A coastline, though not
Flat, can stave off the scorch of
Spain's sun. A little.
Our dishes washed (and a tupperware full of paella for lunch), we packed up and shuttled off down the coast again. So many of the roads here are marked green--"Recommended Itinerary", according to the legend on our map. It's really a lovely coastline, and it's sort of a shame that we can't stick to it all the time. Some of the little peninsulae that jut out are simply extra kilometres that we can't justify in this month-long race towards the Alhambra.
A short break in the morning sees Venus with a re-re-re-re-readjusted derailleur and Evan with a new pair of cycling shorts. The ones he brought on the trip initially had begun to wear out before he even loaded them on the plane, and with their ritual burning on the fifteenth, he had a keen interest in getting some new clothes with padding for his bum. The thing to wear in Spain is apparently the bibbed shorts that function as spandex overalls, but the suspenders in addition to the cycling shirt can leave a guy pulling several kilos drowning in his own sweat. So we picked up the only pair of just-shorts that they had.
There, shockingly, was another cycling race that passed us by on our ride. I simply don't understand why people do that crap in summer. It's fecking hot over here.
We rode mostly uninterrupted towards Vigo, enjoying the rolling hills along the coast and the sun sparkling off the ocean. In trying to find our way to a smaller road, we stopped to ask a group of cyclists for directions, and it turned out they were from the States! They were a part of an organised cycling trip given by a company (I didn't catch the name), but anyway I got all excited about the thought of being a guide on such an expedition. I imagine that it must be trying to look out for 20 high school-aged children at times, but getting paid to cycle through Spain is a pretty sweet deal.
Once we rolled into Vigo, it was already getting dark, and we were hungry and tired. We'd made our goal for the day distance-wise, but unfortunately we found out that there was some kind of international air show the next day, and this resulted in all the campsites and hotels and hostels for kilometres around being full. Sigh. We cooked our meal on the beach and poked around for a suitable spot... we were pleased to find an abandoned construction site with no fences or indication of activity or ownership, and there we're crashed for the night. Bummer about the campsite; I was looking forward to a shower. :(