We left our Dutch centric campsite as we rolled out of Peñafiel with a stop at the castle that towers over the town. It’s an impressive structure that has a commanding view of the landscape below.
It’s also houses the wine museum! But we arrived before the museum and the castle opened and so we took in the views of the surrounding landscape before rolling down the hill towards Sepúlveda, about 38 miles distant with some moderate climbing along the way.
The weather was lovely with a cool tailwind helping us along. The roads were empty, something we remember from the last time we cycled in Spain. Maybe 25 cars passed us the entire day, leaving the quiet to us. The landscape reminded us alternatively of Colorado and New Mexico, with some flat plains transitioning to rolling hills, canyons and mountains in the background, marking our approach to Madrid.
Fields of sunflowers lined the road, millions of sunflowers! We were even lucky enough to have several fields of sunflowers pointing their sunny faces towards us, with brilliant color. That brought smiles to our faces!.
The route we took guided us into canyons and then up and out of those canyons on climbs to plateaus above towns, only to drop us back into other canyons. It’s an interesting, beautiful ride.
We were headed to Sepúlveda, a town we knew nothing about, except that it was on the itinerary of a commercial bike tour that I read about while planning this part of the trip. And so, as we first caught sight of Sepúlveda, it was a surprise to see the medieval walled village perched above a steep canyon that was like a mini Grand Canyon
We stayed in a small hotel on the main square, and our diminuative innkeeper met us in a baker’s apron since she works in the bakery adjoining our lodging. Sepúlveda doesn’t seem like a tourist destination, but it’s the perfect kind of town for a trip like ours: unspoiled, picturesque and authentic. It’s only big enough that you can explore it on foot in 20 minutes but it did have enough restaurants and bars for us, except most were closed due to the festival that night.
The view out our window is of tile roofs cascading down. The square, empty when we arrived, is beginning to fill with people. Tonight marks the last day of a festival, and cooks are preparing food for hundreds in giant pots. What exactly it is, we don’t know, but some sort of soup/stew with pork.
While people began filling the square, Chris and I took a walk around town, visiting the mirador that overlooks the canyon, framing the almost full moon rising over the mountains.
Returning though the main port back into the square, we saw the lit neon sign about the festival.
And then we saw the long line of what must have been everyone in the entire village waiting in line for food.
When we arrived, the square was empty. And now a few hours later, we were greeted by hundreds of people in line for dinner! Really fun.
The line was LONG and we opted to eat in the one remaining open restaurant and had a nice meal!
The next morning, the square has again been transformed to a market.
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