Day 17: Borriana to El Saler

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The boys had a leisurely start having breakfast at the hotel and the morning also brought bright weather as they cycled to the coast along lovely flat roads. After this they picked up the N340 which had an excellent road surface and a cycle lane which led them to Sagunt town which had a lovely, interesting castle and they had a coffee by the station and that is where all the fun started. As they followed the road out of town all possible routes led to motorways so they had to head back to the town and look at the map and eventually decided to head towards the port which led them to a huge industrial estate plot. They followed through the plot and encountered increasing amounts of barriers to the extent that they had to get off and push. When they reached the end of the industrial estate they realised that they could go no further and had reached a dead end, however a car emerged from a track that led to an orange grove so they decided to follow this. This lane finally allowed them to escape from Sagunt! They then followed their original route towards Pucol town and then followed their noses through the town, having reached a dead end where a cyclist was cycling round in circles they had given up hope when he suddenly disappeared down a track. Having followed him they found their old friend, a dedicated cycle track and headed towards Massamagrell where they picked up the road to head to the coast and on to Valencia. However this road appeared to be yet again a motorway. This required a banana and drink stop! They chose another road which led to an industrial estate they followed this road through which ran parallel to the motorway. They then crossed the river along the bridge and followed the cycle track all the way to Valencia. When they arrived in Valencia they saw a woman on a rented tourist bike and decided that she was probably heading to the beach, so followed her for about 20 minutes and she was indeed headed to the beach, which was the first good luck of the day. They then had a well deserved lunch on the beach in Valencia before escaping the city and heading on towards the port. They were also pleased to report that they had passed their first prostitutes of the trip and they also passed through the rice fields of Albufeira. It then started to rain which made up Dave’s mind that they deserved a touch of luxury so they stopped at the Parador hotel for a well needed break.
Stats:
Days Miles: 58.9
Total Miles: 915
Ascent: 1285 ft
Total Ascent: 43’765
Roadside prostitutes seen: 5
Road blocks pushed around: 4

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