Jaca

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The one thing about being on the road and traveling in this manner is that sometimes you wake up and wonder which hotel/city/place you are in today. Well , I am in the same place as the day before. Huesca.

Woke up early this morning , 07.30 and will write down and post yesterdays blog before the impressions fades from the mind.

Tuesday started off as all other days have, with fantastic sunshine. I had been a bit worried because the evening news was full of pictures of thunder storms, especially in the Pyrenees.
I was in no rush to start the day because I had made the decision to stay another night here in the Hotel. This meant that I did not have to pack all the bags and could leave most of the stuff in the hotel. By 10..0 I was heading out of the city in the direction of Jaca. The first part was amazing with motorway and the mountains right in front and getting near with every Km. However the roadworks for the new stretch of motorway soon appeared and from then on it was many Kms of slow progress through new and old stretches of motorway. I did like their traffic robots however. These are clothed man like robots which stand on a low platform beside the road and swing a red flag to warn the drivers to slow down. Being from Fuerteventura these were new to me and I found them both amusing and practical.

It took about an hour to reach Jaca and I kept my eyes open for a place to have my breakfast. Typical for Spain ,it did not take long and I was soon munching away on a very large Bacon , egg and cheese Bocadillo. Great start to the day !
After finishing I wanted to have a look at a hotel I had seen on the internet which was only about 11 Km away.
This hotel caters especially for moteros - Bikers -. I found it with no problem and the first thing I noticed was a blue Honda Goldwing 1500 parked outside the door. I parked and went inside and had the good luck to meet the owner as I went in. It was his bike ! We sat and talked for a while and I got the chance to have a look around.There is a restaurant attached with bar and the prices seemed very reasonable. A main feature of the eating area is the Aragonese chimney which is basically a fire in the middle of the room and the ceiling is the chimney. I will try to get a few pictures on my return as I might spend the Wednesday night here before heading off to Vielha on thursday morning.

Returning back through Jaca I headed up the road to Biesca which is even higher and finally started to feel like I was really up in the mountains. The road from Biesca to Boltana is a real mountain road going up to the top of some of the mountains , through tunnels and back down to the valley floors.Super !
From Boltana I went over to Ainsa and then took the A138 all the way down to join the LLeida - Huesca Motorway for a quick blast back into Huesca. This road , the A138 is nearly all downhill and runs along the side of some very large lakes and reservoirs .It is a fast and curving road with long sweeping bends and very few sharp curves. Watch out for the speed because it creeps up very quickly !! I must say that in all of the trip to date I have not seen so many policeman as in this area. The whole of the Pyrenees seems to be crawling with them ! The only other place was outside of Madrid in the Gredos mountain range, but that was sunday and of course was the day all the bikers go out to play.

i got back to Huesca just before 16.00 and decided to get a beer or two and some tapas in the hotel bar. Great decision and after a quick lunch and shower I took a 2 hour siesta.
On waking , I went out for a walk and it was a very pleasant 26 degrees. However the clouds had built up and there were some serious Thunderstorm clouds around stretching way way up in the the sky. It was not long before the rumbling started and after a few quick flashes the heavens opened and down came the rain. As everyone ran for doorways and shelter I followed suit and sought also shelter. After about 15 minutes it had passed and although one could hear the rumbling and thunder in the distance it did not rain again.

I walked back to the hotel after the shower and instead of going out again to look for a restaurant I decided to have the menu of the day in the hotel for 12.00 euros.
It was plenty and and shortly after 12 I went to bed having had another long day.
Today i plan on visiting Decathalon , the outdoor sports suppliers and will pick up a tent which I may or may not use over the coming weekend. After that I will go back up to Jaca taking another route and stay in the bikers hotel. I do not plan on too much driving today as I want to get some clothes washed and dried and also clean and check the bike.

See you later.

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