After crossing the Pyrenees and another hard slog up and over Spanish mountains day 12 had planned to be slightly shorter (101km) with less mountain passes. This in theory would mean for a swift arrival into Allyon with plenty of time to recover on sleep and food.
The day started with sweeping descents passing fields of Bamby like deer playing in the early morning sun. After many walkietalky conversations with the ever reliable Hannon's we arrived into our lunch town of San Esteban de Gormez. This picturesque town was home to only 3000 people, one of which a young English boy studying at Nottingham Trent University. He gave us some interesting facts about the the town and then decided, along with his Spanish amigo to join the peloton for a few kilometres.
Slogging along on their mountain bikes, he decided to show the thunder train the local bull fighting arena. Having entered with great caution we navigated our way around the arena on our not so off roading- road bikes!! The local groundsman who firmly believed in the phrase mãnyana was desperately in search of a cigarette- something the elite athletes of the A2A team could not provide.
As the heat began to rise to 38 degrees we cruised into what we thought would be spitting distance of our over night destination. The kilometres ticked down slowly...7...6...5 still no sign of the town. 4...3...2, no town in sight. Just to put this into perspective it takes 5 double clicks on google images just to even find this town. Into the last km, still no sign. Fred who has taken responsibility of the whole route became seriously worried about what he had let the boys in for. However, as we came to under 300 yards- buried into the cliff face an absolute goldmine of a town.
Built around the 1100's, Allyon was home to only 1000 people but proved to be a serious hit amongst the boys and the support crew. We took an opportunity to have a quick afternoon nap before heading out to explore what this town had to offer. Sunk into the cliff face was 20meter long caves. Marcus and Fred, crawled, crept and crouched their way through the rather unstable corridors, whilst Rob and Laurie stood petrified at the entrance, ensuring at every minute we were still alive and talking.
The experience we had in and around Ayllon is something that can't really be expressed in a blog, however if you ever find yourself around Madrid, all the Access 2 Africa team can strongly recommend taking the trip north to visit this town.
After wandering around the narrow streets we took to a local bar to sample some cerveza. After 6 beers we asked for the bill. Much to Greg's amazement the bill worked out to just over a pound a pint. Having been so flabbergasted by this we decided to stay and have our evening meal there.
The waitress handed over the menus and after 10 minutes browsing the menu, none of us were any the wiser as to what on earth the choices were. As a style of Russian roulette we placed our orders and waited in serious anticipation discussing our choices over another £1 beer. When the food arrived we were all unbelievably happy. Laurie and Marcus had gone for a boring steak and chips. Rob confit of duck, Helen and Greg still don't know what they ate and Fred being the most adventurous foodie out of the team went for a local dish of cows cheek. Much to everyone's amusement as it arrived, it actually ended up being the talk of the evening about how tender and delicious it was.
If this trip had not happened, we would never ever know about little places like Ayllon and the history behind it. We all could not believe what we had witnessed and are already planning a reunion there in a few years time.
Today's distance: 63 miles
Average speed: 15.3 mph
Top speed: 39 mph
Time on bike: 4: 30 hrs
Total Distance; 850 miles
Max heart rate: 86% (172 Bpm)
Average heart rate: 62% (124 bpm)
Calories burnt: 2300
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- www.access2africa.co.uk
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