Todays end point was Molerrussa . I had planned my run in to Barcelona to shadow the train route, really just to be confident that if the wheel came off (metaphorically or literally) I would be able to train it into Barcelona to avoid missing the ferry on Friday

This was important as I needed to be in Sardinia on Saturday morning as a younger ,fitter and more sarcastic version of me was arriving on Saturday to spend a week cycling from the top to bottom of the Mediterranean island ,before himself buzzing off to South America for a year. So a deadline was born.

Scenery and population wise the ride itself was much like yesterday -about 50 miles on the same kind of tracks ,this time alongside the huge man made irrigation channels that service the fruit farms . Wider than our canals,they stretch as far as the eye can see, with enviously clear and clean water pouring through and into the massive crop sprayer watering things ( this is the kind of descriptive detail you’re here for, I know 😊)

Each main canal had multiple offshoots,a kind of vein and artery affair, and each artery had a service road next to it . Again, there was just nobody out there except me and the miles rolled slowly and quietly by. It was baking hot today with little shade. Learning fast , I’d got some supplies in my panniers, the local speciality known as “make some lunch from last nights hostel feast “ so the lack of amenities wasn’t an issue today

Mollerussa appeared about 6pm today. Hotel Jardin Apartments looked after me for the night, and again I was reminded how unusual it seemed to be English in completely Spanish town.

Quick change and a kit wash and I was out in a flash to rehydrate and get some food -I was beginning to rival a F1 pit stop crew in the speed and beauty of my “into hotel-out of hotel-drink-food” progress

Shorter day tomorrow …..