Saturday (1.10.) morning we climbed out of bed to enjoy breakfast with Martha, Carmen, Léo and Simon. Afterwards we carried our stuff down to Bertha and our tandem, where they had to exercise patience while we made a city tour. Today everything was very crowded and we were glad that we visited Basílica del Pilar already yesterday, because now it was like an anthill. Additionally there was a sack pipe procession we could listen to before we fled.
Some distance from the Basilica we could enter Inglesia de Santiago el Mayor between a baptism and a wedding. It was deserted and we could look around in peace.
After dawdling through the streets we went back to pick up Fermi and load it, because we had to change our place to sleep to Yhovannas parents. After eating the left-over pizza from the day before we returned into the city center by bike to attend the 15th anniversary of Ciclería, a mixture of organization, self-help workshop and biking lobby in Zaragoza. After a talk by two cyclists that drove through Spain to establish contact between producers in the country side and consumers in the cities, the highlight of the event began - something between a party and a demonstration with 200-300 cyclists criscrossing through the town. In contrast to Critical Mass demonstrations in Germany pyrotechnics and confetti guns were used here. After a few hours it turned into a proper party and since we were so long in nature in recent time we were really exhausted by the crowds. So, we drove home (after Ida could try a tallbike) and fell to bed immediately.
On Sunday (2.10.) we had breakdfast with Yhovannas mum, who was extremely nice. While I was in the bathroom I could hear how she made an effort to speak slowly and clearly to Ida. She offered repeatedly fruits and more breakfast, and we should take some food with us for the way. Before she had to leave, she presented us with "medida del Pilar"! That is a small ribbon with the exact size of the Virgen del Pilar. The Virgen del Pilar (virgin of the column) is the saint and patron of Zaragoza. She has a dress for each day of the year and in previous times those were given to the sick and poor. Nowadays that is no more possible (logistically and from the number), therefore the ribbons are supposed to symbolize it now. We enjoyed breakfast a bit longer and waited for Yhovanna, who took part in a demonstration for better wages (apparently fire fighters that take care of forest fires are not paid well but have to be available at all times; even after a usual 8h work day you might have to take care of a fire for 10 additional hours) and than partying until 6 in the morning. And as is always the case with nice people we talked and talked til noon, when her mother returned. Now we finally managed to get on our way. In wise foresight we did our shopping in the city, because it turned out that all stores in the villages were closed. The sun burned down on us and we had above 30°C in the shade. Somehow we hadn't thought of that when we were lso happy about the sun in Spain. But we have to highlight: the water-infrastructure is incredibly good in Spain. No matter how small the village we found at least one fresh water supply, if not two! So we had no need of the 6L water bottles, if we could refill the 1L bottles every 15 minutes. And so we drove along, sometimes on better roads, sometimes on worse, with some quickly and unannounced turning into the other. After some time we met Paul, an Englishman cycling to Algeria, who had bought a neon yellow party hat in the last village. When we were looking for a camp site in the evening we were attacked by a horde of mosquitos and in full panic we pitched our tent in a field. To the sound of 1000 annoyed mosquitos we fell comfortably asleep.
We woke up very early on Montag (3.10.) at 6.30. It was still dark, because Spain is in the west of Europe and e.g. Zaragoza even west of London, so the position of the sun corresponds rather to 5:30. In moonlight we packed up and headed out towards todays destination: Bardenas Reales. We could not expect any shade or water there, so we wanted to pass it until 2pm. Mathilde, our WarmShowers host before the Pyrenees, recommended it and maybe you have seen it in Game of Thrones when the Dothraki were riding through it.
But before we drove in, we had a short breakfast in Valareña and filled our water supplies to the full 8L, afterall we are silly but not stupid.
We came from a country road on a farm lane and after a few kilometers got a fantastic view over the southern half of the nationalpark. The center of the park is the only place, where the Spanish airforce can exercise with proper ammunition. Of course, today was such a day. So we could watch the Eurofighters, or rather hear and then seek them in the sky, since the noise is only heard, when the plane has long gone and almost invisible due to their cross-section.
When our orange-juice was empty, we drove down into the valley and were diverted by the military police, because today should not only be flown but also shot and our route was in the zone where fragments could still splinter off. And so we leisurely drove the shorter southern half of the perimeter, stopping more often to observe the landscape since we had a little more time.
As we slowly drove back out, a bunch of visitors came towards us, mostly in caravans or cars, but also two extremely unprepared cyclists. While we were a bit too careful with our water and the early time, the two had started their journey at 1pm, wanted to ride 70km and had backpacks that didn't fit 2L of water. Plus the least detailed map I could imagine, enhanced by someone with a pen, as if a kindergartener were drawing an explanation of the way home. But that wasn't the most worrying thing either, it was that at the first intersection, they couldn't tell from their map where they were coming from, or whether they had to turn left or go straight. After helping them with this question, we wished them luck and drove out of the park ourselves to Arguedas, where they continue the ancient tradition of building apiaries into the rock face.
And then we visited a supermarket to get lunch and to a park to devour it. In the shade of the trees, with a water tap and green grass, it was good to take a break from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. And because we didn't finish the glass of mayo despite liberally using it on our bread, we invented great new recipes like mayo fondue, taco alternatives and I ended up eating 2 spoons straight.
When we finally drove on in the evening and slowly prepared to camp wild between fruit tree plantations, we saw someone in the garden and Ida quickly asked if we could camp with them. Lo and behold, Jaime took us in. During the evening friends and family stopped by and we were invited to breakfast at their apartment in the city. After a lovely lively evening we set up our tent and fell asleep.
On Tuesday (4.10.) morning, we woke up and realized that the dogs had escaped from their enclosure. Since they absolutely didn't listen to you and were more busy playing with each other, it took us half an hour to catch them again. Since we wanted to arrive at someone's house tonight, we didn't have much time for breakfast and only drove past Jaime's family to say goodbye.
Because we didn't want to drive the federal road N232, we drove onto the parallel road. A big mistake, because the perfect asphalt quickly changed to a road with more holes than road, which ran higher than the actual road and whose descent we couldn't even enjoy. And so we took a little detour to Pradejón, had a quick breakfast and realized that Ida had a bladder infection. :( But unfortunately we had to move on and I'm very proud of Ida for gritting her teeth and participating!
We quickly came to the old N232, which was extremely deserted and so we took a break in the shade of the trees. At some point we continued, first from shade to shade uphill and then from village to village with short breaks to fill up water and wet headscarves.
Before the last climb behind Murillo de Río Leza, we were just filling up water when a gentleman asked us if we had ever seen how wine is made. Since we were in the well-known Rioja area, we couldn't say no to such an offer. We were then shown how grapes are squeezed and shown their calado, a type of wine cellar that was excavated by hand and is underneath the actual cellar. Ida was also allowed to taste the freshly pressed and not yet stored but already slightly fermented grape juice (see, I have no idea about winemaking) and last year's juice, which apparently tasted better.
But at some point we had to continue, said goodbye to the winegrowers and drove up the mountain to Villamediana de Iregua and arrived at Capa - a dog trainer that my mom met at the World Rescue Dog Championships. Since we stank and they were still training, we naturally offered ourselves for a tracking exercise and I hid between garbage cans in the middle of the city, to the somewhat confused gaze of some seniors. Finally showered, the four of us ate homemade chorizo tortilla that Ida still raves about.
Wednesday (5.10.) was very relaxed. We woke up late, had a leisurely breakfast and drove to Logroño with Capa sometime in the afternoon because he wanted to show us the city. He guided us to "the best tortilla", because a few days ago a place from Logroño had won the (Spanish) championship. Unfortunately, the tortilla was already sold out, so we ate burgers. And then we were shown the small town, with all the hidden corners that only a local knows.
In the evening, before heading home, we hopped into another place that won the championship last year and tried an excellent tortilla there!
Thursday (6.10.) was even more relaxed! We haven't had a day off for a while, so we didn't do anything that day. Well, we repacked our bags now that we know a little bit more about when we need what.
In the evening, we went to training again, this time in the forest. When I hid about 220m from the starting point for the last exercise of the day, it was slowly getting dark. And when I was found, it was dark (it has to be said that dogs are extremely much better at searching than humans because just imagine how long it would take you to search the area of 6 football/soccer fields and make sure, that you haven't missed anyone when everything is bumpy and full of bushes). As it was getting a bit colder I was happy to finally be able to move again but when I got to the cars there were only 2 cops there who were quite surprised when I ran happily out of the woods. When I explained to them that I work with the people here with rescue dogs, they said, to my confusion, that there wasn't anyone around. Was Ida kidnapped? Did I just imagine them? You'll have to wait for the next article then!
Ok of course Ida wasn't kidnapped. And when the search party answered after a few calls, the police also relaxed a little. Especially when Capa explained to them that the corresponding action (also for insurance reasons) was registered with the rescue service (112). After the excitement we went back home and we ate the world-famous potato salad à la Ida's family, since we had promised to make some after yesterday's conversation about German potato salads.
And now it's Friday (7.10.) again. We woke up early in the morning to say goodbye to both of them and then went back to bed. At some point we had a leisurely breakfast and then Capa came home again. He said again and again that we could easily stay there for the whole weekend because they'll be away anyway. And he didn't really believe that we would leave soon. However, at some point the time had come and we got our bike, cleaned it of dust and cobwebs and set off. Soon on our way on small roads, we "found" figs by chance near fig trees, which we ate directly.
At Nájera we met Daniel from two articles ago! We drove a bit together and soon found the perfect campsite with a wonderful view at a driveway. After everything was set up, we threw ingredients together and cooked a delicious dinner. The whole thing was seasoned with one of the two spice mixtures that we put together with Malte and Hannah and named after them. This time we chose Hannah. And after a nice evening in fantastic company, we wished each other good night and walked the few meters back home and then to bed.