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Day 2 - To Carrión de los Condes
We packed up and set off at about 11:00. I had decided my strategy would be to fill the bike's tank at the beginning of each day regardless of its current level thus ensuring we were not struggling to find petrol in remote places halfway through the day. This would ensure that we could concentrate on enjoying the ride and not start panicking because we were low on fuel (as happened in the Loire). Inquiring at the Parador revealed that a petrol station lay just a 3/4 mile east along the N120. We filled up and returned west along the N120 and then turned southeast along the LR 325.
Day 2
This was a fairly minor road which wound its way through small villages surrounded by fields full of wild flowers. The scent and riot of colour was amazing as were the views of the mountains of the Sierra de la Demanda through which we would shortly be travelling.
View to the North
I had considered a very minor road across the mountains but the concierge at the Parador had advised me that it was only suitable for a four wheeled drive vehicle - a Sprint ST is not one of them!
We then turned onto the LR 204 and then south followed by west along the LR 206 where the road had been widened and resurfaced, far better than the previous day's N class road, thus showing that the Spanish road classification system does not give an accurate prediction as to the quality of carriageway. An observation that we would make more than once during this trip.
Small hills and tighter bends started appearing as we approached the foothills of the Sierra de la Demanda on the LR 113. On one stretch the succession of tight bends as we approached Anguiano produced such a feeling of elation in me that I muttered "This is better than sex." I was somewhat perturbed to hear my co-pilot say "Yes, it is." But I supposed I asked for that!
We descended into a magnificent gorge with a sheer drop of several hundred feet on our right. The protection offered by an Armco barrier, which seems effective when driving a car, suddenly became meaningless once you realised that it was at knee height and would offer no security whatsoever whilst on a bike. This was noted by Susie who squeaked, "Look down there...no, on second thoughts, don't.". My eyes were fixed on the road and I missed out on the awesome view of the bottom of the gorge. Just as well really.
It was a truly fantastic piece of road which I am sure that by a biking magazine journalist would have been described in terms such as "The road asked lots of questions of the rider but the bike answered them all." To me though it was just a great ride - that's all.
The inconsistency of the road class system was again identified as soon as we crossed the bridge over the Rio Najerilla at 11:09 [N42.23263 W2.80894] for this wonderful surface, still the same LR 113, became a lumpy potholed narrow road. By narrow I mean that two average sized family cars can just pass each other with a 1 foot gap between them. In general most cars coming towards you had their offside wheels about a foot or two over the white line on your side of the road. Bearing in mind that most corners were about 90º and totally blind due to the perpendicular rock face that edges the road and there was the odd scattering of fairly large stones due to minor rock falls this made for interesting riding. I stayed very alert and cornered extremely carefully. Fortunately there were very few other vehicles on the road.
An interesting section of the LR 113
We came across a road repair team on this section. Low tech, high manpower. Five men required; one to drive the lorry; two to flag down traffic in either direction; one to pour the tar into the potholes; and the last to shovel the chippings on top!!!
After this I didn't have to worry about the potholes, just the soft wet tar and chippings - great!
The road continued to wind its way around the northern bank of the Embalse de Mansilla amid picturesque views of the opposite mountains. Somewhere along here it becomes the C 113.
We stopped for lunch at 13:05 in Canales de la Sierra at a small cafe N42.14158 W3.02445. (the picture faces the way we were going, as I turned around to come back after we sped past the cafe)
Stopped for lunch
After a pleasant meal where we were the only diners and having struggled with sign language to establish our needs we set off at 14:34 (a slightly longer break than I had wanted).
We arrived at Salas de Los Infantes at 15:14 and then started a faster but boring bit of the journey as I needed to put in some miles to get us to our destination. West along the N234, a quick skirt around Burgos on the motorway E 80 (N620) and off at exit 16. Through Frandovinez and northwards to join the N120 at Tardajos. Well that was the plan...... The GPS, Microsoft and I had a problem at this point as even though the road was marked and it was there, it definitely wasn't a road. It was a white loose stone track with chunks of stone about 2-3 inches across. Ever tried pretending your ST is a trail-bike? I did 1/2 mile along this track before I eventually admitted to myself that this was not going to get any better and then struggled to turn the bike around. Susie had got off at this point. I then did the 1/2 mile back along it - who knows, next year I may enter the ST in the Paris to Dakar!
Back to the motorway then and off at exit 18 and through Estepar and onto the Bu-V-4043 (what do these prefixes mean?). West on the N120 - lots of new construction - at a rough guess they are going to connect Burgos to the A231 to León. Eventually, at 17:30, and slightly weary we arrived in Carrión de los Condes, established that Real Monasterio San Zoilo isn't that building next to the Spar shop and it is exactly where Microsoft and Garmin say it is.
This excellent hotel (3-star) forms part of a restored wing of the old monastery and you can walk through the cloisters and into the magnificent (but much in need of restoration) church. The room was slightly smaller than the previous night but had a view over the grounds (a small park) with storks hunting for worms in the morning sun. The meal was probably the best of the whole trip and the waiting staff were extremely friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, unlike the Paradores, the menu did not have an English translation but the waitress, who spoke no English, really tried very hard to communicate and we ended up eating what we thought we had ordered. A wine list is a wine list in any language, so no problems there! Susie had a dessert of cheese soufflé and figs which she said was better than chocolate. Now we all know what chocolate is better than according to women but I haven't quite figured whether cornering is better than chocolate or vice versa for women, I'll tell you when I get the answer.
Parking is in the main car park, reasonably secure and with CCTV monitoring. However, I tethered my bike to a tree with a cable disk-lock (Oxford Trip-wire).
The Hotel Real Monasterio San Zoilo (3 star)
The Cloisters
The ornate altar in the church
A stork with a sense of time
A lonely tethered steed
Total distance 170 miles (160 if you don't take the detours!)
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