Lugo to Vegadeo. Spain

Big wind machines on the ridge half way from Lugo To Vegadeo

I rode 55 miles today and climbed 2500 feet. It was not an easy ride, largely because of the wind, but It was an easier ride than yesterday. I stopped in Vegado instead of My planned stop at Ribadeo because I realized that, if I went on to Ribadeo, I'd just have to come back in the morning. Ribadeo is on the ocean and has a beautiful, autopista, bridge across the river mouth. Autopista means no bicycle, so I'd have had to come back five miles to cross the river near Vegadeo ;-{.

Looking down river at Ribadeo and the bridge

I had two other motives for stopping here today. One was to save money. My room at a no star hotel here is 22 E. I would have had to spend considerably more to stay in Ribaldeo. The second was to have place to do some maintenance on my bike. It has developed several creaks in the last day or two. One of them is the suspension seat post and, I think the other is where the rear axle mounts. I wanted to lubricate both in hope of reducing the creaking. My 22 E room has an enclosed balcony where I was able to put my bike and, very conveniently, work on it.

I discovered another advantage when I went walking in this, small, town. There is an internet cafe about two blocks away from my hotel. I'm going there later tonight after I finish this report.

On the road to Ribadeo

I slept well in my cell last night. The only problem I had was that, without a window, I couldn't tell when it was dawn. I got up about 7:30, walked down to the cafe/bar place that hosts the hostal - it is about a block from my room - and had a good breakfast. Then I walked the wall a little - Lugo is a fully walled city - to get some perspective and looked at my map to figure a way out of town. I figured correctly, but executed badly! Because I missed a turn, I ended up riding and extra 5 miles and climbing an extra 300 feet.

The road and shoulder were good all day

Here is the high point of the day
It is where the road goes over the ridge with the wind machines

I stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Miera . Lunch was not served till 1 PM, so I waited 15 minutes and had a beer. Lunch, including two courses - in my case paella and a beef dish, wine, desert, and the beer was 9 E. While Spanish lunches aren't quite up to French lunches, they are cheaper and faster - it only took an hour, not including the 15 minute wait. I watched the wind machines out the windows of the restaurant wile I ate. There are about 30 megawatt sized machines on that ridge.

Climbing the ridge after lunch

A wide angle view of the wind machines and the access road for them

The descent on the other side of the ridge was spectacular! It descended about 1700 feet, mostly at 5 to 7% slope. When I was shielded from the wind, I coasted at 35 mph. When I was riding into the wind, it slowed me to 20 mph. In either mode it was a nice downhill into a gorgeous valley. At the bottom of the descent, the rode runs along te River Eo for another 20 miles. That would have been great fun too, but the wind made it pretty rough and there was still some significant climbing.

Looking north into the Eo valley

Looking south in the Eo valley

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The Eo river near A Pontrnova

The Eo river 10 miles from its end

It was a much nicer day of riding than I expected, in part because there were, unlike yesterday, some fairly long stretches where the wind wasn't a problem. The fact that there was 1500 feet more of descending than climbing helped, but the average speed for today was still just over 10 mph. Without the wind, it would been considerably higher. I also had problems with my bad knee and both ankles getting cold riding into that cold wind. I put two knee warmers on my bad knee about ten miles into the ride. I wore my riding shirt over my silk undershirt until I got down near sea level when I was able to take my riding shirt off.

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