Tuesday is riding day.
Julia comes to clean. So I take the bike out for a ride. Sunshine. Blue skies. Scenic vistas. And a castle at the end.
Don’t get this in Canada.
Well. No castles. And no scenic, changing, countryside for an hour and a half, just a few minutes from home.
“Canada. More of the same, going on, and on, and on, and on…..” 🙂
We are the second biggest country in the world. Bigger than the USA. But England, in particular, changes every 70km. Whereas you can travel 1,000km in Ontario looking at water, rocks and trees. Or travel 1,500km looking at the flat prairies. Heck! Britain’s longest route (Land’s End to John O’Groats) is only 1,400km. That will easily fit into Ontario. Yup. Canada sure is big !
Meanwhile, back in Spain….
Rode to restaurante el Rimero de la Quintina.
In a tiny hill-top village.
And I do mean tiny. One horse town, where the horse had run away.
And I do mean hill-top. Steep, narrow and twisty lanes. TomTom doing it’s usual, taking me the hardest and daftest way! Luckily a van was blocking TomTom’s preferred route. So I took a closer look, and chose a really simple route. Meant I did not have to ride up the steps. Yes! TomTom was trying to up my riding skills by taking me up some steps. Haven’t done that since Morocco 😉
Parked the bike in the smallest main square, seen to date.
The only other person in the village came over and gave me a sticker to the Matador in Madrid. Now I am going to have to go there 🙂
Walked over to the unexpected castle, just past the restaurant. Roman columns, standard floor, and a well. One of the towers has a staircase, so you can experience the view.
I walked back to the restaurant to find it still closed 🙁
Sent a message to Barry. He would appreciate the humour.
Sat down to await a reply. And lo! A lady came to open up.
Had the following tasty lunch.
“Sopa” with everything – chickpeas, chorizo, rice, pork belly, and more 🙂 Plus pickled hot peppers on the side 🙂
Braised lamb, with veg and chips 🙂
My excuse for dessert was that one torrijas, even the lightest, fluffiest, largest tojjijas can keep one going only for so long. And after waiting a decent interval, I was still peckish. So I had the “flan”. Came with cream.
An espresso to finish.
Then a beautiful ride back home. The roads follow the rivers. The rivers flow through twisty hills. The hills vary from rock, to terraced vineyards, and everything in between. As I said, beautiful.
22degC.
Blue skies.
Back in Logrono, I gave the bike some TLC. And parked underground.
I do like Spain.
I do like La Rioja.
I do like Logrono.
Castles to the left. Churches to the right. Good food and wine everywhere.
Can’t argue with that. But we did have 17 degree weather yesterday and back to 7 today and sunny. But still not Espana.
And yes Jamie is back as I saw yesterday.