A bike ride in the countryside

Today I hopped on the sweet (heavy, rattly, but still sweet) cruiser and took a ride into the countryside. My destination was Cubo de Tierra de los Vinos, or "crossroads of the land of the vines." I figured it was as good a spot as any and would give me a good goal. It's about halfway between Salamanca and Zamora, the next major city to the north.

I got lost on some backroads almost immediately, which was scenic while confusing. The wind was whipping up quite a blow and made biking in the crosswind quite difficult.


I was expecting the "land of the vine" to have more vineyards, but this is the only one I saw.




Finally, my destination.

I got into town, walked into a local pub (there appeared to be three, I picked the one where everyone went right away after church) and had a cup of coffee and some tapas pinchos, little snacks on a plate. I watched a pretty exciting football (soccer in the US) game and got ready for the big ride back home.

When I got back to my bike I discovered that a slow leak in my tire had ended up making it completely flat. Like an idiot I hadn't brought my pump and patch kit. Doh!

I had to wait two more hours, some of it spent walking around town, the rest of it back in the bar, until I could catch the bus back to Salamanca.


The two-lane highway between Salamanca and Zamora will soon be replaced with a four-lane divided highway.