After a day of rest in Antequera - a small city I highly recommend - I was ready to brave the weather and ride on. I got my gear and brought it all downstairs only to find nobody around and my bike locked in the office.
I called the hotel number and could hear the phone ringing in the office. I sent a message to the hotel through the booking.com app. A few minutes later one of the hotel guys appeared and freed my bike. I was ready to roll.
Outside it was brisk and the road was still wet but drying out. No rain at the moment. I headed out of town still without having any coffee. I had seen a bar on my map that looked in a good place to stop on the way out of town. It was closed and soon after I was out of town. The road was dirt but it was not insanely steep like all the others south of town. It was dry enough and it followed the river which supplied water to the town for thousands of years.
Soon I was on a paved road and my bike computer immediately said I was starting a 700m climb. That included the optional 200m section up and back on the mountain. If it was nice I would attempt it but I would make the call at the turnoff. It was an easy climb for a while. A local blew past me. It got very steep eventually. The gradient reading on the computer works by pressure changes and when the weather is like it is - windy and blustery - the numbers are all over the place. There was more than enough over 10% to make any climbing fan happy.
The weather was holding and the sun even came out. I was wearing my jacket so it was still cold. The view back to Antequera was impressive. The Alcazaba was prominent.
Near the top when I turned out of view of Antequera the weather changed for the worse. The temperature dropped, it was drizzly and I was in a cloud. No mountain top today. It was cold. Heading downhill it warmed a little as I descended and in no time at all I was in a town, Villanueva de la Concepcion. I stopped for coffee. The first bar I went to with old guys waiting out front wasn't open yet but the guy setting up directed me 4 doors down to a bakery shop. I had a cafe con leche and a donut and watch the old ladies having a loud, animated discussion.
This area is only about 30km from Malaga and there are a lot of holiday towns. It seems like there aren't many people around and most of the houses looked locked down. Near the freeway there was some light industry and trucks.
I was a little surprised how quickly I was at Colmenar. I wiped down my bike and checked into the hotel. There isn't much going on in this town. Only locals with a lot of the vacation home shuttered.
Today I avoided rain for the most part and even saw a few minutes of sun. Looking back over the way I came from my hotel room, I could see dark clouds and rain over most of the route.
After a shower I came down to the hotel restaurant and had a full lunch. It was pretty good. Salad, picadillo soup and secreto iberico. Also, beer, flan and coffee. I'm just snacking for dinner.
I took a stroll round town and there isn't much happening here. I stopped at the supermarket for water, snacks and some pet deodorizer for my cycling shoes which smell horrible with the rain. The deodorizer helped a lot. I think I will carry it around and spray them every day.
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