Spain - Day 8 : Una bolsa por favor

We were happy we had enough food for breakfast. The bread we bought at the gas station was the worst we had eaten on any of our vacations. It didn't taste bad, but you might as well eat styrofoam. It didn't weigh anything. The outside was really hard and brittle and when you took a bite the soft inside crumbled away, making it feel like you were eating raw flour. That was our nutritious breakfast, together with some honey. The bread was exactly the type of bread you would expect to eat if you were sentenced to live on water and bread. We discussed how it was better to be in jail than on a cycling vacation in some aspects. At least then you can eat warm every day, have a bed, and don't need to work so hard.

First, we cycled 40 kilometers through open plains. In the first village all buildings were packed really close together. There were only one-way streets and everything looked like a maze. We didn't find a supermarket, but we did find a bakery. It turned out to be a very luxurious one. After a while someone came over to help us. We ordered two chocolate pastries. They were first put in a nice package and then wrapped in gift paper, the whole thing was then placed in a special plastic bag. We were laughing as we would be ripping everything off 2 minutes later. We were surprised it still only cost 3 euros. Even these fancy breads turned out to be without flavor. Compared to France, the bread in Spain is terrible. They only have dried-up powder. We agreed that we would feast on pastries as soon as we were back in France.

It was 11 o'clock and still about 20 km until the next village. We would have to be fast to reach it before noon. The first part was all downhill. Again we rode along bare rocks, although this time with some pine trees. Just after 12, we arrived in the next village where we found a typical Spanish store. It was about the size of a small living room. They mostly sold cheese, meat, and bread. We again bought 5 liters of water to make it through the rest of the day. We sat down on the curb to eat.

Today's route was hilly, but we still traveled quite fast. We rode over remote roads with only one car an hour. The landscape was already so dry that there were cacti everywhere, sometimes in rows a kilometer long. The temperature was again above 30 degrees, which we were slowly getting used to. In the morning, I again had a sore knee. After lowering my seat some more (it was now 5 cm lower than usual), the pain subsided a little.