Day 120: Falset (Cycle/Drive)

Even after a "rest day" I still awoke knackered this morning but, nonetheless, I went cycling - hoping that some fresh air would do me good!

I'm glad I did so, the cycling was enjoyable and visiting some of the sites associated with the civil war was an education.

In particular, the penultimate site, Corbera d'Ebre, was particularly interesting and forced me to reflect on the devastation being wrought on Gaza by the Israelis and the Russians on the Ukrainians (just to name the two most prominent conflicts of our time): What devastation must be created by today's modern weapons when one sees the indiscriminate distruction caused by Franco's armaments of the 1930s?

After the war, the returning villagers mostly built a new village adjacent to the old bombed out one.

Also, I found it interesting that the old bombed village, which is now a monument to peace, is freely open to visitors all day, every day: there is no gate, nor fences to prevent access to it. I like that it is so.

Before arriving at Corbera d'Ebre, I found some more steampunkness ...:

... which can be found just before entering ...

And here is a self portrait entitled "going round the bend" (evidence that I forgot to wear my helmet for the third ride in a row!):

I noticed this sign whilst entering Bot (great name for a Pueblo!) - obviously I like it!

And this on exiting it:

Then it was time to summit this coll:

Before descending into Gandesa for a late lunch:

• Distance driven: 13 miles
• Distance cycled: 88 kilometres
• Weather: A bit windy, it appeared to me that I was cycling into a headwind all day. Temperatures okay until mid afternoon when it felt a bit too warm.
• Location: Google Maps

Today's route: