Day 6 Benavente (3 times!) to Palencia

And so it was that I was cycling back towards Portugal albeit under a clear blue sky. The hotel wouldn't go into my old room because the new occupant was out, so I had a frustrating wait of an hour in reception. Eventually some guy walked into reception with my jacket over his arm and I grabbed it letting out a juvenile whoop of relief!
I eventually arrived back at my hidden stash of gear at around 3pm having clocked up 106km.
I loaded up as quickly as possible. A westerly tailwind had built up and I decided to crack on and complete the 80km to Palencia even though it would mean another spell of night riding.
The road had more lorries than cars but there was a good hard shoulder and they always gave me a wide berth. At least half of the trucks were Portuguese and I spotted a 'João Pires' from Vila Nova de Cerveira, no far from home. Eventually the orange glow of Palencia could be seen on the horizon, it had turned bitterly cold and I was very happy to be shown my 15 euro room in my 'pension'. I'd covered an impressive 187km since breakfast at an average 21km/hr ........impossible without that tailwind and a pretty flat landscape.