Vallodalid was a real pleasure. We left in the morning and cycled against a relentless west wind for about 70 kms. Whew!!! Very flat and fertile farms, well irrigated with machinery, a few gently rolling hills, lots of beautiful red poppies, but that wind. Relentless!
We climbed a few hills towards the end and entered the Reora and Toro wine regions. All of a sudden grape vines reappeared, with their accompanying bodegas. A final climb put us into the town of Toro. We stopped briefly to pick up some potato chips, a Spanish version of Cheezies (cycling cravings) and some wine. We checked into our hotel, the Palazio Rejadorada – a beautifully restored 13th Century palace – stowed the bikes in a courtyard within the enclave, plugged in all of the assorted batteries, and waited out some late afternoon rain. Half a block up the street was the local bar/restaurant (cafeteria) where we enjoyed hamburgers (more cycling cravings) and then we watched a football (soccer) match between Barcelona and the Basque national team that plays out of San Sebastian. Needless to say that although we are now in the Castile y Leon region, the locals in the bar were fans of the Basque team and were happy to explain the rivalries to us in Spanish that neither of us understood…
Half an hour later we walked back to the hotel. The rain and wind had stopped and wow! What a rainbow!!!! We made sure the bikes were OK for a wet night, and hit the sack (in our modest palace bedroom, LOL), looking forward to our short (35km) ride to Zamora.
