We have waited out the rainy weather for 3 days in Leon. We are also struggling with trying to do too many things. We had planned this trip with Orvar and Trevor. We had initially thought we could ride south to Tarifa to meet our good friends there, but after riding mostly on the highway all day from Leon to Plasencia we had a change of heart. The guys had gone west to Ponferada to see the Templar castle and then on to the hot springs in Ourense. They will continue north to the Templar lighthouse at A Coruña. We will head back north west towards Vila Real.
leaving Leon we passed the bull ring.
Today we set out with partly cloudy skies and 14 degrees, but at highway speed that is pretty cool. The rain coats helped as well as a few coffee stops. Even from the highway the Spanish countryside is beautiful. You pass thru or by a number of medieval cities along the 365 km.
We had initially planned to ride the last leg to Plasencia over the mountains for 90 km but when we got to the decision point it was already 10 degrees and we had a lot of ascent yet.
We took a detour on a country road, thru a deserted village, down another 6 km of single lane road to find the medieval village of Candalario. Its one lane access is a steepish cobbled road winding downhill thru the buildings.
From the new town below you can access the main highway again and it continues downhill so much that 10 minutes later it was a comfortable 20 degrees. We continued on the 30 km to Plasencia where our accommodation had a nice view of the city. It’s just a 15 min walk into the old walled city.
