Day11: "Humming ´La Vie En Rose` As I Go..."

In eight hours, ten minutes Sigi Grabner cycled a formidable 193 kilometers on the 11th leg of his ‘Once to the end of the world – and back’ tour. In his blog Sigi talks about a smiling heart, tired legs – and the tune he can’t get out of his head.

”Today I cycled through absolutely amazing landscape: the Picos de Europa in Parque National de Covadonga. The mountains are so powerfully beautiful, and you associate them with the Dolomite-Pyrenees and Patagonia and your heart smiles ... You really need more time than I have right now to appreciate these mountains, and I decided to come back here soon and spend at least a week riding and climbing.

I rode further south, along the Sierra de Cuera over smaller passes and hills, only covered a few meters in altitude and preferred to go down along the coast because my legs were tired after yesterday’s exhausting mountain riding. It was hot and sunny and the hefty headwind from the ocean really made things hard going. In the long downhill gorge passages (the well-known Desfiladeros de los Beyos) a Venturi effect was created of at least 40 km/h, so that going downhill I had to pedal really hard in order to travel at at least 20 km/h.

On the coast there were again lots of cyclists; on the leg up to now I’ve been the only one. They know why they avoid these mountains. The region along the ocean is touristy – not international mass tourism but Spaniards from the large cities close by, Bilbao and San Sebastian. There’s not much happening here, but it’s nice. A coastline that’s not very well known.

In Comillas, 40 kilometers before San Sebastian, I found a room in Hotel Esmeralda. The hotel is just like its name, a small rustic local inn. Besides me and an older American, all the guests are down-to-earth Spaniar…”

Sigi Grabner – 13/06/09

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www.sigigrabner.com
www.wingsforlife.com
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