Sunrise this morning was like waking up in Virginia Beach with the sun burning it’s way over the horizon. We turned the corner onto the boardwalk and were hit head on with a wind even stronger than yesterday. With the sky clear,

it was going to be a long, hot day; thank goodness today’s course was flat.Missed getting a picture, but assume the kids that were leaving the beach late last night were the same ones that were partying on the boardwalk this morning, as we pedaled away.

Less than an hour into our ride, the clouds began to form over the mountains, occasionally offering us a break from the sun.  As we could see the rain begin to fall over the mountains, the clouds increased near the coast where we were riding, cooling the day.Thankfully, we managed to skirt this mountain,We continued through miles of small private farms guarded with fences, some homemade. We have heard that with the failing economy, many farms are being pilfered so it was very understandable.

Once again, we left much earlier than the offered 9:00 am breakfast, but found a little bakery along the way with plenty of good things to eat.

Around 25 miles into our bike a local offered us a lift, via a draft.  We’d been struggling to maintain 10 mph in the heavy head wind, but he picked it up to 15 plus.  For five miles our legs screamed trying to keep the draft and the strong pace.

Even had a couple of tag-alongs behind us;must have been quite the draft behind our heavily laden bikes.  After five miles he made a turn on a round-about that was not our direction.  We stopped, but he returned to us and communicated that he was taking us into the city; a wonderful shortcut we would have never found but another five miles of aggressive speed.  We flew by a couple of interesting sights, but could not get past a buzzing noise that was getting louder and louder.  The European Formula One Championship was in town.  Scott and Pam, if Nascar is even half as noisy as these cars, forget it!  Our entry into the city was beautiful,accentuated by many contemporary buildings, this is part of the Oceanograpic Museumand we think this has something to do with Modern Art.

But the real gem of Valencia is the old city.  With the race in town and it being a weekend, rooms were hard to come by or they had no room for our bicycles (that’s a first).  Did manage to find a room on the outskirts of the third largest city in Spain (two and a half hours later).  So tomorrow, we’ll take a much needed rest day and explore the city.