Sunday 22nd January 2017

This morning was very frosty on Ponferrada. Just as we were boiling the kettle and toasting the toast our gas cut off. How could this be when we had a half full gas cylinder connected? I think that the problem is that very little LPG is used in Spain and Portugal and that garages are continuing to hold stocks of the summer mix which contains a high proportion of Butane which boils at -1 C as opposed to Propane which boils at -42 C. In cold conditions as time goes by the concentration of Butane in the cylinders increases and the gas becomes less and less usable while the temperature remains below -1 C. Anyway we changed cylinders and completed our breakfast without further problems. We moved on west to the city of Astorga. Here's the view from our parking place.

This truly weird building, the Bishop's Palace in Astorga, was designed by the brilliant and totally mad Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.

When this building was completed it was considered to be an eyesore and an embarrassment to the city for half a century. This was before it was realised that something could be so bad that it was good!

Inside, if that is possible, things are even weirder.

Typical Gaudiesque column.

What about this for ornate? Pity about the scaffolding.

There are many interesting artifacts in the palace. Here is the Virgin Mary with Jesus and St Ann?

In the cellar,which was presumably the bishops wine store, there are now many historical exhibits including this old sarcophagus. 

We had a quick look at the nearby Astorga Cathedral but it was pretty tame after Gaudi's extravaganza. 

We had this last view of the Bishop's Palace over the city walls as we were leaving.

We moved on west to the city of Leon and parked at the aire. We got our bikes out and had a ride along the river.

Here Ann is seen negotiating a tricky section of the riverside cycle path!

We stopped for a rest by the river where Ann took this arty shot of the bullrushes.

Soon afterwards the skies darkened and we had the first rain we had experienced on this trip since we were in southern France and about to cross the Pyrenees several weeks ago! 

Today we traveled 71 miles (114 kilometres). We are at N42.60512 W5.58524