Spain’s Tiny Terror

Spain’s Tiny Terror

Here in Beteta I take the executive decision to finish the first part of the Montañas Vacías. I’m going to Madrid. That’s it, we are gonna pause Montañas Vacías and start heading to Madrid, the capital of Spain. It’s a beautiful road that leads to Madrid. Very nice. Very nice landscape, Spain.

I took advantage of the fountain and the rest area to shave, wash myself a little bit and wash my cycling clothes because I could smell myself. And that’s not a good thing. In this village, there is nothing. No grocery store, there was a bar but it was closed. Nothing.

Still looking for a place to camp. It’s pretty dark. There is a spring. Beautiful church. Tortellini are cooling down. That was my kitchen, my abode for the night. I’ll take you to my dining room now. Yes, I do have a dining room. You think dirtbags don’t have dining rooms. We do.

Look at this. This is my beautiful, beautiful dining room. Tortellini. Tortellini is a way of life. Road to Madrid. Tonight I should be in the capital. Hopefully. And it will be mostly paved roads. I’m about 100, 110 kilometers from the metropolis. Even close to the capital, there’s not much population.

There are some villages but in between there is nothing. Getting closer to Madrid and I’m flying to Madrid. Seriously, look at the average. The average is so high mostly because twofold. First of all, paved roads. After eight days of dirt roads, being unpaved, you fly.

And the second most important factor is that it was mostly downhill. So that’s a thing. That’s Madrid, the capital of Spain. Nice, let’s enter Madrid. The quality of the water of the river in Madrid is not exactly like the high Tajo of a couple of days ago. That’s it.

One little hill and I’m in the metropolis of Madrid. One little push. To get, into the city. That’s it, I’m in Madrid. Estadio Metropolitano, the stadium where Atletico Madrid plays. This coming up is Ponte Toledo. What’s on the other side is the centre of Madrid, it’s the city of Madrid.

Underneath there isn’t much water, this must be another park. There’s a bit of water in the middle. And after the Puente de Toledo, Toledo’s bridge, there is Puerta de Toledo, one of the gates of Madrid. Look at this. This is Plaza Mayor the main square of Madrid, but there are other big squares.

This is Plaza Mayor. I don’t even think bikes are allowed here, it’s a pedestrian area. Let’s see if we exit from here, maybe not. The Air Army. And in front of us, the Victory Arch. Direction Cuenca, Madrid is at my back, Getafe is coming up

And I’m heading to Cuenca and after Cuenca I will go back to Montañas Vacías. Pleasant temperature today it’s 37 degrees Celsius of course and yeah it’s all good. Road to Cuenca, now in a couple of days it will get very cold, very cold, only 24 degrees on Sunday.

It’s that time of the year in Spain, almonds are getting ready, that’s my snack. These olive trees are massive, very very old, hundreds, hundreds of years. Yet another Via Verde, a greenway. a bike lane that replaced the old railway. grapes. They are one or two days away but still good, good and sweet.

I think these guys are thirsty. Ah, you like it, huh? You have some buddy. Now figs. If this milk gets in touch with your lips, it burns them. Basically it burns through proteins. It’s a defense mechanism of the figs. But we only eat what’s in the middle. Still on the Via Verde.

Well, it’s a little lie. It is a Via Verde, but it’s a different Via Verde than before. At some point I switched Via Verde. Very, very pleasant ride. It was climbing for a long while, and now we… We go down to a little village and then back to climbing. Very dry.

I can’t wait to get to the village. To refill my bottles for the night as well. The day is winding down. I think it’s time to find a place to camp. I was on a dirt road and there was a nice place to camp.

But I was like, let’s do a little bit more. And now I’m stuck on this road. Maybe there is some forest coming up. Maybe there is a nice place to camp. 101 kilometers. I think I did good. I left late as well.

Good morning, Tortellini is ready, here is where I camped and last night I pitched my tent, I was in bed, I was reading a little bit, checking out something on the internet, I was bare-chested, it was very warm and then I felt something on my back, I reached out

And took something and it was a tick. I posted on Instagram just to get confirmation. I’m a bit bothered, it’s the first time in eight years cycling around the world that I have a tick in my tent and on my skin.

I don’t think it bite me because I remove it like if it was an ant, you know, effortlessly. And then this morning I woke up and there was a tick outside outside my tent. I don’t know and I thought ticks like grass and dry places and

Sorry humid places and grass but I don’t know where I got the tick. Last night I went to inside this little forest, it’s pine trees and I went to check if there was a place I could, like a flat

Place where I could camp, maybe it crawl into it, I don’t know, I don’t know how I got into my tent and on my skin. I checked very carefully my clothing and I didn’t see any and also this

Morning I passed again my hand through my skin to see maybe I still had another tick, a tiny tiny one attached and then they grow overnight because they suck their blood but it seems okay. Yeah it kind of bothers me and also when I was in Montaña Vacias something bite me

Around my belly button and I still have a red mark here and now I’m thinking what if it was a tick and I didn’t see it. Because when I was in Madrid i was thinking why does this thing not heal, you know. So maybe today I will stop to pharmacy and

Get my back checked and also I will show this thing or go to a doctor, I don’t know. there are a couple of villages I go through and today is Friday so everything should be open.

I just checked on google map but there’s not gonna be a pharmacy in a very long while. There’s a village here on the right but no pharmacy, I’m going straight. First climb is in the back and I go down and there is another well then the the road basically goes up climbing till

Almost Cuenca, it goes up a hill and then you go down to Cuenca but it’s gonna be a long kind of climb. Beautiful landscape minus the fucking ticks I need to be gentle on my pads, the front pad is almost gone, so I need to be gentle

And then either today or tomorrow I will just change the pads. Quiet country road, paved, nice, nobody’s around nobody in their right mind goes out in the middle of the day, what time is it? It’s almost 2 p.m. so this is siesta the time

The next three hours are the hottest of the day beautiful, beautiful countryside, fucking ticks though when a tablet of chocolate can become a chocolate spread. End of summer colors. I’m about 15 kilometers to Cuenca so I might stop before Cuenca and camp so that I can do everything tomorrow morning.

I can go to the pharmacy, I can take a few pictures of the city and I can hit Mercadona and resupply for Montañas Vacías. Resupplied water. I resupplied water in this village and now basically it’s all the way down to Cuenca so hopefully I don’t end up in a humid valley.

I think I will camp in one of those little hills. Last night I didn’t sleep very much with the story of the ticks, so tonight I want to sleep a little longer. Very good. Grapes in the morning. That’s where I camped last night.

It was a nice place there but too close to the bees. There’s a lot of bee boxes. I think this is the Plaza Mayor de Cuenca. I just climbed up to the Plaza Mayor, then down, I crossed this bridge. I think in 82 000 kilometers I’ve never been so scared.

It’s made with wood platforms that they shake and when people go past you, I will stop to take some pictures, everything really shakes and it’s very high at least, I don’t know 50 meters. All right, so I’ve done a little tour of Cuenca old city as well, nice and charming. Finally leaving Cuenca

There was a bit of rain earlier, so luckily I was a Burger King. But now it looks like it’s gonna rain again. The temperature dropped a lot and tomorrow is gonna rain again. That storm has gone at least for this evening it might start raining again tomorrow morning very early around 6

From 6 to 10 it could be raining and then again in the afternoon pleasant evening though it’s gonna be very humid tonight tonight yeah beautiful beautiful landscapes oh there’s a village i got some grapes and i think i’m gonna camp there Checking out where to camp. Buenos dias.

Last night I left you eating grapes. Then I pitched my tent here. Great spot to camp. It was placed conveniently, just in case it was going to rain this morning. And it didn’t. Look, it’s very windy. The sky is almost clear because of the wind. But it did rain last night.

There was a big shower around midnight. But luckily this morning was very windy. And it kind of dried for the most part. I packed the tent. It was mostly dry. The temperature dropped a lot. Today the forecast for the highest temperature is going to be 21 degrees.

Maybe with the wind chill it’s going to be a bit less. It was 36-37 degrees a few days ago. So it’s like half of the temperature basically. It’s quite chilly. I was a bit cold leaving my tent. That’s why I put on this windbreaker. Let’s keep going. Beteta.

And let’s get back to Montañas Vacías. The sunflowers are beautiful. Back on the road towards Beteta. It’s gonna be a bit of climbing later. Nothing too crazy, but Beteta is about… I think 400 meters higher than here. This village is called La Frontera. I don’t know why.

We are in the middle of Spain. And this village is called The Border. Maybe it’s the border between two provinces. La Frontera. The road I was following goes through a tunnel. But apparently… the signpost says bicycles are not allowed, so… I’m doing this climb. There is a pass up here.

My right eye hurts a little bit today. The external part. Last night… I got a branch… of the oak tree. It had a little collision with my right eye. And the external part… had some bruises. And so now it hurts a little bit. Especially getting sweaty. I was very lucky.

I could have just… pierced through my eye. I didn’t really see the branch. It was dark already and… I didn’t want to turn on my headlight. and attract… attention. Anyway, no major damage to my eye. Just the external skin. It was raining a few minutes ago. The cloud… has been pushed out.

I wonder what they make here. Very smoky. Beteta. 11 kilometers. Almost there. Beteta. I made it back. Made it back to Montañas Vacias. I guess. This concludes this episode.

Cycling the world – Europe: episode 134
Leaving the serene trails of Montañas Vacías, I head to Madrid, embracing my penchant for exploring capitals whenever possible. By the way, Spain marks the 58th country in my worldwide expedition. The adventure continues as I cycle towards Cuenca, only to face an unexpected wilderness encounter near a farm—a close brush with a tick, a first in my eight years of travel. This episode blends the charm of city exploration with the raw, unscripted moments of life on the road.

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