The heavy winds died overnight and left beautiful calm waters as we left Calpe.  Our first hour and a half this morning, we snaked our way UP and down the cliffs

that hung on the coast of the Mediterranean, through beautiful neighborhood streets, flowers dripping from the high stone walls that kept us from the spectacular vistas they enjoyed.  We were enjoying the morning cooled by the shade of the narrow tree lined roads, but knew we had some severe climbing to do, so when we reached the town of Xabia, we decided to stop for breakfast.We’d left too early for breakfast this morning, so two and a half hours later, we were hungry, but managed to save a crumb for our breakfast companion.And is par for the (our) course, we had an immediate climb, a truly wicked climb.The water ran off of us as we slowly, ever so slowly climbed the steep mountain.The homes continued to dot the hillsideas we slowly crept along.We had a wonderful and cooling fly down, all the way to the seaonly to crawl back up again.After 25 miles the climbing stopped,

but the wind picked up and changed direction to challenge us for the last half of our ride.  The wind was strong, hot, dry and in our face.  Our only relief was in the one or two towns we went through that blocked the direct blow with their tall buildings.  However, the “Farmicia” signs reminded us of the 97 degree heat (the bike read 110).  It was the first time this trip, that our water on the bike became too hot to drink within a half an hour.   After five hours of biking in the incredible heat, we arrived at our destination, found a hotel and checked in to cool off.   It was too hot to go outside to explore, but all there is to see is a very, very wide beach.  We vegged in the room until dinner.  As we are heading back to the hotel after dinner (at 9 pm) people are just walking off the beach, simply crazy.