Alaejos to Vallalodid – 68km

Paul missed his oatmeal this morning – breakfast in the bar of the posada was thick slices of toasted bread with butter and jam and coffee con lèche/espresso. He did find more sustenance later with a large slice of tortilla de patatas at a coffee stop near Tordesillas (a place known for the treaty signed in 1494 which divided newly “discovered” lands outside Europe between Portugal and the Crown of Castille. That treaty did not originally give Brazil to Portugal.)

Just after coffee, the flat, straight N620 (which we assume is an old Roman road) disappeared. The Garmin took us up and into the town before we lost confidence in its ability to get us back on route. (The maps on the Garmin are not always completely up to date and we aren’t carrying paper maps with us of a large enough scale to be useful in such circumstances.) Switching to Google Maps, we headed out of town in another direction (stopping for what appeared to be a charity walk), soon ending up on a forked gravel road. In spite of the gravel and the adamant advice from a young woman walking by that we could not get to Valladolid that way, Paul was reluctant to give up faith in our one other source of technological guidance! Lois did not view this as an entirely rational approach. It should be noted that Lois is the keeper of the Garmin, and Paul, Google Maps. Rather promptly, we were retracing our route back through Tordesillas, now an hour since we had pedalled into the town. With allegiance switched back to Garmin, we took the VP-5805 and VP-5806 (the latter at the suggestion of a road cyclist who convinced us it would be quicker). It was much hillier than the N620, but with beautiful scenery, also taking us through the delightful village of Simancas, with its Citadel, dating from the 9th Century, which now houses the national archives. We were also excited to see a signpost to the Camino de Santiago de Compostelo. We hope to join part of this pilgrimage trail from Burgos.