HILLS

Day 1 of 'Hills Training' and I thought I was spent. We chugged up the long but steady incline for 17km towards Ronda at about 8km/hr in almost our lowest gear. Little did I know there was worse to come. Thankfully Tim found us an amazing camp-site just north of Gaucin. Friendly locals had no problems with us using the 'reserve' as they picked mushrooms and it had a great view.

Gaucin (one of the Pueblos blancos = White Villages)

Hate to say it but 'the photos don't do it justice' was definitely the case with the scenery as we rode the next morning into Ronda. Ronda was perhaps a little touristy for us, we only spent the afternoon exploring, skipping most of the old buildings to spend most of the time looking at the gorge and bridge which separates the town - spectacular.

Sunday we continued on with most of the day riding through the undulating hills of the Sierra de las Nieves - the scenery was stunning and helped to take our minds off the ongoing hills. It was today that we met and exchanged stories/advice with more cyclists we met on the way... some crazy Russians, French, Dutch, US and even an Australian. Lots of stops at various viewpoints or 'miradors' (lookouts) and a reservoir, we eventually made it to El Chorro. We were looking forward to doing a tour of the Caminito del Rey the following day but apparently it closed on Mondays!??

Spring flowers everywhere!

The Caminito del Rey is a massive hydroelectric facility that is now primarily a tourist attraction as the walk has been built between a gorge about 100m above the river below.

Monday was probably our hardest hills day yet. Yes we have both used our lowest gear - multiple times. We even did some walking/pushing late in the day knowing that tomorrow would involve more. Thankfully when we reached the car-park of the El Torcal nature reserve we locked our bikes and hitched a ride up with some Polish tourists. This was by far worth it! Tim was in his element with all the pancake limestone rock formations. Hitching a ride back down was easy and we set off for a camp-site.

More hills brought us to Ventas de Zaffaraya for lunch and Alhama de Granada late the next day. We looked at the deep gorge from the tourist info centre at Alhama de Granada and decided our time was better spent soaking in the natural hot springs bath built into the river. This was the next best thing to having a real shower before settling into a well-used camp-site.

Today we have continued our journey through the rolling hills and have arrived at the outskirts of Granada staying with Jurgen, our WarmShowers host for 2 nights. Tim quickly jumped at the to help and trimmed Jurgen's ivy vine and mowed his lawn!

Granada was a huge day off the bike. We had some hassles getting tickets to the Alhambra (they don't accept Australian credit cards...strange for a massive tourist attraction!) Then we almost missed it due to the the reliability of Spanish public transport...should have ridden our bikes! Apart for thousands of tourists we were overwhelmed by the amazing details in the architecture and loved the gardens of the Alhambra. The afternoon we walked and walked around the rest of the city before going to a flamenco show and enjoying real 'tapa' experience late into the evening.

Andalucia - Bulls, Horses, Wind and Coastal Scenery

Zafra – After the hail we enjoyed the hot shower in the Albergue so much so that we decided to stay another night. Having a full kitchen to use rather than our single pot stove was great to try a few more complicated Spanish foods from the supermarket.

South of Zafra was a great days riding – we set out to do 105kms but a minor navigational glitch found us pushing our bike along a muddy path rather than bitumen highway. Tim particularly enjoyed the riding through another national park = this one was paddocks of Acorn trees and black Iberian Pigs (Jamon) running around. We stayed in Almaden de la plata...Lots of fun peering into the plaza del toro.

We arrived in Seville for their biggest festival of the year = Feria. It was kind of like race day mixed with traditional costumes and horses/carriages. Big...an entire city block filled with marquees for food drink and dancing...shoulder to shoulder. We didn't have to watch out for drunks vomiting (Australian) but to make sure we weren't run over by a horse and cart.

Bull fight. Interesting. One matador did a good job and was entertaining whilst clean and efficient. The other matador seemed to do everything wrong and we weren't impressed to say the least...still no chance of turning vegetarian though!

We Spent the next morning riding exploring Seville then left to head further south. It was Incredibly windy and on dirt country roads. We stopped for a break out of the wind and decided to stay the night in an abandoned barn/shed and despite being dusty it felt quite safe and protected.

Set off again into the wind (+ rain) heading towards the coast. Reaching the coast was pleasant as the sun came out. We then started to use official camp-sites as they were actually open...and to enjoy a hot shower! Sunday's riding was short and sweet down the coast thinking to hit Cadiz the next day so we treated ourselves to a seafood basket before settling into a camp-site early.

Getting from the mainland to Cadiz was interesting...we turned down waiting 1.5hrs for the ferry as we thought we could ride the 20km in less time than this. We made it to the 18km point to find the neither bridge allowed bicycles...it looked like retracing the 18km hopefully to catch another ferry. Fortunately i (Tim) spotted a bloke putting on his shoes after walking along the beach...more importantly that his vehicle was an empty transport van, and a short time later we were in Cadiz across the bloody bridges.

Cadiz had a stunning coast line full of historic buildings and fortifications.

South of Cadiz the weather changed again giving us the fabulous mix of a head wind and sheets of rain. Fortunately the temperature remained high and we dried out quickly between showers. The coast will be packed in a month but currently in is a string of ghost town tourist resorts. Even with the rain our timing was fabulous...and the scenery not bad.

We got caught on Autovia (motorways) a few times...sometimes bikes are allowed and others not...either way it is always scary, give me a road train any day!

Gibraltar- our day trip was a novelty...the town itself was like a theme park based on Britain - British everything...the food was crap, prices high and even red telephone boxes. Fortunately the 'rock' mad up for the city. We were exhausted after walking up/down around it but great!

Today we head north toward ronda and the mountains. We hence thought it a good time to find the excess luggage that we had brought with us and as not essential and sent it for storage = 3.5kg less to drag up hills! Otherwise known as the 'great underpants cull'.

… and then it started to hail!

After the rainy day spent in Toledo we cycled out into brilliant sunshine the following day.  This we thought was great but we were met with a brutal crosswind – horrible both up- and downhill.  After lunch I thought perhaps Mum had sent out a search party as we seemed to be followed through one of the small towns by a police helicopter – all the locals had come out to watch as well… turned out it wasn’t for us (we don’t think so) – but we kept our eyes peeled for any fugitives or other suspicious activity anyway.  Tim found us a peaceful campsite in an olive field before we moved on quickly next morning before being run over by the early-to-rise farmer on his tractor.

Riding through farmland on small roads was very beautiful.  After another night camped by a reservoir we rode alongside the lake (hydro power) and then a nuclear power station heading towards our first Spanish national park after a fabulous ‘menu de dia’*.

The Monfrague N.P. follows the Tiétar/Tajo river system and was a very relaxing (traffic-wise) but hilly ride.  Coming from the landscape of Central Aust we probably didn’t appreciate the rather small quartz cliffs (x2) and numerous birds of prey which all the German twitchers were enthralled in.  We just hope that the favourite spots in Central Aust. (Serpentine Gorge etc.) don’t get covered in green lichen and lose the magnificent red colours.

The afternoon we spent walking up to and exploring the old castle in the Park before a long 50k ride into Casar de Caceres to start our ‘Pilgrim’ journey.  Our first night in an Albergue** was followed by one of the best dinners we have had here in Spain.  We sampled Torta del Casar, a soft aromatic fondue-like cheese contained in a firm shell and eaten from the inside with fresh bread… mm mmm.

We headed down through Caceres and then headed east in search of a campsite.  We were getting desperate when we approached two ladies in Almoharin to enquire about somewhere to set up camp.  When they discovered that we spoke English they immediately called their friends Jane and Steve – a lovely British couple who 3 years ago decided to move to Spain and live out their retirement on a farm.  They owned Finca La Reina (a farm just outside central Almoharin) and were only too happy to have us set up camp on their property.  We were so appreciative and spent a very relaxing night surrounded by olive trees and a spectacular view – knowing that both ourselves and our bikes were safe.  Thank you Jane and Steve!

We headed out into the rain the following day in hope of some good luck with sunshine.  This turned out to be a good choice as we were in time for our usual lunch of jamon, cheese and fresh bread in Embalse de Proserpina – an old Roman damn which supplied water (and still does today) to the town of Merida.  Very interesting to then ride into Merida later that afternoon and see the old Aquaduct which, for a Roman ruin, was in very good condition (obviously no longer used/required).

After getting used to the Albergue routine in Merida, we hedged our bets again to continue south.  At lunch – a very entertaining menu de dia in Almanderalejo (which somehow included sampling caramel, lemon and herb liquors) – we thought we may have beaten the storm.  However after just getting used to riding in rain (not very common in Alice Springs!), we got pelted by HAIL!  All I could think of was how happy I was that I was wearing a bike helmet – those little stones really hurt – especially on a bike in the wind/rain. 5 min later the storm had passed and we were almost dry and riding in pure sunlight and onto Zafra.

Roman cistern (water hold under a building)

We are staying tonight in another Albergue with lots of company.  We haven’t managed to explore just yet as we wanted to stay dry.  We will have to see what the weather is like tomorrow – if it’s bad we might stay here another night – if we are feeling lucky, we might continue on our journey south…

* Menu de Dia: ‘Menu of the Day’.  Usually consists of a primary and secondary meal – like entre and main except that they all seem to be large!  Followed by either a dessert (flan/tart/fruit) or coffee.  Also includes a drink (beer, wine, water etc.)

** Albergue: Hostel located along the ‘Camino de Santiago’ exclusively for the use of ‘Pilgrims’ (those completing the Camino – can be on foot or bike – and doesn’t have to be the entire distance).  Requires a ‘passport’ which we bought for 1.50Euro each.  Albergues range in price from $0 (donation) to about 12Euro/p/night.

Holy Toledo! Monasteries Monasteries Monasteries!

First stop after Cuenca was the monastery at Ulces. Big and designed as a fortress (most seem to be in Spain) the monastery was home to the Knights of Santiago (St James). It seemed they had to defend themselves against the moors who built a lot of the buildings in the first place. Somehow managed a gothic theme as well.... My history was never great but this was the first of many confusing histories…(Tim- I love that Emily has forgotten the 40km of headwinds and 5degree temps)

That was a very long cold day and thankfully we were in the ‘holy region’. We rode into a small church on the outskirts of Almendros late in the day. One kind old church-goer said it was ‘no problem’ if we set up our tent behind the church… we think (she didn’t speak any English)… I felt quite safe but I think Tim was on edge all night! (Tim - churchy folk might have crept up on us and splashed cold water over us and baptised me!)

Next day was the Roman ruins at Segobriga - we both decided here that we should wait until Rome (or at least Italy) before we get excited about Roman ruins... Makes sense that it's not spectacular... They are already ruined!!

Following this we had our 3rd consecutive day of 70-80km riding which got us to Consuegra. The castle was fun to wander through (although the staff had put on a crazy reenactment of castle life - Knights etc... Which was extra crazy as was all in Spanish!). Here we found the display of old flour grinding windmills a nice reward after pedalling up the hill... Later we even managed a hilltop campsite with a great panoramic view of Los Yebenes + other small towns complete with windmills and millions of olive trees.

As we cycled the final leg into Toledo, the town itself is quite picturesque but the weather was just getting worse. We spent yesterday afternoon and today exploring the old churches, cathedrals, synagogues and museums in the rain... All complete with their combination of Catholic/Moorish/Visigothic architecture - still not sure what the differences are but they are all old buildings!

Hopefully we will find some sun to ride out in tomorrow...if not then there is always another "Menu del dia" which we enjoy navigating the menus in Spanish and the gastronomic experiences.