Day Two Distance 101 Miles
Day two started with the customery continental breakfast at the hotel and followed by a trek to retrieve the bikes. Parking in the historic centre of Teruel can be problamatic but we had managed to find some bike spaces behind the Correos.
Today's destination was Cuenca with a stop at the historic town of Albarracin. The journey started well if a little overcast, out of Teruel heading north on the N234 for a few km before turning left onto the A1512 towards Albarracin. The A1512 is straight for approximately 10km so a few cobwebs were blown out before the road dropped into the valley and snaked along the side of a small river. This would have been great in the dry unfortunately the elements were against us today and a light drizzle started to fall so with waterproofs donned and speeds suitably restricted we meandered the last few km´s to Albarracin.
Albarracin has been classed a World Heritage Site because of it's unspoilt traditional buildings and cobbled streets. As you enter the outskirts of the town stay on the main road until you can see the steps leading up to the left, park in one of the car parks and enter the old town by foot. Click here for more information about Albarracin.
Views of Albarracin.
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Ever onwards, even in the rain, setting off with waterproofs on, we continued along the A1512 following the river and valley for a few km´s before turning left onto the A1703 and then 1-2 km´s further on turning right onto the A1704. This road is brilliant: it weaves it's way along a valley then up and over ridges, the surface is good, the bends are superb, glorious views and fast straights all mixed together. Past Calomarde and Frias de Albarracin where the road classification changes along with the name to the CU901, rounding a bend the road goes from N road (UK A road) quality to a 1 lane potholed mess.
There was a small roadworks sign which warned of rough road for 10 km, 1 km later the roadworks began in earnest. A huge project was underway to widen the road, which winds down the side of the valley for 9 km. After much discussion we continued very carefully downhill along the mostly gravel road in the rain (not for the faint hearted) if I had been riding a GS instead of a GSXR it would have been great fun. Fortunately, we all made it in one piece if a little muddy. Turning right at the bottom of the hill onto the CM2106 /CM2105 was a huge relief back to normality.
This is another great road winding it's way along a valley and past the villages of Huélamo and La Toba with a large reservoir on the left, too much rain to stop for pictures though. We stopped at Uña for a quick lunch whilst we warmed our hands. Setting off, we only had a slight drizzle for our last few km's to Cuenca and our overnight halt. Originally we had planned to stop along the way at Cuidad Encantada which is an area of natural beauty with large unusual rock formations, due to the weather we skipped this stop and headed straight for the hotel and a warm shower.
The hotel for this evening was the Hotel Cueva Del Fraile a converted monestary approximately 2km out from the historic centre of Cuenca, set in beautiful grounds in the countryside. Due to the rain we all decided to forego any further sightseeing for the day and hunkered down in the bar for a well earned beer or two before dinner.
