Day 121 Falset (Cycle)

You may recall that over the past few days I've awoken feeling very tired. Today, I felt a little more refreshed. However, on embarking on today's ride I soon became aware that when I breathed deeply I felt some pain across my upper back, you know, where the lungs are. Well, it wasn't long before I was having thoughts about illness; have I caught a chest infection; how and when did I catch the infection; is it a virus or a bacterial infection; maybe I've inhaled some of those nasty chemicals the farmers have been spraying about as I cycle along; perhaps I shouldn't have drunk the water from water fountains that most pueblos have; perhaps I didn't let the water run long enough; what kind of water borne infections can cause problems for the lungs; could it be legionnaires disease - or is that an air conditioning thing; what if it's serious and I need to go to hospital - would I be better of returning to the UK; would it be better to have a virus or a bacteria infection - probably a virus because I could just let it run its course ..... and so on!

Fortunately, my thoughts changed to the cycle ride, the scenery, taking photographs, the weather (the clouds were gathering rather ominously), my lunch stop; jumping onto the back of a small group of cyclists that were "tanking it" down the road, which was fun, refueling on my return to the van, listening to BBC sounds (The World at One), where I heard there had been a large power outage in Spain, Portugal and a part of France (I now do not have a phone signal, which I'm assuming is as a consequence of this outage and the attempts to recover power), showering, paying a visit to the panadería (bakery) for some bread, some chores and, just as I started to write this post (offline) I'm reminded of my earlier feelings and thoughts of illness!

I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that at this precise moment I feel fine .... but, who knows how long that's going to last!!

As for the cycling, today's route was an internet find. When I set off, other than thoughts of unwellness, I was thinking that the route wouldn't be all that special. Well, in the end, it turned out to be pretty good. Indeed, I'd go so far as to recommend it.

Here are some photographs:
Independence anyone?

Hopefully no room for mosquitoes!

There's something about these Pueblos that is different from those down south!

Cross:

I took the high road!

Keep on climbing:

The high point of the day:

Looking down on to my lunch stop and the following climb:

At the top of that climb:

The final climb of the day:

The coll:

• Distance driven: 0
• Distance cycled: 92 kilometres
• Blue skies to start with clouds eventually filling most of the sky and then decreasing back to blue skies again, cool breeze and mid afternoon temperatures about 22°C or so.

Today's route (courtesy of Epic Cycles):