Evening ride

This morning I got both the bicycles operational after a bit of a struggle in the heat to unlock the saddle adjustment clamps on them and get them right for taller people. Then I headed for Carrefour with a long shopping list of non-perishable foods, to stock up for next week when Clare, Eddie and Ann arrive. It took me two sorties into the vast cavern of a retail emporium, working the first time from memory, as I'd left my list in the car, and wanted to see how much I could remember of what I'd written down - a sort of retail edition of 'Kim's Game'. I was also short on bags, and had to off-load the contents of one for the return trip. Still can't find cous-cous or tahini, even in a massive euro superstore.

After supper I took my bike out for a ride up the coastal path as far as the riu de la Senia, and found it performed very well indeed. On this visit, I lugged the bike down on to the beach, took a photo, did a little Chi Gung to the accompaniment of waves crashing of pebbles, and then lugged the bike up on to the road which runs along the north side of the barranco, and followed it up to the N340. The waters of the riu don't obviously flow at surface level, where it has the appearance of a long pond, covered with weed, except near the boundary with the sea where it is too brackish for much weed to grow. Altogether it's a very interesting small ecosystem, worth studying. 

 What's impressive is the way the north side bank has been transformed into a park with seats for a quarter of a mile or more from the sea-shore. The roadside is flanked with flowering bushes, and the fields beyond are given over to fruit production - apricots and oranges by the looks of it. Lovely rich dark green colours, and leaves shining in the evening sun. 

I crossed over the N340, and took the bridge crossing the ravine, taking me back from Catalunya into Valencia, I then walked the bike through orchards alongside the road, only to see this on a millstone at the roadside. Regional politics are as alive here as they are back in Wales - including road sign spelling corrections!

The highway winds a lot at this point, and with many big lorries out and about this evening, I didn't feel comfortable about riding along the substantial hard shoulder of the road, even though other cyclists were out and using it. I only had a mile to go before reaching the junction with the Costa Norte road leading me more comfortably straight back home. A great way to get back on wheels again after a break of more than a month.