Tenerife Trio
After a late finish yesterday looking for a seatpost clamp for Charlotte's bike I was glad of a nice leisurely start to the day today. Tea and coffee in our hotel room before meeting Alice at a churreria for breakfast. The churros were amazing, dipped in chocolate sauce and with a bit of sugar sprinkled on the top, delicious.
It was overcast and cool this morning and due for rain showers today with a lot more rain forecast for tomorrow so we have a hostel booked for this evening in San Cristobal de La Laguna. Accomodation has been the hardest part of this trip across the Canaries because everything seems to be booked solid - everyone is after some winter sun it seems. There definitely wasn't any sun on the menu this morning though and it was rather cool so we took a quick trip to Decathlon for Charlotte to buy some extra layers and gloves before hitting the route along the coastline.
It was a day of climbing as we began our ascent at San Andres up to the Parque Rural de Anaga. The road was fairly busy but the drivers seemed nice and patient to pass us as we got into the rhythm of the climb.
The hills were the greenest we've seen so far and there were a few spits and spots of rain but thankfully it didn't get any heavier. It was all about the road and I have to say it's my least favourite type of riding for long hours as it gets rather uncomfortable on the derrière and the lady bits. When you're off-road you're constantly readjusting yourself on the bike to deal with the terrain and you don't have that on the long road sections so it's rather harsh on the posterior.
Although the scenery was nice my knees were definitely feeling it after the last few days of riding. I feel like my body is wearing out slowly and it's rather frustrating as it's only in the last year that I've struggled with knee problems on the bike. I popped a few painkillers and kept on turning the pedals as we rose higher and higher.
I have to say it was nice to see the cars passing by with a thumbs up or a wave when we were climbing. It's funny that such a small gesture can make such a big difference but it's a little boost and always brings a smile to my face that people encourage you up the hills.
Stopping at the top at a cafe for some well deserved tea and coffee it was time to layer up as the wind was really rather fresh.
It was rather reminiscent of being back in the UK, overcast, chilly and windy. Never mind, we've been very lucky with the weather so far and when you're climbing you warm up pretty quickly so maybe it's just a case of not stopping, haha.
We finally headed off-road onto a muddy trail and did get some nice little downhill sections but we were soon back on the road for the main down of the day. I won't complain either because the bits on the muddy track were often 'fake' downhills where it looks on the map like you should be descending but there seems to be a lot more pedalling than you would like for a descent.
Not far from our destination for the day I completely ran out of fuel. I asked the girls to give me the details of the hostel and I'd catch them up once I'd eaten lunch but they decided to join me and so we sat in a bus shelter on a busy road and munched on cheese and crisp sandwiches - living the high life, haha!
Up and over the last little hill and we were back into city life in La Laguna. It looked really nice with loads of places to eat and drink along the colourful streets.
Finding our hostel it was time for a post ride refreshment and feeling like my legs needed it I went for the good ol' chocolate milk whilst the girls hit the coffee. I have to say that I found today's route rather uninspiring and a bit dull, we've definitely been spoilt with the last few days of epic scenery but I'm sure we'll be in for some interesting riding tomorrow as we continue our way up to Las Lagunetas. Tonight though we're heading out for some dinner in town which will be exciting - time to savour some authentic Spanish food I hope :-)