readingrunningcycling.wordpress.com

We set off to cycle to Cangas de Onís by 11, after a breakfast of bacon and eggs and coffee in our lovely Hostal Tierra de Reina. We covered off 10km pretty quickly, arriving in the town of Oseja de Sajambre where we had some croquetas and a tabla de queso for lunch. The route passed the Puente Vidosa hotel, also the home of Vidosamultiaventura – set into the steep rocks were via ferrata, zip lines, hanging bridges, you name it. We stayed in the Hotel Granda, a lovely hotel just a short walk from the centre of Cangas de Onis.

We had a huge breakfast – 2 coffees, 2 orange juices and 2 huge pieces of tortilla for only €11. The route from Posada de Valdeón to Boca de Huergano (or Riaño) begins on a flat road beside a bubbling stream – when we did it, the sky was blue From the peak, there was a glorious descent – 5km steep and winding, and then a left turn onto another road before 10km gently rolling down the valley towards Riaño. We stopped for a lovely lunch of croquetas and rotos con morcilla at Restaurante Punto y Coma, before a final easy 7km along the lake road to Boca de Huergano and our hotel, the lovely Hostal Tierra de Reina.

the Picos are about a 2 hour drive from Bilbao, mainly on motorway until we turned off and the road got gradually narrower as we headed into the Picos. You can get buses along the coast and then head off on your bike from there, but then transporting the bike becomes more difficult as you have to either not use your usual bike bag and use something discardable, or find a place to store your bike bag. We had considered stopping here and cycling on to our first hotel but as we were later in the day than planned we decided to keep going, and so arrived at our first town, Potes, by car. The drive from Panes to Potes was gorgeous, the road narrowing through a steep gorge, rocky cliffs either side as we wound either side of a small river.

A couple of days of cycling to and from work, then on Friday I had a client charity work, the Barclays Cycle for Change 100km cycle. We’d planned the full 90km but my knee was aching the whole way round so we played it safe and stopped at 45km. Running: a quick 12km into work mid-week and then a brick 10km with mum after the cycle on Sunday. Something fun that was nothing to do with training: a lovely day on Saturday shopping with my mum, a delicious lunch out at Kiln, afternoon tea with a friend I hadn’t seen for ages, and then one of my best friends round for pizza takeaway before going out for a few drinks.