1030 climbing and 1060 down
I got out of camp and about 500 meters up the road found I had a flat tyre again! Back tyre again! This time it was because of a thorn. Normally I check my tyre before I leave camp but I forgot today. I suspect it was already flat when I left camp but took me 500 meters to notice as it was over gravel and a corrugated surface until then.
First 20 kilometres we were climbing with most of the 1,000 meters of climbing for the day.
There was great scenery. Near the top of the climb I came around a bend and there were about 5 goats watching me. Another rider about 2 minutes later saw the goats and they were watching a fox that was in the middle of the road watching him. I did not get to see the fox but did get to see the photo.
Fox in the road
Then there was about 30 kilometres down to lunch. After lunch we had a side wind for about 20 kilometres then a tail wind for the last 10 kilometres, with a downhill gradient.
We are staying at the Cuesta de Miranda Hotel in Villa Union, which is a very small town, mostly one street with a small town square. Everything is shut as it was after 1pm by the time we got in. Nothing was open for eating until 8pm . Thankfully there is a petrol station next to the hotel where snacks could be bought.
There is no laundry service so will have to hand wash again. Thankfully a good outside area for drying clothes. And thankfully a shower after four days of not having one.
The local tourist attraction is a view of the World’s largest inactive volcano “Corona de Inca” 6,800 meters and large mountain ranges over 5,000 meters. There is mountain bike rides, plus 4 wheel driving places galore. Given that I get motion sick very easily it was not something with much appeal to me.
At dinner the menu was in Spanish and did not have photos – I thought I was getting steak, but managed to get greasy fatty chops instead.
The wine at dinner came from the Chilecito region that we rode through a couple of days ago. Most restaurants keep their red wine in the fridge along with the white, which takes a bit of getting used to, this was no exception. Was quite nice though.
Sue has been having a lot of trouble with a tooth abscess and managed to find a dentist here, hopefully has fixed the problem.
Rio Miranda
Kaye's Awesome Adventures 