Safe Return Doubtful

The small town of Bot on the Val de Zafán Via Verde, or Greenway, was an excellent venue for the weekend, even though it was cold, 8C and with a strong north wind making it feel a few degrees cooler.

There were a few other cyclists around on the Saturday, but it was very quiet on Sunday morning. On Saturday I rode west, uphill very gradually for 400 vertical metres, into the wind to the town of Horta St Joan, with an easy return, a total journey of 15 miles. As it used to be a railway the gradient is never more than 5%. There’s 8 tunnels, and it’s a very scenic ride. On Sunday I rode east, to Pinnel del Bray, generally downhill but with a few uphill sections, a similar distance to the day before, but this time with the tougher section on return, and again with lots of tunnels. 

The Greenway in its entirety is 83 km, and will soon be a single route of more than 175 km from Puebla de Híjar to the mouth of the Ebro River as this, the new Carrilet de la Cava Greenway and the Ebro Nature Trail will be linked together. It makes for a tremendous journey. 

On Sunday afternoon I headed to Alcañiz and used the aire of the city in preparation for the van’s visit to Volkswagen the following morning. This is now the Aragon Province, the city standing on the Guadeloupe river. It was very quiet on this Sunday afternoon. I took a walk up to the 11th century castle, Los Calatravos, that dominates its skyline, and wandered through its medieval plazas before being back at the van in plenty of time for the rugby from Twickenham. 

I was at the workshop of the Volkswagen franchise at 8 am, and as previously when I’ve done this in Spain, the service was excellent. In a couple of hours they had run it through the computer and established the two problems I had. I knew neither of which were urgent, and have had them since leaving Cumbria. My mechanic couldn’t repair them and referred me to a dealer, where the wait list was more than a month and the labour charge almost double. Here, they needed to get the two parts, which they hoped would be a couple of days. 

I drove a half hour south east to a village where I had spotted some decent hiking. Torrelilla had a small aire for vans, and was ideal for the wait. It was cold though, 6C, with that north wind still. The boss of the VW place told me it was because 20 centimetres of snow had fallen in the Pyrenees and that gave an added chill factor. 

On the Tuesday though, I still got in the hiking route I had planned, a 10 mile / 16 kilometre circuit that spent four of those kilometres on a ridge at about 850 metres, and the sky was clear, so there were great views. 

This morning I returned to VW Alcañiz where one of the two parts had arrived, the other likely to be a few days more. I got the one that had arrived fitted, and arranged for the other to be done in a week’s time in Murcia, and then drove for three hours, hoping to find some warmer weather. My first option for a stopover was the village of Chulilla, spectacularly set on the side of a canyon on the river Turia. It’s very popular with climbers, but also because of its tourist infrastructure of souvenir shops and cafes. The camper area was busy with vans, and didn’t look great, so I drove on along the river valley for ten kilometres, to the Sot de Chera Natural Park, and the town of that name. There’s a good place to stop above the town at a Hemitage, or chapel. I arrived just after 5 pm, and took a wander down into the town just as the light was fading.