And next day my Lord of Vivar moved on.
He crossed to Alhama, down the gorge he went,
Passed Bubierca and, further on, Ateca.
Near the castle of Alcocer, my Cid made camp,
On a rounded hill that was both steep and high.
...
Now, my Cid, with his troops, lay in Alcocer;
Having sent for the tents that he’d left behind.
This burdened Ateca, and pleased not Terrer,
And weighed hard on Calatayud, as we know.
...
And they rode all that day, for they brooked no rest,
Till they reached Calatayud, and there they made camp.
(except this describes the Moors, not El Cid)
...
That land was harsh indeed, bitter and bare
Our apartment in Medinaceli we pretty big. Two levels, two bedroom, two bathrooms and a large open plan kitchen/dining room/living room. No AC so it was a bit hot. Didn't have the greatest sleep but felt pretty good as we rolled down the hill in the cool of the dawn.
The first quarter of our 100km for the day were pretty special. We were going downhill with a river through a scenic canyon. There were a lot of high end get away from Madrid vacation homes here.
Out of the canyon we got expansive views with castles on hilltops.
For the whole day we were gradually losing elevation following rivers to Calatayud. It was mostly downhill and we made good time except ... for the 20km of gravel road. The route indicated a 5km and a 16km section. The first section was a fast small gravel surface with longer climbs and descents where you could see where you were going. We made good time on that.
The road turned back to good pavement and all was well until we crossed into Zaragoza province. At the sign our good pavement turned into a pocked, patched, bouncy mess. It was a butt buster. It got a little better and then we hit the long unpaved stretch. It was horrible and slow going. Half buried stones and loose stuff. It was steeper and you could not see as far forward.
We took a detour into Ariza, follow direction from a guy working in his garden above the road. A food and drink break was needed. We also looked at the map which indicated a paved service road beside the A2 freeway. It sounded a lot better than what we had been on so we took that option. The map lied and the road was also gravel but considerably better than what we had been on. We got passed but some guys on mountain bikes but when we got to the pavement blew past them.
The rest of the way from Alhama de Aragon was mostly a slight downhill beside the river. Soon the spires of Calatayud came into view and we were in town. Our hotel, Mesón de la Dolores, is an old formerly elegant type of hotel. Things are older but everything is clean and maintained. Lunch at the hotel was quite good and the menu del dia was only 18€.
After a nap and rest we walked around town and had a beer and snack before deciding on a 7am meet up in the lobby.
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