Monesterio to Zafra
From Monesterio we initially were going to ride to Fuente de Cantos , a distance of about 24 km.not far really! However due to this festival come public holiday there was no accommodation between Monesterio and Zafra
Decision made it will be 46 km to Zafra . I feel a little embarrassed to say that with hardcore bike people reading this. If we didn’t have e-bikes we could ride as far as we like. With e-bikes however your constrained by the battery. Don’t get me wrong they are fantastic for enjoying the countryside it’s just that the countryside is limited. The computer tells us how far we can go depending on what mode we are on.
In eco or eco plus we can punch out about 85 km. This is fine on the flats. It just when you start having to argue with gravity that it sucks the power in sports or sports plus.
We will look at the terrain ahead for the day and be able to judge based on inclines or declines what we can comfortably achieve.
Today as an example it was predominantly downhill so we could let the power flow to a degree.
The riding is still good on the N630. This is the old single lane road that ran through the Extramudura region and recently replaced with a freeway. The road surface is still good and only averaging a car every 5 minutes making it a safer option then the dirt trails that the Camino walking track that has claimed injuries to 3 in the group so far.
Onwards we travel with lots of downhill sections we can coast along until we come to the turn off for Zafra. It’s about 4 km off the N630 and so the road that connects Zafra to either the freeway or our road has become somewhat busier.
Masking good time we arrive at our fancy accommodation, the Parador hotel in Zafra. Parador hotels are always in located in centuries old forts or convents where the previous occupants have long since left.
This particular parador was built in its first incarnation in 1437 (relatively new on this Roman road) and was completed in 1443, considerably quicker than the Sydney Opera House. Over the 600 years it’s been a fort under siege, palace, prison and hospital until life was breathed into it in 1968 as a parador.
Dinner tonight was in the plaza mayor, as we have been cooking most meals and tomorrow we are catching the train to Merida.
