Day 7 Short but hilly

We had aimed to cover the 75km to Morella today, but that involved two very big climbs and we felt quite heavy-legged after our long day yesterday.
We set off from the campsite and continued up the remarkable Via Verda.

This extraordinary feat of engineering runs through remote and hilly countryside and has many long viaduct and tunnels, the longest of which is over 700m long. The line has a steady gradient of 3%. It was only used for 31 years and has now been converted into an asphalted cycle route.

We followed its gentle rise for 23 kilometres before leaving it and descending to Valderrobres where we were seduced by the menu del dia in a beautiful old square.

Valderrobes

This was turning into a rather leisurely day!

We dragged ourselves onto our bikes to head out of town and up the 400m climb ahead. We (me in particular) were finding it quite hard work and we started discussing whether to stop at the campsite in the next village of Fuentespalda or to go on over the next even higher hill to Morella. By then a large black cloud was developing and we thought we heard thunder, so that decided it!

We've had a chance to rest a bit and do do some washing. At least we'll be fresh for the climbing tomorrow. There are no more campsites for over 200km, so I've booked a hotel 70km away with 1000m climbing between here and there. Let's hope we make it.

Spain is VERY hilly!

Bot to Fuentespalda 43km, 600m climb.