Astoria to Ponferrada

---

Woke up early after a wonderful night sleep at the spa hotel. So far the best beds yet. On the road at 8 am. There are a lot of cyclist heading out. Most we've seen yet. One of the big groups, a fully supported ride. They just hop on their bikes and ride to the next destination. All accommodation and food are taken care of. They were impressed with our mileage and the fact we are carrying our own gear. Mike and I both agree we like our system. Heading out of town we begin to climb. Today is our first big climb. Over the next 15 miles we climbed to 5000 feet elevation. It was grueling and the flies were relentless. I had to listen to my iPod to stop from going crazy from them swarming me. The music helped with my climb too. At the top Dominick was sitting there enjoying a beer and tapas. We joined him for a brief cool down. The climb took us 3 1/2 hours. The descend took 40 minutes. It was rough on the wrist and hands from braking. We had to stop and give our hands a rest. In the town of Molinaseca we crossed a bridge and under was a great swimming hole. I really wanted to swim to cool down but we needed food first. After a delicious lunch we tore of our shoes and shirts and dove in the river. It was the highlight of my day. I would have liked to stay longer but we need to keep going to our destination for the day. I was surprised at how much the heat slowed me down even after swimming. It was a long grueling 2 hours to our hotel. We checked in and notice there w as no air conditioning. This hotel was by far the least of our favorites. We rode 36 miles today and had to wait till 9 for dinner. After dinner we both tried to sleep but the room was way to hot! Oh well, tomorrow's a new day.

---

Photos

Cruz de Ferro
Pilgrims leave a stone that represents their camino. I brought a heart shape stone from Alki beach.

Comments

[Mom]

wow!
love the blog! It fills in from the posts on Facebook. Nice to hear you were treated to a spa night! Hugs