Córdoba to Écija

November 18, 2021

We found our way from our lodging, over the Roman Bridge, and along a cycle path that eventually ended and left us on a minor highway. Just before the 10km mark, we turned onto the Via Verde de la Campiña, a "Camino Natural." Then the adventure began.

Nice sign. Too bad "Camino Natural" seems to mean "unmaintained route."

The surface was very rough. I had left my tires a little soft in anticipation of most of today's ride being on an unpaved surface but maybe I should have let a little air our for a softer, grippier ride. The things you think about when you've got tubeless tires and low pressure is an option. But I didn't.

When I'd created this route, it seemed like the Via Verde would be a good choice. The only one I'd ridden before, the Ruta del Carrilet from Sant Feliu de Guixols to Girona, had been excellent. And our ride on the Via Verde del Aceite had been quite nice. But this one was something else again. At least it was car-free (mostly; there are a couple of sections where motor vehicles use it) and afforded some nice views.

Almodóvar, seen from the Via Verde de la Campiña

This and the next photo: what is this plant? I first noticed it on the roadsides on our ride from Zuheros to Córdoba but didn’t get a nice shot. The flowers look like this…

…and the fruit like this. The entire plant is like a ground cover, maybe 20 cm high. The fruits are about 4 to 5 cm long.

Image not found :( — On the Via Verde de la Campiña

We kept looking for road options and seeing none until the VV crossed the SE9103. Right turn onto asphalt! Admittedly, for the last several kilometres the VV had had asphalt surfacing, but it was narrow with lots of nasty potholes and who knew how far the improved surface would continue? So a turn onto real roads was taken and not regretted.

We returned to the Via Verde to enter Écija and then found our way to our accommodation.

Waiting to be let in. Like so many other places, there’s no staffed reception.

Across the little plaza from our hotel, one of Écija’s many church bell towers.

After checking in and cleaning up, we wandered the town, looking at the architecture and hoping for an open tapas bar. We hadn’t had lunch, only a few of our emergency cookies. The VV had passed through zero towns and those we saw within a reasonable detour distance didn’t look big enough to offer anything. No luck on the tapas tonight, though. We did find a restaurant that opened at 7 so that had to do.

We didn’t get an English menu, though we knew they had them. Instead, our unilingual Spanish-speaking waiter kept making suggestions and Al, who was ready to drop from hunger, kept saying “si, si.” We ended up with a lot of food and a sizeable (for us) bill.

First, there was a plate with two kinds of ham, both dry-cured and very tasty, with some nice hard cheese. Then anchovies with sliced tomatoes and olive oil, which Al ate by himself. Then our main courses: dorado for Al and Rabo de Toro for me. The waiter had strongly promoted this as a specialty of the house and I thought, why not? It was pretty good, though way too much for me. Al finished it off.

Us and our main dishes. The waiter took this after seeing me photograph my plate.

And dessert too, which we shared. We were also brought the house digestif, a nice herbal liqueur.

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Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 816 km (507 miles)

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