Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 13

I decided a short ride was in order today and did the Charilla loop would be good.  It's only 15km but has a hill to get you working a bit.  The route is basically the road version of the hike I did two days ago.  You see the same formations but from a greater distance.

I  stopped at the 6am bar and worked through an entire squadron of policemen getting morning coffee.  The bartender saw me and started making my grande cafe con leche.  The north road out of town is a fun descent.  At the bottom I saw several groups of cyclists.  A lot of riders here are on the large wheeled mountian bikes with straight handle bars.  They must ride more of the gravel roads (so why not gravel bikes) than I.  I always see them on the road.  They wouldn't be my choice of bike.

At the sign to Charilla you start climbing.  I ride through the town which features an extra bit of climbing and descent - always a climb into town and always a descent leaving.  I've never found much in Charilla other than houses. There is some sort of small factory coming into town but I have never seen any place for coffee.

After town there are some nice views as you climb.

At the top you start seeing buildings and soon you are in Santa Ana a kind of spread out suburb of Alcala.  A few minutes later I was sitting at my churros place munching away.

The rest of the day was working on the house.  I have a lot of Ikea things to assemble and I did another side table. I had a delivery coming and needed to stay near.  They gave a small window of 9am to 10pm.  It came about 6pm.

Much of the afternoon I worked on the front door.  To get the smart lock I brought installed was going to take some creativity.  Doing carpentry with hand tools (not the correct ones either) is really hard and a lot of work.  I had to make the door thinner in some places and thicker in others.  The door drilling kit I bought was helpful but the door is irregular to say the least.

While I was working the next door neighbors said hi.  They are Spanish and his grandmother lived a few doors down so they got a house here but they live in England.

I was working on the door for 5 or 6 hours.  My body hurts everywhere. But the smart lock is installed and it works.  I'm going to let myself sleep in.  There is a free concert going on tonight.  I would go and check it out but I'm too tired.

I ate some dinner on the roof before coming to bed and I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye but dismissed it.  When I came in and closed the door a feral cat was in the house. Scared the crap out of me and it was freaking out too.  I opened the door and took off in a total panic crashing into the door as I opened it.  I hate cats.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 12

No riding or walking today due to getting internet service (yeah!!) and the big Ikea delivery.  The Internet guy was scheduled for 8:30 and he was right on time.  In no time I had Internet that is 10 times faster and one quarter the cost of my San Francisco service.

Just as the Internet guy finished the Ikea guys showed up.  This morning I noticed a dog poop 1m in front of my door.  Naturally the overweight and not so friendly furniture thugs stepped in it and left a poop trail.  I just left everything at the front door so not too deep into the house.

The rest of the day was assembling stuff and setting it up.  It was hard work and I had the AC going from 3 rooms at once.

At 7:30 I was meeting the seller and family for some drinks and food.  I ran around the house snapping pictures of everything I had no clue about.  I wanted answers.  They were very helpful and it was a fun evening.  I learned a lot about the house.  The bought it and renovated it for a B&B about 10 years ago which meant everything had to be to a commercial code.  The water heater is massive and everything is less than 10 years old.

I got to sleep in a nice new bed!

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 11

Walked today.  I started at 6:45am and the sky was turning dark blue but it was still dark.  I walked over to the 6am bar and the bartender remembered my order from a few days ago.  There were two Camino Pilgrims there.  I realized too late to start talking with them and I'm not sure what language they spoke, by their general confusion it wasn't Spanish.  I got a 1.5L bottle of chilled water.  Bars are a great place to get water, it's always cold and only a little more expensive than a store and you are already in the bar and the store is probably closed.

After a coffee, I took streets up the hill past the place Kieran and I stayed at in April.  Just past there you are in olive groves.  There are trail signs and I was going to take the loop route which goes through the Sculpture Forest.  I like the Sculpture Forest; last time I was here I stumbled on it entirely by accident.  What are these strange carvings in the stone.  Are they ancient?  No they are not.  The guy who owns the olive carves in his spare time.  He is self taught and some pieces are quite good.  He is local news famous - I found some news clips on YouTube.  I found one video of a guided tour to it.

The sculptures are only about 2km from my front door.  I did end up on my butt at one point due to some loose dirt on a steep part.

The trail continues fairly flat north away from Alcala through the olive trees.  Looking across the valley I could see the road where I enjoyed the great view of the castle rolling down the hill.  I hadn't seen anyone else on the trail and I needed to pee.  I couldn't see anyone and I started.  Immediately, a guy comes around the corner walking his dog.

Just at the same distance either way to Alcala la Real, my direction started going up to the top of the outcrop.  At a fork I chose right and I climbed to the top on a narrow trail.  I suspect left may have been a little wider and less steep.

At the top the trail runs parallel and above the town.  A town street met the trail and I took it into town.  The route is not direct and you zigzag down.  I want to go to the bank to get online access to my account.  Currently, I think only the lawyer can do anything with it.  The teller struggled with me for a while - she couldn't get the system to accept my US phone number - and eventually gave up and told me to come back next week.  She will likely be one vacation and won't have to deal with me.

Next I stopped by a churro place that was always closed when I went by every other time.  The place was hopping today.  No seats outside; had to go in.  I had a coffee and a churro.   I think I like the ones at my other place a little more.  This was good but I like my other place.  After that I went to the bike shop.  He did a bunch of work and replaced my head tube bearings.  The bike felt better pushing it down the street.  The bike tune up and repairs and the coffee and churros came to 37€.

I made another run to the home store for more stuff.  Then I had lunch at another place that was always closed before.  I had a very nice burger and 3 beers.

Now is the time of day I wish I had more furniture.  I will tomorrow so I just have to pretend now.  After walking back from lunch I took down the Casa Rural sign on the house.  I picked a good time because the sun had been on it for a while and the silicone was very soft.  Check off another job.  I've been working on the front door for the last few days shaving it down so it closes without getting stuck on itself.  I am realizing the door is not very regular or flat or a lot of the things I need it to be to install a new lock.  It's gonna take some McGyvering.

I did replace the broken strap on the roll shutters in Room 2.  Picking up so many new skills!

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 10

I slept in - guess I was tired - so I did not ride. I did bring the bike into the bike shop and the bike will be getting some love so no ride tomorrow either. Tomorrow morning I will hike.

I drove to Ikea in Granada. It was only a 40 minute drive but culturally it felt like a lot more. Granada is a big city (250,000 ... hmmm, seems bigger than that). The Ikea is in the Nevada Mall which is massive.

I made a significant impact on the Swedish GDP with all that I purchased.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 9

I was exhausted after all the home work yesterday.  Wasn't even sure I wanted to ride today.  I went to sleep thinking maybe I will, maybe I won't; I'll decide when I wake up.

5am Leo was ready to go (but not too far)!

I selected a route I had done in April.  I had not liked the end section on the main road uphill as it started get hot.  I drew that one up and was kind of married to it even though I didn't like one part.  Inspiration in the obvious suddenly said do it the other direction, you idiot.

Starting on the main road, downhill first thing made this an excellent ride.

I started out of town on one of the four roads out of town toward La Rabita.  This 4km is excellent.  Then I got on the main road and flew downhill on the bumpy but wide shoulder - almost no cars on a Sunday morning.  An easy fast 6km and I was exiting to a road just for me.  I passed through Castillo de Locubin which if you bypass saves you from some stupid steep climbs in town.

I did walk a bit.  Over 12% and it is faster and half the effort to walk.  I pretend I am looking at the town.

Going up the hill from Castillo de Locubin you can look north and see the castle at Alcaudete.  When you reach the top you begin an extremely pleasant roll  down with spectacular views of Alcalá la Real, the castle and the whole valley.  The road really let's you enjoy it.  The town and castle get bigger with no effort.

On the way into town I saw a sign that had me thinking so much I turned around to get a picture.  What would it mean to anyone less than 90 years old?!  I knew what it was because I watched a lot of old movies (1930's).  Very curious.

Naturally, I stopped at the churros shop.  Then it was home.  Coming in the door I decided I couldn't have a door the did not close any longer.  I got my rasp and ground things down so the door would close and lock.  I don't think it would take much of a shoulder to pull the screw out of the door the lock is latched to but ... baby steps.  I did all this in my cycling Lycra and the passing old ladies seemed to enjoy it.

I promised myself a relaxing day and limited my projects.  I was determined to figure out how to replace the window roller strap in Room 2 where I am staying.  This is not an easy task!  After a lot of work I got the top figured out but the strap spooler remains a mystery.  More YouTube is necessary.  I also put a new flush kit in Room 4.  They are very different from North American toilets and the first one yesterday took me a while to sort out.  This one was done in no time.  I knew exactly what to do.

Around 6 I ventured out and it was still hot and the streets deserted.  I wanted a beer but nothing was open.  I did chat to my brother for a long time but for some reason my SIM has been throttled to H+ from 5G and to do the call I stood outside the hotel I stayed at the other day and stole wifi.

I did find Bar Madrid open and I had quite a few beers, tapas and the best chicken wings while watching a women's soccer final.  It was Spain versus England.  Spain was up in the first half looking strong.  In the second the English looked stronger and scored a nice goal.  In overtime Spain looked far better but could not score.  It went to PKs and England won.

10pm and twilight.  I'm going to bed.