In this entry we depart the big city of Salamanca and ride across the plains for 2.5 days until reaching more mountainous terrain. We delight in the city of Zamora, endure a heat wave, bail on another hostel and generally hit our stride.
Day 14: Salamanca to Zamora (70km)
If you had told me at the beginning of this trip that we would be logging 70km days somewhat regularly, I would not have believed you. Yet here we are!
Predictably, we got a little lost and the route got messy departing from Salamanca. We were all smiles once we saw the car dealerships though. It seems that in every country, the car dealerships mark the end of town. We waved goodbye to the Toyotas and cycled on our way.
The route was flat and fast. Honestly, it was a bit of a blur we were going so fast! We stopped to smell these fragrant yellow flowers that lined the road, and we stopped to devour a bunch of cookies, and before we knew it we had entered the city of Zamora.
There are few places that I mark down as ‘need to be revisited’, but wow Zamora was one of them. To begin with we had rented a beautiful apartment on a little plaza that was absolutely delightful. Then we wandered the old town which was gorgeous, AND got to explore a castle. The city was packed with little museums (that we didn’t have time to visit) and was super walkable. It also wasn’t swarming with tour groups like Salamanca was.
Day 15: Zamora to Tabara (48km)
Today we left our beloved N-630 highway that we have followed more or less since Sevilla, and started heading northwest instead of North. N-630 ends in Gijon and we are heading to Santiago de Compostela. Now we are on the Camino Sanabres, one of the many pilgrimage routes to Santiago.
We chose to take a bit of a shortcut compared to what our guide book recommended, and it had pros and cons. It was shorter by about 12km, but it also had more traffic and little shoulder. It was in no way unsafe, and the drivers were all extraordinarily careful of us, but it wasn’t the carefree riding we had gotten used to.
We arrived early to our destination in Tabara – around 1pm! Jason went to get us a room, and when he came out to tell us the specifics he left the key to the garage (for the bikes) on a little shelf. Then he couldn’t find it. We suffered several long moments of panic over where is the key?!! The lady gave us a spare and by the time we returned from storing our bikes and stuff the key had ‘appeared’. We suspect an employee had grabbed it while Jason was outside and put it away.
We had a delicous ‘menu del dia’ at the hotel restuarant. The menu offers a choice of first plate, second plate, dessert, and drink. Cheap places offer it for 12 euros, but fancy places ask around 18. Ha – we only go for the cheap ones.
Day 16: Tabara to Entrepeñas (70km)
Now, this day was as much an adventure as the previous day was an uneventful and shorter ride.
We decided to follow the book’s advice this time and take the longer route off the main road. This involved some extra climbs, some small towns, some bike-pushing, and of course beautiful scenery.
The typical Spanish breakfast consists of cafe (coffee) and tostada (toast), and you can get a little butter and jam on your toast. Jason was dragging in the morning, but once we got him some extra calories (a few spoonfuls of peanut butter) all was set right. We went off road onto the same gravel path that the walking Camino took over the hill. It got quite steep!
It was getting very hot again, and we knew we had a ways to go, so we were very excited to see sprinklers watering a section of grass in a small town’s park. A and H especially had a blast running through the water. I’m not sure what the locals thought about that episode.
One of the next towns we came to was only a strip of buildings along the road. However, there was a great panaderia and a grocery store where we got some good eats.
We traveled on to Rionegro where we wet our shirts again, downed a coca-cola, and had a quick chat with some New Zealanders. Finally we made it to our destination of Mombuey. We set our bikes in the Albergue and got a menu. In our chat with one of the other peregrinos, we were warned that there may be an unsavory character at the Albergue this night and decided to get back on the bikes. (After wetting our shirts yet again!) Daisy found a nice place in Entrepeñas and voila, our long day had finally come to an end.
Entrepeñas is a tiny village with absolutely no businesses. The owner of the house where we stayed was kind enough to bring us some eggs and milk so we could put together a good dinner and breakfast. It was actually very charming to wander this small little village.
