The longest day - 1st October

 Up early at the campsite in Lumbier with Johannes and Annabel from Switzerland on a tandem, also heading for Andalucía but via the West coast route.

Straight into the famous gorge, Le Foz de Lumbier.

The path is an old single track railway line that tunnels through the rock

Some very large birds nesting in the cliffs, either vultures or eagles. Zoom in and you will see. At one point I counted thirty of them soaring up there but my camera isn't good enough to catch them. It was an amazing sight.

The Rio Irati which is responsible for it all

Coming out of the gorge I find the first olive plantation of the journey.

On to the ancient town of Sangüesa 

And Sos de Rey Católico, seen here from the valley below

It's a 450 metre climb to get to the town from the road below.

Not an easy place to explore with a bike!

The view back down the mountain to where I had just come from

Then a further climb to 860m almost as high as the pass on the Pyrénées. The view in the same direction, looking back the way I had come from Lumbier, but unfortunately the town, half way up, can't be seen

On the crest of the Sierra are scores of these wind turbines which Don Quixote would have gone into delirium over.

And the view from the top looking towards the direction I am heading, South towards Zaragoza. If you zoom in you will see more enormous mountains on the horizon.

It feels like wherever you are in Spain you're never far from a mountain. Coming down was exactly what I had hoped the Pyrénées would be. I went almost 8km without pedaling! It was so exhilarating and such a beautiful sunny day with hardly a breath of wind. The vegetation was quite different on this side of the Sierra, lots of Spanish Oak and the most crazy looking roadside flowers.

The land flattened out and the road straightened. This was the most enjoyable days cycling I can remember. All that hill climbing and I didn't have to get off and push once, and then followed by some of the most enjoyable terrain I could imagine.

Looking back at what I'd just done, didn't look so impressive after all:

But I'd reached my objective by 7pm,  installed at Bolaso camp site, beside another huge man made lake, bristling with Cicadas and mosquitoes, it was a lot warmer here than it had been last night 70 km away and on the other side of the Sierra.  And within reach of Zaragoza tomorrow if all goes well, to rendezvous with Josh and Ana.