We had a beautiful ride this morning from Castejun del Puente to Huesca, the largest city in the Huesca province.The roads were good (not much traffic) and the landscape is changed again. We passed some large vineyards early in the morning.The countryside is more undulating, with rocky outcrops. Still very dry, however there are water canals for irrigation. We rode through many wheat fields – very yellow and looking ready to harvest. The wind makes a shushing sound when it blows through them.

In Huesca; Jenny visited the glorious Cathedral while Kris drank coffee in the square. This is perhaps the most beautiful cathedral I have seen on this trip. It dates from the 12th to 16th centuries. Of particular note was the main alter piece carved in alabaster between 1520 and 1533.

Our afternoon ride of around 30km was also scenic but very hot. We rode out to the town of Loarre to see the castle there. The tourist info guy told us there was plenty of accommodation and the beautiful castle just 4km above the town. We didn’t realise how hard the climb up the hill would be in the heat. Half-way up we passed a camping ground so went to inquire about bungalows. We ended up taking a bungalow and continuing the journey without the bikes.

The castle is a large impregnable structure sitting on top of a rocky outcrop overlooking the plain below. There are two churches in it, a monastery, couple of towers you can go into – really a lot to explore and glorious views all around.  You can see the castle here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loarre_Castle.

Altogether we did around 94km today.

Highlights

• A monastery on a hill
• The mountains viewed from the road coming into Huesca – many vertical rock formations sticking out of the plain.
• Huesca cathedral
• Loarre castle