Pereiro to Puebla de Canabria - 33 miles

Today started as yesterday had ended: a quiet main road near to and snaking under and over a motorway, both fighting for space in the same narrow valley, both heading towards Zamora. And although the rain has stopped and the day was bright, that same valley was this morning funnelling a strong wind towards me. 

I broke off from the main road, joined a smaller one, escaped the wind and began the first of two main climbs of the day. It was a slow and winding ascent around the curves of the valley followed by a long and steady descent to the village of Lubián for coffee as a prelude to the second climb. I was now away from all other roads, surrounded by hills and this more remote section lent itself to more dramatic scenery. It was only when I encountered switchbacks that I saw how precipitous the drop off was at the road's edge; afterwards I was a little less casual about my positioning as I began another long descent. Two big climbs and two long descents, today the hills were playing fair.

Again my route also took me off-road and onto the Camino. Again the wet, sandy track made pedalling hard work and I was glad to rejoin hard tarmac. And although I may have done the two last main climbs between me and Zamora, the hills here were not yet finished with me: the roads I followed this afternoon took me through some nice countryside and tiny villages but there were still inclines, and although not overly steep or lengthy they still had me slipping into my lowest gears: my body is feeling the effect of three days of hills.

The issue I needed to manage today was accommodation. It was in this area two years ago where a local told me that the the motorway had sucked the life from local villages. As I cycled, derelict motels on the edges of larger villages lent evidence to those words and to my problem: accommodation on this part of my route is limited. 

Tonight I am in Puebla de Sanabria, a place I visited when walking two years ago and billed as one of Spain's most beautiful villages. I had a good lunch to avoid any late dinner timings and revisited the hilltop old town in the evening: a piece of Spanish antiquity beautifully preserved and now largely set over to the tourist. Tomorrow's planned accommodation is thirty miles away, not that far for tomorrow but a bit too much further from here for my liking to have done today. But it should put me close enough to Zamora so that I arrive early on Thursday and with plenty of time to explore.

Puebla de Sanabria