oh well.
Today morning then i went a bit further along the tajo after cookies and coffee, again about 35km to the next town with a bar. Ride aling the tajo the turned to riding up the rio gallo which was still great, it was a really cold morning though once again. “I need gloves”.
Rolling into Molina de Aragon, nice looking town, i sat down in a bar for a coffee and some tortilla. Then i spotted the two french guys. I called them over and we talked, was fun. Apparently i clocked in more distance on that first day but they had taken some kind of shortcut to end up there with me. They had slept in their tent last night and actually had a layer of ice on it in the morning. Not mad about my decision to sleep in that refugio, even though it was kinda shoddy. First one was also not that great, at least not compared to those i saw in the sierra castril.
I then left the montañas vacias route to get some regular españa vacia on the way to some lake where i saw there was a campsite.
I was riding a bow to not be on the main road and what was amazing tailwinds in the beginning, turned to side and headwinds on the last 25km. But i can’t complain, so far the wind has always been in favor of me. Campsite is 27 fucking €. Definitely stealing at least some toilet paper.
This has been my route so far, if anybody is interested.