Sabiñánigo

Leaving Burgos I headed for the Sierra de la Demanda which I thought I had read was an area used for spaghetti westerns. If so, I missed the spot for I encountered lush green hillsides. I hadn't realised Burgos was so high (860 metres) until the cold forced me to stop after only riding a short distance up into the sierra. My bike told me it was 8 degrees and with a very stiff breeze blowing it felt positively icy. Fortunately the hills sheltered me most of the time so I was able to look around with interest rather than simply shivering and hoping for shelter.

Trees were a mixture of pines and deciduous trees the latter covering entire hills in some cases. They must look marvellous in the autumn when the leaves turn. As I climbed higher ( I passed 1400 metres/ 4600 feet at some point), I encountered a small plateau and which with its thin grass and trees, reminded me of the area between Bettws Coed and Bala in Wales. In general, the hills are not that much higher than the road so the scenery was not as dramatic as that I had seen in Galicia.

The road surfaces within the national park area were a mixture - some clearly designed by the biking highway engineers but in need of repair, some which had been repaired by folk who seemed to have got the concept of camber back to front and some which tested the limits of my suspension by providing about 40 km of pure washboard. the speed at which this would have smoothed out was faster than I could ride with all the twisties so I was forced to stand on the pegs for about 20 km to take the strain off my back. Then, before I left the park there was a stretch of biker's delight as if to make up for all that had gone before.

My destination now was the Pyrenees and I took the autovia to Pamplona to join a route that I wanted to follow, which is one of several recommended by the German motorcycling organisation. I rode it for a good distance in steadily increasing temperatures and it is indeed a lovely route providing entertaining roads and great views. My plan was to follow it to Jaca from where I want to ride the famous N260 road. At some point I got too tired ( and rather hot - the temperature had by now reach 27 degrees) to consider riding the remainder of the route (which had many big loops in it and I tried to take a more direct route, cutting off a loop. However, I encountered a big rockfall completely blocking the road, so had to retrace my steps. I did manage to cut out a later loop and staggered into a hotel in Sabiñánigo a few miles east of Jaca which is very close to the N260 which is my planned ride for tomorrow.

I have seen very little graffiti in Spain so was slightly taken aback to find this sign defaced.

There's snow in them thar hills..

Near Jaca, this little hill looks almost man made.