Day 13 A windy day - Olmedilla to Barrax

We woke up at our rather unusual camping pitch at Olmedilla rather disappointed that it hadn't rained! We were given this covered spot just in case it did. I should also have mentioned the great welcome we got here last night when we went into the bar to register. The lady saw our sweaty, exhausted state and immediately pulled two cold, draught beers and served them to us with a bowl of peanuts saying "on the house". Perfect!

We were hoping for an easier day today as the terrain is much flatter now. 

We made an uphill detour to visit the perched and fortified village of Alarcón which was stunning. One can't really imagine what life must have been like in these places in medieval times though.

Then we continued on a long, straight road - this is a completely new kind of terrain for us in Spain. There are fields of poppies here too though as there have been for most of our journey .

The problem with this flat landscape is that the wind can howl across it. By mid afternoon it was doing just that! An easterly cross wind was making cycling difficult, if not dangerous, and we were relieved that the last 40km of our route took us along a paved service road for an irrigation canal.

This was at least partly sheltered from the gale and was totally traffic-free. Nevertheless we are quite exhausted by the struggle with the wind and very happy to have arrived at a Hostal in the small industrial town of Barrax. We've just eaten dinner in the lively bar here and enjoyed the colourful local ambience.

Let's hope for the wind to abate overnight. 

Most used items - waterproofs (all but two days).

Least used items - swimming costumes (no way!) 

Olmedilla to Barrax (with detour to Alarcón) 95km, ascent about 200m.