Day 159
It did snow
So, we had decided if the weather was poor we would stay put. By 9.30am the snow was falling constantly and the headwind blowing strong. I’m not sure what constitutes bad weather, but these conditions combined with a temperature fluctuating between 0° and -2° were apparently not bad enough to put us off. We were wearing pretty much all of cold weather kit we had, I was also wearing my Marigolds, they had worked a treat yesterday, would they cope with snow?
It's difficult to describe the route as I was pretty much riding by instinct, glasses fogged up and covered with snow. Marigolds are not much good at clearing them. Heads down into the wind and snow we ploughed on. We stopped to eat the last of the dates Suna had given us and Tom noticed a poor dog who looked even colder and wetter than us. He was gazing hopefully at a door but it remained closed to us all.
On we went, the hills surrounding us would clearly be beautiful on a sunny day, but today it was all about the snow. I realised after about 10 miles that my hands were getting cold, very cold. Nothing seemed to help, waving madly, sticking them into my armpits, and finally into my mouth. They just got colder and colder. I was close to crying with the pain. Tom, total superstar that he is, gave me his spare winter gloves. He had been planning to swap and pop them on when his first pair completely gave up the ghost of staying dry, which I guess was about right then. As I peeled off the marigolds, I immediately felt relief. Within minutes heat was returning to my fingers and slowly the pain eased. Tom, on the other hand had two wet ice blocks instead of hands at the end of his arms.
Shortly after this, my hands feeling toasty, we came to another mini-Grand Canyon. Pain free and warm I was very happy to stop and admire the view, and what a view it was. We were at a viewing platform, built in memory of Felix Rodriquez de la Fuenta. He was a naturalist and TV broadcaster, a very charismatic guy, self taught in biology, and was very influential in promoting conservation of Spain’s natural wildernesses. The view today is of a deep canyon, more stunning rocks, waterfalls, criss-crossed with footpaths. One to explore another time. The road wound it’s way down, around, and finally out of the Canyon. Once again Spain has stunned us. Uplifted we pedalled on, wet and cold, ready for this ride to end. Finally, Sigüenza came into view, I screamed with joy. We were almost there.
Sigüenza is a very ancient city. It is dominated by its castle, but at every turning there appears more stunning architecture and wonderful churches. Naturally it is built on a very steep hill and of course our bed for the night was pretty much at the top of it. We were given a warm welcome, bikes immediately stored and help with our bags to our room. Thanks to all the wonderful staff at ‘El Albergue de Siguenza’ for looking after two very cold and bedraggled cyclists!
