At The House Day 16 - Ruta Del Gollizno PR-A 84

A slow morning.  Alpha made breakfast: eggs with onions, tomato and avocado; fruit salad, bread and tea.  Alpha decided he would go his own way today to go to the local mosque and some exploring.  He not only found the Sculpture Forest, he met and talked to the artist working on one of the pieces.  He also saw a ton of wildlife and met a nature photographer.  He had an exciting day.

Mike and I decided on a hike I had read about starting and ending in Moclín.  But first a coffee at Rio de Oro.  We drove down tonMoclín and parked in the huge parking lot just as you come into town.

We were denied a second coffee at the bar in the town square.  We think he may have been closing up.  All we got was: "It is not possible to make coffee".  I think the old guys drinking brandy were laughing at us without changing their demenor.

We followed the PR-A 84 signs out of town.  It was downhill from the square for about 500m.  Vistas of rock walls and the snowcapped peaks in the Sierra Nevada opened up.  We met some Hungarian sisters walking the Camino from Almeria to Cordoba.

Eventually we reached the river and walked beside that through a steep gorge.  We came across a mountain biker walking a steep part of the trail.  He may have been doing a lot more walking than riding.  There was a dodgy bridge that lead to a boardwalk attached to the side of the cliff.

After that it was all uphill. For a long time it was uphill.  Where it started we met an American couple and we all decided we did not like the Dodgers ... Go Jays!

As we got higher we could see where we cycled toward Tozar a few days ago.  

More uphill until we reached the town.  The earlier haze had cleared and now you could see Granada and the lower slopes of the Serra Nevada.

At this point with no food or water I needed both badly.  Being close to 3 everything would be closed and Mike wanted to get back for a meeting.  We stopped at Lidl and as we walked to the car I tore into a loaf of bread.  At the house I threw food on a tray and shoved food in my face.

Low key rest of the day and a steak dinner at Mesón EI Olivo.

At The House Day 15 - Alcaudete Loop

Woke earlier than I wanted but didn't get up until coffee and churros at 8:15.  Albert was leaving us today and we planned to ride with him to Alcaudete.  The weather looked to be mostly good but there was the odd rain cloud floating around.

We were on the road about 10 and headed north out of town towards La Rabita.  We saw a road kill rabbit in the street and then almost immediately a very proud dog walking with a rabbit in his jaws.  It was a bad day to be a rabbit.

Except for brief photo and regrouping stops we went straight to Alcaudete.  We stopped there for coffee, orange juice and water at a sidewalk cafe that was taking up the entire sidewalk.  We said goodbye to Albert and went in opposite directions.  He had just made a booking in Cordoba so he had about 100km to go today.    Later in the evening he reported he had made it and was eating tapas.

We headed out of town on the Camino route into town.  RIdeWithGPS said it was a paved road.  It was not.  The map showed no insane descents so we figured it would be all right to proceed.  The road surface was fine except for a few puddles that really muddied up the bikes.  The scenery was spectacular.  We could see from above the route we had taken into town.

Eventually, we joined the main highway to Alcalá la Real and began the big climb.  After a few km we exited the freeway toward the town of Castillo de Locubín.  I faded on the climb.

Dinner was at Restaurante Dos Soles - Italian place.  Our theory is this is the first date of choice in town.  It seems there is always a couple at a table  and usually one of them looks like they want to be anywhere else.  Our food was very good and two appetizers were amazing.