After a decent sleep and nice hot shower I did a bit of yoga, followed by fried egg and bacon on a baguette for breakfast. Before it got too hot I headed out for a bike ride – there’s a small paved road that goes up, and one that goes down just beyond the end of the campground.
I first followed the one that goes up, although I must admit that I pushed the bike as much as I rode it. It was what I can only describe it as – caterpillar hell. They were coming down from the trees by the hundreds – at times there were so many ‘lines’ dropping that it looked like a web or cocoon – it was just gross. I met a couple of Spanish guys that were walking down the road and they said it turned to dirt in about 1 km, and that the caterpillars didn’t end.
I rode up to almost where it turned to dirt, then gave up and headed back down the hill – trying to dodge the hanging caterpillars the whole way, in addition to watching the road ahead for the frequent ‘water drains/troughs’ that cross it.
When I got to the fork that goes down from the campground I took it – it actually only went about 1 km, then ended up right across from the town of Sunbilla.
I turned around again and went back up to the campground – totally sweaty and probably covered with caterpillars. As I coasted the bike to where the tent was I saw a caterpillar right in front of my nose – it must have landed on my helmet and was spinning a web down from the front. I found at least three more on my shirt – various sizes from about an inch long down to around a quarter inch.
After my second shower of the day Colin and I went for a little drive. We went back to Santesteban looking for a supermarket, but nothing was open – they are worse here than Italy or France – lunchtime closing is until 5:00! We gave up and went back to Sunbilla, where we parked and walked around for a bit.
It’s a very lovely village, right on the river and very hilly. At one small farm there were a bunch of sheep and they were all tucked up against the stone wall where there was a tiny bit of shade – they looked like rocks, only with heads.
They’re some sort of log-cutting thing around here – there’s a statue of a guy cutting a log that he’s standing on, and a poster on a building of a bunch of other guys that are apparently champions/former champions or something.
Back at the campground we sat around and read for a bit, then went for dinner at the restaurant. We both got the ‘menu of the day’ – I had a mixed salad for a starter (it was really nice to have fresh greens for the first time in days) and Colin had the mushroom omelette. Then for the main course I had chicken filets and Colin had the veal, both came with fries.
After our meal we talked for awhile with the folks at the next table – they were an older couple from England on their way to southern Spain to see one of their daughters who lives there.
I had enough of the chicken left over to do me for breakfast tomorrow. Back at the tents we didn’t stay up too long, except that the campers above us were talking loudly until very late – they weren’t drunk or belligerent or anything – just very loud.