Day 7 Villuanueva de Alcardete to Sacedon.

Think I had the best nights sleep last night, except dreaming about world war 2 and people were coming to burn our houses down. But other than that, all good. I woke up a bit later than expected. Got the breakfast that was on offer... You guessed it, Tomatoe on Toast again! and headed off.

After fields and more fields yesterday, the day started off with... Youre getting good at this! More fields! However, my eyes were in for a treat afterwards as some hills started appearing which gave way to some great scenary, and some great wild camp spots. Something I couldnt find at all yesterday.

Pushing on and continuning to pedal, it really was blatant that I was in the middle of nowhere. Passing through towns, yielded no places to get food at all. So was running on what food I had. I was feeling weak today on the bike as well. Got to the only petrol station there was in a semi large town, where I was finally able to stock up on some food and get something in me/ But the 24hr restaurant wasnt open! So todays food intake has been utter rubbish.

Despite that coninued on and after a fantastic lake, and a bridge and some stunning views. I arrived in Sacedon. My map said it was 130km from where I was today but arrived at it, at

110km. Which is the first time thats ever happened! Usually the distances has been greater

than what it said on my route plan! So that was nice! And bingo, a camp site in Sacedon also. So got pitched up in there.

Restaurant on site, but typical spanish, dinner doesnt start till 9pm, so for two hours was just munching on crisps or whatever I can find. Before I leave tomorrow I have to stock up on food and plenty of water. There is a lot of empty area coming up. But glad to have a proper meal tonight. Last night, I asked about "cena" (dinner) and was presented with a sandwich menu. Tonight I'm going to stuff myself at that restaurant because I know i need it.

3 Days and I should be in Pamplona. Then its another rest day, then Pyranese, then France!

And of course, a big happy National Day to Gibraltar today. Shame I cant be there to party with everyone. No beer for me until I reach Yorkshire. Gibraltar to Yorkshire was timed to get the best weather. `Tonight DJ Zoosh (aka Dj Jonny) is DJing in Lord Nelson in Gibraltar. Go there, and buy him a shot. Because every time you do, he's donating the value of that to the Gibraltar Society for Cancer Relif. So buy him a shot or two for me!

The first week on the road is complete! I've travelled 738.96km in 7 days. That includes a day off as well. So im running ahead of time right now :) 138km ahead :D excellent :D

Todays stats
Start	Villanueva De Alcardete.10:30
End	Sacedon.17:45
Saddle Time	5 hr 19 min 17 sec.
Distance travelled	111.89km
Average Speed	21.0kph
Max speed	46.5kph

Day 6 Ciudad Real - Villanueva de Alcadarte

All refreshed and ready to go after a rest day. Getting out of Ciudad Real put the day on the wrong start. The signs were so misleading and I ended up doing a 10km circle involving accidently getting on the motorway which was heading South!! I hate
heading south!! Having finally passed my lack of directional skills over to the help of Mr Tomtom, I was finally out of Ciudad Real.

Then, well there really isnt much to say. Just straight road. I've hit the flat part. Which is nice in a way, but boring in another. Its just peddle peddle peddle, go go go. But the easy flats of course wasnt going to be that easy for me. Mr Head Wind was back, and back with avengance too! The good thing about straight flat roads is that i'm getting more lattitude for my kilomters. On moutnains the roads are windy and bendy, which means i'm not heading north as the crow flies. I'm putting more kms in! Saw an Irish pub in the middle of nowhere which was nice to see :) It was closed, otherwise i might have popped in, to see if it was ran by anyone English speaking! I havnt spoke to anyone face to face who speaks English since leaving Gibraltar! - And it will be a long time before I do!

Headed into a couple of towns, got lost again. Had a Burger King, keep the calaries going. And just kept peddling. Really actually quite boring. Very little to see. Just nothing but farms. The odd up and down, but just straight road. More farms, and some more farms.
The next few days are mentally a bit crap. The reason. Ive been heading quite east today to swing around madrid and line up with the west coast of France. There really isnt any major landmark places between here and Pamplona, which sits a few days away. Also theres some very desolate areas coming up once i've passed north of the capital. So im going to need to keep well stocked up on water and food, which of course will just weigh the bike down.

As the end of the day started to approach. Decision time as to where to spend the night. I've done so many hotels. My wallet is suffering to be honest. So a quick check for nearby campsites, and of course - none. 38km in the wrong direction. So keep going. Check the GPS for nearby hotels.. ooh none. Ok its a wild camp tonight. No problem. Except, big problem. Its just fields. There was nowhere to hide a tent. I kept going and going, and the suns going down and just absolutely nowhere I could
put a tent down. Nowhere that I felt was secure from Mr Angry Farmer man.

So just kept going, and headed into the next town and saw the services sign that had a signpost of Bed on it! Ooh was there a hotel here! Cycled round it, using a bit of a google search and viola found a hostal! Thank goodness! Sat on top of a restaurant. Went in there. Really not too happy where he wanted me to leave the bike. Just inside a side entrance bit near a function room! But sometimes, you just gotta have faith. Locked the wheels up to themselves. But sadly no where to lock it to in this room|! I always tell them that I'm cycling to England and that today i've come from xx place.

Which normally results in a "woah!" but the reason is. Then I'm remembered! Then was just shown to my room. Which has to be the tiniest pokiest hotel room i've ever seen. But right now its absolutely perfect! Despite spanish people shouting in the bar downstairs!

Just want to thank people for the messages people are sending on the site. As I start to hit some real rural areas. Its going to get more rural as I head north. More desolate and probably pretty hard. So hearing from everyone in Yorkshire and in Gibraltar is just fantastic! So please keep them messages coming in! And keep the donations coming too. Always puts a smile on my face when i see someones donated to one of the charities! Reminds me of why I'm doing all this!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit a town called Sacedon which means I've passed north of Madrid! I've also pulled out quite a bit further than the 100km. Feeling fine for it too and hoping to keep it up!

Todays stats
Start	Ciudad Real.10:20
End	Villanueva de Alcardete.20:30
Saddle Time	7 hr 23 min 18 sec.
Distance travelled	145.68km
Average Speed	19.9kph
Max speed	40.5km

Day 5 - Ciudad Real - Rest Day

So today is a rest day. With the bike secured safely with the hotel (hopefully!), gives me a day to chill, relax and do anything but think about cycling and the long trip ahead.So I had a wander out into Ciudad Real centre to see what was about. And erm.. well not a great deal really! I had it in my mind this was some huge historic city, like Salamanca with loads of old town bits and plenty to see. But I just couldnt find any of that. It was just an average town centre with a few statues and water features dotted about. Maybe I went the wrong places who knows!

It was actually quite chilly this morning too! It feels like im much further north than I actually am! Im still quite south of Madrid really.
Vodafone Espana have, in their lovelyness decided to cut off my 3G dongle, which was giving me internet just about anywhere I went. Last month, they were having signal problems in my area and my router decided to pick Gibraltar internet service up, switched to that, and started incurring roaming charges unbeknown to me. But of course, theres no explaining that down a phone to some customer service agent whos english isnt too good - and my spanish being worse! So I was landed with a rather huge bill, which I attempted to pay but they woudlnt accept any UK Credit or Debit cards! So its back to the old fashioned way of trying to find WiFi to get the laptop online for now!

So I managed to pack as much food into me as possible and keep doing leg stretches. Walking up stairs seems to be the most achey time. But I experienced that after training too. I should be all good to get going again tomorrow.
Tomorrow will see me head East out of Ciudad Real. Im swinging east of Madrid. If I was doing this tour with other people and had more time. I would have loved to have stopped in Madrid. I need to go east anyway. If you look on the map, Gibraltar is very west of where the west coast of France starts. So the whole of Spain sees me going north east. Whereas once I'm in France I can head more dead north. Tomorrows route looks relatively flat too! My next rest stop is not scheduled until Pamplona, which is about 5 - 6 days away. Im itching to get back on the bike now!!