In this entry we truly enter the mountains of northwest Spain. We ride two of our planned three big passes and enjoy the quieter mountain towns. We have to skip a rest day to account for the extra climbing, but wow are these mountains beautiful and the people who live here friendly.

Day 17: Entrepeñas to Puebla de Sanabria (16km). It was a special thing to spend a night in such a tiny, quiet town. When we woke up we walked to the small little children’s park at the bottom of the town, where we saw a snake eating a lizard and the girls enjoyed some silly fun. Opportunities like these are what makes cycletouring so incredible – we’d never have ended up in such a place on a more typical tourist trip.

Because of all the extra riding we did the previous day we had very few kilometers to cover this day. Good thing too – we were feeling tired and also a big rainstorm rolled in! As we were casually pedaling between towns we saw a huge cloud move across the sky. Then we heard some thunder and started pedaling faster. Then we saw lightning and we sprinted towards town! Just as the deluge began we ducked into the stairwell of a closed antiques shop – safe.

We stayed under cover until the storm passed. The store next to use appeared to be a cheese distributor doing a brisk business. People were constantly coming and going from the shop despite the storm. We tried to get some coffee to wait out the end of the storm, but one cafe/bar was too warm (like actually roasting inside) and the other one smelled like paint thinner so we got back on the bikes and carried on.

By 1pm we were in our destination town. Our room/apartment (splurge!) wasn’t ready yet, so we dropped off our stuff and went into town. Old town was a ten-minute walk from our place… a walk across a river and up 231 steps to a hillside castle! We had a lovely picnic with a view all up and down the river valley.

After walking just about all of old town our apartment was ready and we took the rest of the day lazing about. We had originally planned to take a rest day here, but when we looked at the elevation profile for the final 100km to Santiago we realized we needed an extra riding day. A very lazy short day would have to be enough rest.

Day 18: Puebla de Sanabria to Lubián (30km) Our first real pass! We weren’t sure how this day was going to play out so we planned for it to be very short, and we stopped in the one town between two passes. As it turned out, we were really good at riding uphill and we reached our destination by 1pm.

Leaving Puebla was a breeze, and we were quickly riding up a gentle river valley. The road turned steep and we got in our low gears and kept pedaling. Jason taught H about prime numbers and we spent at least an hour determining primes under 100. We stopped for a breather and a drink every kilometer. It was a 1500′ climb (yes I know I’m mixing units – but doing vertical distance in feet still makes more sense to me!). It took us about 1.5 hours.

When Jason and I were riding the Americas 11 years ago we always calculated how long a climb would take by how many vertical feet needed to be gained. We estimated about an hour per 1000′ feet. What this means is that we haven’t lost all our fitness and climbing skills in the last 11 years! We still got it!

We unfortunately didn’t get a summit sign, but we still zipped down the other side on bumpy pavement until we reached Lubián, a mountainside town that was clearly a major stopping point until the big highway opened up across the valley. It was very quiet when we got there, except for the random people arguing in the bars.

It was delightful to find the one grocery store in town that opens for exactly one hour in the evening – from 6 to 7. The whole family went down to gather supplies for dinner and the next day. Town was very quiet, but lovely with stone buildings and little creeks/fountains all over.

After weeks of riding through the drier parts of Spain it is so interesting to see water start to be abundant. We have really noticed how the buildings look differently in each region – from the white houses in the Extremadura to the warm tan sandstone near Salamanca, and now big grey stones here as we approach Galicia.

Day 19: Lubián to Laza (70km)

This day was TOO LONG, but we made it. There was SO MUCH CLIMBING. We left Lubián and immediately started pass number two. It was actually lovely, and we celebrated the summit sign at the top. I was happy the girls got the experience of moving through different ecosystems, then over a ridge and back down through them again. That sounds pretty minor – but I find it to be my favorite part of mountain riding. It’s just incredible to slowly move past the plants, up and above a treeline, then to the top.

We descended into the rolling Galician countryside. At lunchtime we stopped in the town of Gudiña, which honestly looked pretty grim with its grey houses in the overcast weather. Of course on a Sunday it was nearly impossible to find food, but we happened upon the owner of a small convenience store who opened it up just for us to buy supplies.

The most incredible riding was waiting for us as we left Gudiña. We climbed up to the top of a ridge… and stayed there for miles and miles. On both sides we could see the deep valleys and rolling hills. To the north there were mountains. To the south the views went on and on. We marveled at the fact that the tiny road we were riding was even paved.

We stopped for another lunch at a little restaurant in some tiny town. We needed a long rest so took a seat by another pilgrim and ordered ‘hamburgers’ off the menu. Hilariously the burgers arrived as just a patty with a pile of french fries. We laughed at ourselves and our imaginings of actual burgers, but ate up the food and got back on the road.

I’m not sure how, but we made it up and over more ridgelines for a long, long descent into the village of Laza. We all agreed that a rest day in Laza was obligatory, especially when we saw where we were staying. Our room had a gorgeous view over the countryside, the hotel had a small pool, and we were a short walk away from a fairy-tale perfect river. The host was just delighted to meet the girls and welcome us for a rest day.