Only one more night left in Spain but the best part of two days.
We didn't get up too early. The alarm was 0800 but as check out was 1200 and no breakfast in the hotel, thought we'd lie in and then pack and go.
The first stop was the Bernabeu Stadium. Of course I went into the car park the wrong way, had to "off road" across some pavements to set Döra up for a photo session.
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| Stadio Santiago Bernebeu |
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| Stadio Santiago Bernebeu |
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| Stadio Santiago Bernebeu |
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| Stadio Santiago Bernebeu - don't ask about the orange character |
We still hadn't had breakfast, so after a few pix we set off again. TomTom took us around the entire stadium and through the car-park of a shopping complex and we saw a Musee del Jamón. Parked and a ham croissant and coffee later we were off to the second stop at Segovia.
The route I planned took us over the Puerto de Navacerrado. It's over 1800 metres and progress was deadly. To cover today's long distance I opted to take the autovias. The built-up area leaving Madrid seems never ending.
Once off the autovia it was solid traffic for about 25kms. The going-up from the South is long sweeping bends but car drivers make a pretty poor fist of it. Once at the pass we stopped for the obligatory picture or two and then a coffee.
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| Puerto Navacerrado |
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| Spot the new "bull" sticker...... |
The down-side (for us) going north starts off okay and then becomes a mini-Stelvio of hairpins. We had a few cars in front all seemingly stuck behind Mr Cautious in a Mondeo. Over braking into the turns and slow out was a nightmare.
In the end a few miles short of Segovia they all turned off together!
Bliss. Apart from the Portuguese in the Audi 4WD that had accelerated to stop us joining the traffic line at the pass, was now up our arse tail-gating us.
He flew past in the 50kph zone as we entered Segovia itself.
We stopped right by the aqueduct and took some pix. We were amused by a group of Asian girls that did the peace sign for every photo as they took turns with the imposing Roman architecture behind them.. Or the other pose, hand under chin. We tried to recreate a few!!
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueduct_of_Segovia |
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| Aqueduct at Segovia |
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| Claire mimicking other tourists at the Aqueduct at Segovia |
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| More posing! |
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| Me - the wrong gear for this heat. |
From Segovia we still had around 225kms to the Parador. Much to my chagrin I opted for the autovia. Boring.
We had a strange detour at Valladolid when we came off the autovia and after a loop via Michelin's tyre factory we were back on it.
One more fuel stop near Palencia and we slogged along one almost empty autovia after another before turning off for Cervera. Once again the roads were almost deserted as we headed some 35kms into the mountains to the Parador.
The hotel is very well situated. Our room sadly overlooks the front rather than the mountains and the lake. A pattern with Paradors and us?
The view from our balcony.
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| Parador de Cervera |
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| Parador de Cervera |
Some postings on TripAdvisor said it was old and a bit worn, and that is a bit extreme, although there are things in our room that need attending to. We have a nice seating area with French windows to a balcony. One of the rustic style chairs is broken, the second looks as though it has been repaired in the past. The problem looks to be the same weak point!
Apart from the noisy kids in the dining room; the parents sit smiling or laughing at their antics, as they disturb the rest of us, the hotel is well situated.
Dinner was the Menu del Parador and €29 for three courses. This is going to be our most expensive overnight stay in a long time.
We had a little walk to check on Döra before bed. There are other bikes up here including a Spanish couple with a Gold Wing registered in Elche near Alicante.
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| Night night Dora the Explorer |
Tomorrow we will not hurry as we have about 10 hours to get to Santander to catch the boat and it is about 80 miles away!!!
The scenic route up through the mountains is about 100 miles and TomTom had plotted to take us along the coast once we run out of Spain going north!
Question. Whether to fill the tank again. Spanish unleaded 95 is about 12p a litre cheaper than at home..... Mmmmmm.
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