I left Jérica on a Via Verde that had never done duty as a railway track. Still, it was nich to have a separated lane to go down. Today would be primarily downhill, down to sea-level, so I had a reasonable chance of making some distance.

The original Via Verde was discontinuous; I rode on service roads and highway access roads, still masquerading as 'Via Verde' but not fooling me. There were sections, however, tunnels and cuttings, that bore the hallmark of the original line.

Down into orange groves.

Then, at sea-level, I reached the end of the Via Verde Santander to Mediterraneo! It had been an excellent way to cross one section of the country.

A bit of Eurovelo 8, the coastal road to Cadiz (and, where usage was shared with motor vehicles, priority given to cyclists and pedestrians!) and then bike lanes into the city.

Fairly empty until I was close to the city where crowds of people were out using them: roller skating, running, riding, walking, electric scooters...

I had only booked two nights in Valencia; the hotep rates jumped for the weekend. I spent a lazy morning, then went to do laundry and to visit the cathedral.

The first scallop I found for the Camino de Santiago de Levante!

I then discovered that the nice hotel I was in was also listed on booking.com. With single and double rooms available – I had visited the hotel site directly and they only had triple rooms available. Now, having spent too much for my first two nights, I could get Friday night for almost the same price. It meant changing rooms, and being out of the room at midday for a few hours but I used this time to go to Decathlon and get some snacky food to (hopefully) give me more energy during the day. I also found a pair of riding gloves to replace mine that were falling apart.