A 25 mph head wind seems like a puff now compared to yesterdays blow. Winds yesterday were 65mph at times and gusting higher. Yesterday set a whole new standard for us when it comes to riding in what we now call, "Bad Weather."
We climbed out of town on the dirt roads and as we got higher, it became windier. Pelting rain, but not at all like yesterday.
We took shelter in a Bus Stop shelter and waited for the rain to slow a bit. I could see a bank of less dark clouds moving in our direction and thought it best to wait a bit. Back on the bike the wind now was at our left side. We needed to lean to keep the bike upright.
Rolling hills, mostly down hill made riding in the wind and rain a bit easier.
The plan for today was to get to "N 525" and stay with it to our next evenings stay, Ourense.
Ourense is a large city. The simple country road turns into a major highway coming into town. We had ridden it once before and wanted to get there before it became too busy.
I noticed off to the North, blue sky. Just a bit, but it was there. Barbara assured me that I was seeing things.
Later, the Sun popped through the clouds. Again, Barbara said that it was only for a little while and to not get my hopes up.
We found a nice spot with a really nice host for lunch. He was so happy to help and was very kind in helping us pick out exactly what we wanted to eat. Always nice to have helpful folk at times of trying to understand a foreign language.
By the time we finished with lunch,the weather had turned. The forecast of all day rain was wrong.We now had a super strong tail wind and riding along was more like flying! Our speed was at 20 mph for over an hour and conversation became easy without the sound of the wind in our ears.
We reached Ourense around 6:00 pm. Traffic was thick and riding on what now seemed like a super highway was a bit more stressful. Working together, looking for cars at off and on ramps kept us from being hit. Remembering the last time we were here and how we made it safely, made today's ride into town a bit better.
As in all big city's, it took us a while to find the hotel. Using Barbara's "Gizmo" and the Garmin, we were in our room within an hour.
Nice spot, we were asked to not hang drying cloths out our window. Barbara thinks that our previous hotels had called ahead to warn them of us. After all, its what we do!
It rained hard all night long. Its a very good thing we followed their orders about drying clothing.
The forecast tomorrow is more rain. We are prepared for the ride and look forward to what the road will bring us.
Here are some photos from today's ride:
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