From Lumbier down to Anento (233Km)

So Lumbier turned out to be the gift that kept on giving. Following some exploration of the village a short walk from the campsite, we found a map showing us the route to a local gorge which is popular with cyclist and walkers. After a cooked BBQ breakfast of bacon and eggs, we settled Winnie into her basket and off we peddled along the easy gravelled cycle track that took us to the gorge. The route took us along a disused railway line that closed in 1955, consisting of 3 tunnels carved through the rock and spectacular view across the gorge and surrounding countryside. 

More vultures took advantage of the high cliffs and thermals and rose majestically, soaring above us as we rode. We parked up our bikes at lunchtime and descended the steep trails and found a quiet spot next to the river to pass an hour or so. 

On the route back we stopped at a visitor carpark and had and ice-cream, then on returning to the campsite took full advantage of the cool river for a swim and a sunbath on the banks until our BBQ supper.

In the morning having downloaded an App recommended by the site manager Jacqueline we found a route up to a hill top church which we decided to walk early before breakfast as it was due to be a hot hot day. The route followed a steep trail marked by beautiful crosses where passers by lay stones. I googled to see why and apparently it represents leaving your baggage behind, but local authorities don't like people doing this as they have to clear them away - so no stones where left 😂

The walk again rewarded with spectacular panoramas and more vultures. but this time perching on a rocky outcrop just above the church surveying their hunting grounds.

We waved goodbye to Lumbier and headed south to Zaragoza (149Km). As we drove we became aware of  these iridescent waterways zig-zagging with us on our journey. These man made canals fed into smaller trough sized water courses that networked this vast landscape carrying this precious resource to irrigate the crops. The landscape was vast and the roads deserted.

On arriving at our chosen Aire in Zaragoza we had planned to walk to the Carrefour and stock up on new supplied. We had forgotten that we are in Spain and everything is closed on Sundays. The combination of this and the 40degree heat made us decide to skip cycling into the city and instead looked for more rural Aires nearby on our many Apps. Chris found a well reviewed Aire in a village called Anento (83Km further South), so onwards we went and were not disappointed by the decision.

Unfortunately the lack of Sunday opening and the late opening of the only village restaurant (8.30pm and the football started at 9pm) meant we had to make use of our emergency rations of camping food so settled down to watch England V Italy in the World cup final with some boil in a bag meals and a bottle of wine 😋⚽🍷🍷