Once I set off, I realised I had made a numpty error and should have laid my gloves in the sun, warming them up took all the heat out of my fingers and turned them numb again. I stopped in a little suntrap and laid them out for 10 minutes and it made a world of difference for the morning.
The riding today was a good mix again, fields and fast flat pistes, into quarry areas, then a section over some hard technical purple coloured rock, moving into a single track section through low scrub. There was a tarmac road somewhere to my right, but you would never know if you didn't have the map to tell you.
After this, it wound back onto fast stuff again for a bit. I took a break from the TET to go into Teruel, to try to buy a sleeping mat, the puncture repair hadn't worked again and I was getting really pissed with this mat now. I took the N330 which I'd ridden before with Geoff. A fab road of some great bends, spattered with the odd village to change the pace a bit.
Everywhere was shut, I forgot, its a Sunday. Its lovely that Spain continues this tradition, but inconvenient for me at the same time. Another night on that stupid bloody useless mat.
I rejoined the TET north of Terual in a canyon of limestone. The area is famous for dinosaur footprints apparently, I missed them in my detour! After picking up fuel in Aliaga, the trail dropped alongside a river, past a farm full of some lovely Charolais cattle. The ascent out of that river valley proved to be a challenging one. A steep loose, water washed series of hairpins that climbed right to the top of the hills and crags. My arms were pumped by the time I'd done it! It clearly only get used by TET riders these days.
Once on the top though, the views were excellent. Limestone tops everywhere and hidden valleys, visible from above where vine fields were cultivated. The trail wound through the hills tops, passing a wooden bird hide, where I nearly bivvied for the night, before descending back into the land of villages and people.
Once down, it meandered between narrow streets through several villages, following a water channel that eventually took me past a small reservoir. Then back out into the old olive tree hillsides to the camp spot.
Another superb and varied day of riding through some truly lovely and rarely visited countryside. At one point to day, 3 deer were spooked as I came past, but they then proceeded to race across in front of me, then turn and cross again, before running alongside me for about 1km. Their final sprint across the front of me had me on the brakes, the first deer clearing the track in a single jump, the second an almost and the third, with a high kick as she knew I was closer to her than the rest. Fantastic to see. They disappeared down into a gully. Good job I wasn't a hunter, venison for dinner in a few days!!
