The Race to Valencia

Sat 28th March

It wasn't really a race, but so many cyclists past us that it did feel like we were in the La Vuelta E Espana. Not looking like getting a place either. But what a gorgeous day for a ride. 24C, sunshine and a bit of a head wind. But the road was mostly flat, and we found some good bike paths and secondary roads to meander along.

Almost on our way

It was a noisey night, as most Friday's are in Spain, we are told, and we woke up early. Not a bad night, but we have been spoilt. We ate our cereal and drank our juice. Too lazy to break out the stove to make coffee.....We'll regret that.

Which way now?

We headed off about 9:45am, getting better, and warmed up slowly. We're a little stiff this morning. But there wasn't much traffic yet, except for cyclists.  Frickin everywhere. Most were friendly, some did not acknowledge us (they were in the zone), and some looked bewildered and looked at us trying to figure out if we were crazy. As they passed, they usually were grinning. Decision made?

Beautiful,  quiet roads

Another Palaton 

More orange groves, and irrigation drains, and lovely peace and quiet. More and more cyclists, passing us. "Valle, Valle....." and other things in fast spoken spanish....always made me laugh. 

Coming into Cullera

Coming into Cullera was really strange, as again we had a mountain to get around, and it was very disorienting, which did cause some navigation errors again. Nothing drastic, and we did get to see the shopping centre, which was super quiet on a Saturday.

Bridge into Cullera

                     

Water doesn't look that nice, but very peaceful.

We took a wrong exit at a round about (becoming a common habit of ours, they are not simple circles with four symmetrical exits like most Aussie ones) and had to leg it over the grassy verge. We found ourselves in the shopping centre car park, next to a gym, that was next to MacDonalds.  Hang on a minute, it IS a MacDonalds gym???? What the hell? Eat what you want, work it off next door...cool!

Ronalds gym? Hey?

Heading around the mountain, we came to a road detour, which was going up hill around some roadworks.....stuffed if I'm doing that, bugger it, I'm going around the barrier and along the road. It turned to good compact dirt road ready for new Tarmac, and it was flat...aahhh! The landscape changed to sparse farm land for bit, before we turned onto the CV500 towards the national park and Valencia.

Flat farm land not far from the beach. 

We stopped at a little village for some lunch, so we didn't do what we did yesterday and get too hungry.  It was a town pub in Mareny De Sant Llorenc, where some local gents were enthusiastically playing dominos and drinking sherry. They don't speak Spanish in this part of the country, they speak Valenciano. Same, same but different...made it fun to order some cokes, beer and some strange sandwiches...

Little pub, speaking no English. Exciting Dominoes. 

Will does love his onions....add some pickled ones. 

The ride along this road was great. It was flat, and the views changed regularly. We were surprised to see canals, glimpses of the ocean, farming, and so, so, many cyclists.

Valencia - El Perellonet

The traffic began to increase the closer we got to Valencia, and the variety of good quality cars that passed by was amazing too. We even saw two brand new shiny red Ferraris, too slow to get the camera out, doh!

Valencia - La Punta (always thought that was rude)

Coming into Valencia, we followed a fantastic bicycle path all the way...oh, that was once we had gone over the river on the busy freeway like road, whilst getting passed by a huge palaton. It was so funny, again I was too slow with the camera, but Will had powered up the on ramp, and was a good way in front of me when the cyclists passed me, there was a photo opportunity when Will was in the middle of them, but I missed it. The race to Valencia.....it was on....I was just laughing....

The view into the city centre.

Cycle path all the way in, and awesome super wide footpaths. Easy road crossings and great things to look at. It looks like a clean and easy going place.

L'Umbracle - it is the Arts centre. Awesome building.           

Yay,  we made it to Valencia.

Love gargoyles. These look vicious. 

We found our pre-booked B&B really easy, and discovered it is within one kilometre from the city centre. Awesome, we can do some walking and exploring.

Pants off Friday,  at last! 

Bikes chilling on the terrace. Nice.