Spanish TET - Huescar to Motril 457KM

I felt like a side of beef sleeping in a freezing meat locker, bound in every piece of linen I could find, wrapped like an eygptian mummy.  Praying it would be day break, but it was only 3am.  A sad realisation that Spain could be cold in the winter.

 When the morning did finally come and the feat of endurance that was the night had passed, I noted it was no different for the bikes. Setting of at first light a crisp layer of ice greeted my posterior. 

Thankfully the ride was epic,  as the sun rose thawing my bones the elation of the trip replaced the ice.

Settling into first 120KM I passed through olive groves, by farm land, over mountains and undulating hills. All of it at speed, all a blur, all of it incredible. 

 It had taken a day to get into the feel of the bike and the land, but today was the day, now I was in the zone. If the bike was an instrument, then I was the musician and it was time to feel the rhythm. 

Parts of the day reminded me of Morocco. The similarity lay in the wide open sandy and rocky spaces. So much of Europe is populated and you're always close to someone's back garden, not so here. 

This ride next to the derelict train station is a case in point, no real dirt track, just space to follow the train line. 

Wind farms became the norm over the next two days. I know some people don't like them, suggesting they are a blot on an otherwise beautiful landscape.  For me they signify progress and human endeavour, I'd rather see renewables than traditional power stations that seem to consume the land like a wart on skin. 

These two photos show the same wind farm, the lower photo taken at a significant distance. You are off road and in the wild for the entire duration. 

It really was an incredible ride today. Everything from cliffs and rocks to sandy river beds where you could sit back and pin the throttle, I also ascended to 2000m and encountered snow (and took my first and only dirt nap of the trip). 

 Unfortunately my fuel light came on up there in the freezing fog. I didn't have the range to reach the station under engine power and instead had to coast down the mountain with the bike switched off.  Well, I had just been waxing lyrical about renewable energy and now I was an eco warrior using a gravity based bike! It was a bum twitching and worrying 50km. 

I arrived at the adventure truck and Barrie at about 16:30, but hadn't bothered to book a hotel room.  Well aware that the following day, which would be my last day, was a full 555KM!  I didn't fancy that at all for a last day.

So far today I'd completed approx 290km, most of it off-road.   Contemplating my options I decided to make the most of the remaining light and headed west in a bid to shorten tomorrow's 'marathon stage'.   

Taking the roads to further shorten the distance I stopped after dark at a hotel 150km away near Motril. 

... I just hope the heating works tonight.