Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 21

Today was last day.  I slept in and didn't do anything except organize, some last minute fixes and pack my bike.  In a few hours I need to drive to Madrid.

I got some coffee and churros at my usual place and had a little chat with the owner.  He is pretty young and speaks some English.  He opens by himself at 8am, then his girlfriend comes at 8:30 and the a waitress comes at 9.  He asked if I was just on vacation and I told him I bought a house here.  I'm sure that information will improve my profile in town when that gets around.

I made a last run to Lidl to see if there was anything in the promotions isle that would be useful.  There was and I got a bunch of stuff.  I got a light string and put it in the front door area and made it light up when either door is opened.  It works except that when the light controller loses power it always restarts in default mode.  This means you get a nice disco effect when you come in.  At least you can see.

That's about it.  Need to get up at 3am and need as sleep as much as possible.  It's not even dark yet.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 20

I set my alarm so I would be out before dawn as I knew it was supposed to be quite hot today.  Naturally, I got delayed by a few things like discovering there was a leak in the toilet out pipe.  I suspected there was a problem in Room 3.  I also had to stop and get money.  I wasted an attemptnat the nearby Caja Rural - note to self don't go there again.  It does one of those things where it makes you work through 10 screens and when you finally get to say, "Give me 150€, please".  It says, "Sorry, no can do for you".

There was some haze in the air which made for some good morning photos.  I took the main road south out of town and was on it for about 10km.  A little more traffic than on a Sunday but still not bad.

I turned of at Ermita Nueva and immediately started climbing.  Going through or around town was a little confusing because when you plan the route a lot of the time on the maps a street looks good but when you are there it isn't a street at all.  Anyway, I was following the beaten path and the routing was telling me I was supposed to turn at a place there was no street.

After the small town I had a really nice long climb.  Zero traffic and amazing scenery.

Near the top RideWithGPS was telling me I had several km of unpaved road.  It was paved.  It was in bad shape but you could break without sliding out.  I had to go slower but it was not unpaved.  The rough section was the last 50m of the climb and the descent to a bigger road.

As I approached the bigger road I saw it had no shoulder and a giant truck sped by.  Right behind that a speeding car.  I had a bit of a bad feeling about the road.  Turns out those two vehicles were an anomaly and the road was mostly quiet.  I merged on to a slightly bigger road with a little more traffic but this had a shoulder.  By North American standards, on all these roads there was very little traffic.

About 10km from the rough road I came to Montefrio.  It translates as Cold Mountain but I don't get it.  It's not.  It is a striking town.  It definitely warrants a tourist visit.

I stopped at a bar and had a couple of coffees.  My 1.5L bottle of orange Aquarius was about 1/3 full.  I wanted a little more for the remaining 25km but did not need another 1.5L so I asked the bartender to fill the Aquarius bottle to the 2/3 mark.  I had several big gulps left at the finish.

The rest of the ride was nearly carless.  There were two long climbs and then against my previous adages, a long downhill into Alcala la Real.  So USUALLY there is a climb into town.  This one approach is downhill into town.

I had my usual post ride cafe con leche and churros.  They know my order and no longer seem to be afraid of me.  

I'm kind of winding up things at the house. The leaky toilet will have to be dealt with next visit.  3 working toilets should be enough.  I've made the place as comfortable as an inexpensive hotel.  We have some basic furniture, some decent beds, some security, monitoring and remote control.

Tomorrow is the last day and I have the leave here at 4am Saturday.  So probably will need to clean and pack all day.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 19

Today I had very little energy and slept in.  Not much doing today unless you count my Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells games.  I worked on that game and still enjoy playing it.

I went down to the churros place. Then got some dish washing tubs for the sink and some food stuff.

Back home I worked on the remaining computer issues.  Went to Bar Madrid for lunch: fries and chicken wings.

The rest of the day I built furniture and finished off Room 1.  Bread, cheese and watermelon on the roof for dinner.  Watched some YouTube while doing all this.  Riding tomorrow so goodnight.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 18

I need a vacation from my vacation.  Riding early, working on the place and being in the heat is tiring.  I've been cramping a little at night which doesn't help.

When out a little late this morning on the bike with the drone.  I stopped at the 6am bar.  The bartender is great and he looks like Danny Aiello except alive and younger.

This was a short ride north out of town up to the top of the hill and back down.  I had the drone follow me down and set up some shots ride up into town.

Soon I was eating churros and was pretty much done for the day.  I'm trying to get the remote monitoring set up and I'm running into a few issues.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 17

I was too tired to ride this morning so I went for a walk.  The bartender at the 6am bar asked where my bike was.  I brought my drone and got some good shots that I need to edit.

At the trailhead there are signs describing the various routes and one was a cyclable route around the Alcala area.  I was wondering if it would be doable on my bike and walk up the hill to see.  Up would be fine but down you would need a full suspension mountain bike with very knobby tires and be a way better rider than me.  I was losing my footing walking.

The walk was nice and I lost the trail in the olive groves.  The farm paths look like trails until they end at a tree.

I needed to pee again at almost the same place I jot caught the other day.  This time I got away with it.

I had lunch at Alaska and enjoyed the churrasco pollo.  Unfortunately, I spent 10 minutes too long and missed my Amazon delivery.  I guess here they want to hand it to you and not leave it in the door I left open.  I closed the door and was accepting I would have to stay in the house tomorrow when I heard someone working the code on the door.  I had entered those instructions on the Amazon site and I guess the guy saw them and came back.

I got to spend the rest of the day being a computer nerd which made me very happy.

Spain Bike/Drive/Buy - Day 16

I headed out just after sunrise delayed a bit by pumping up tires.  I've had a persistent issue with one puncture that the sealant fills but when it gets poked just right it leaks again.  I decided to put a plug in and that fixed it for good.

My plan was to take the main road toward Granada to the starting town of Camino Mozarabe Stage 11, Moclin.  It is just a few k off the main road.  I was then going to follow the yellow arrows back to Alcala la Real.

At that time on a Sunday morning N-432 was deserted and I made good time on the mostly downhill.  Approaching the Moclin area is a striking scene.  Huge outcrops with little towers on top.  Just before the turn off to Moclin I started climbing.  After the turn the single lane road became straight and went straight up.  There was a lot of double digit gradient.

Moclin is a very pretty town situated in a stunning area.  As I rode into town I saw some cyclists and asked where I could find coffee and they directed me down a street.  There was a bar open in the main square and I sat with my coffee.  A couple of women hikers sat at the next table and since I heard English I asked if they were doing the Camino.  We started chatting and they were just out for a hike.  They were Dutch and one of them had been living in San Francisco while her husband was a diplomat from 2020 to 2024.  We decided it was quite possible our kids could know each other because they when to high schools quite near to each other at the same time.  She also had a house in the area.

When I left the town I saw the yellow arrow pointing down a dirt road that I read was quite steep so I took the road to where they met.  I then took the dirt road from there.  I very quickly found the road far to steep and the gravel was far too loose for my bike.  I had the keep the bike to a walking speed or I would start accelerating out of control.  I could not stop on the loose gravel.  I was greatly relieved when I came out onto a paved road.

This had me reconsidering my plan.  There was significant dirt road ahead.  When I came to the next dirt section I decided to stay on the road and take a long way around.  This took me up a very big hill with some great views.

I decided I would abandon my Camino plan and mapped out a new route.  Leaving the Camino was adding over 300m of climbing but I went through the interesting, but barless, town of Limones.  Lots of hills, in fact, all day I was either going up or down.  There was no level cycling on the day.

When I merged with A-403, again not busy on a Sunday, I climbed a very long hill which took me to the highest point if the day and a long range view of the Alcala castle.  I was a little gased at that point and really needed some food. Fortunately, I found some Blocks emergency energy in my handlebar bag.  That was a lifesaver.

I turned off at a completely unmarked road to the town of Ribera Baja.  This town was in shaded trees.  Unfortunately, no bar.

Soon I joined the road I had been on several times this trip back to Alcala.

I was desperate for something to eat which I got at the only open bar near my place.  I spent the rest of the day lunching, napping and building Ikea furniture.  I'm pretty tired today.  I'll see how I feel in the morning.