Requena-Valencia.

Trip dist: 70 kms. Trip time: 3 hrs, 30 min. Tot dist: 1871 kms.

Heh, this was a nice, very short ride, the first time, I think, that I manage to average 20 km/hr exactly, and maintained that for the full trip to the city center, which is when I shut off the bike computer (because then all those stoplights and "callejeos" were screwing up the average, pffft!).

Anyway, the ride was not too interesting in itself, except that I passed some rather cool-looking cement factories by the sea, which looked a little bit like those anime cartoons set in futuristic cities, so it was pretty neat.

After arriving in Valencia I was rather sick of the bike, and it was very hot (about 32°C), so I slowly made my way once the sun settled down a bit towards El Saler, which is a beach about a 45 minute bus ride away.

El Saler was a bit disappointing, however, since there was not much pretty to look at (yes, my friends, why else does one goes to the beach other than to scope out the....."fauna"? You mean to tell me that some people actually go there to swim? Ha ha ha ha!!), so after strolling a bit up and down the beach aimlessly I headed back to wait for the bus back into the city.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The people at the bus stop had accumulated, they numbered at least 60 by now.

And waited.

Waited some more.

Went inside a store and bought some cherries (cherries are the best thing of summer!).

Ate them.

Waited.

Waited.

The bus wasn't coming.

People still waiting.

I....lost my patience. Started walking to the next village over, 3 kms away (and I thought today was going to be an easy ride and relaxing, restful day, but no...lots of walking still in this heat), in the hopes to catch another bus there.

20 minutes after walking, the bus passes me, packed with the 60 people from the bus stop like a can of sardines. It did not stop to pick up people at the other stops.

So soon other people joined me in the walking.

Some were rather mad and proceeded to call as many complaint numbers as they could think of on their mobiles. When that was ineffective (offices tend to close by 8 p.m. on Sundays ;)), they proceeded to complain and commiserate to me, as I kept walking, just nodding but saying nothing. And I had thought that I was sick of the bike! I wished I had a bike then.

Anyway, after finally making it into Valencia, I was so hungry I actually even considered (! can you believe it?) eating at one of the McDonald's. Shameful, huh? Glad I didn't, though. I ended up having a nice Gazpacho Andaluz instead (it is the first time I've ever tried the Gazpacho), which was wonderful. This one was rather yellow in color, very refreshing, slightly tangy taste. It was so good, in fact, that you seriously wanted to keep it in your mouth as long as possible, without swallowing, heh. And very refreshing given the weather. Once you get past the shock of it being cold, you can't imagine eating it warm. It just won't do.