Écija to Carmona

November 19, 2021

This was definitely a transfer day, a rather boring ride from one interesting town to another.

We had our first fun at breakfast. The café we went to offered only tostadas, but in multiple sizes and with a plethora of available toppings. Tostadas are usually mid-sized French-style loaves sliced horizontally and toasted. Sometimes you get one side, sometimes you get both.

Al first ordered café con leche, and when the server looked at me, he added "dos". So far so good, but in his effort to make sure he got two pieces of toast, he also ordered dos, grande, with ham, tomatoes, and olive oil. The server left without asking me what I wanted. I guess she though he was ordering for both of us because when she returned, she placed a plate with two large tostadas covered with ham, plus a little dish of crushed tomatoes, a packet of salt, and a container of olive oil on the side, in front of each of us.

I just couldn't face more ham today; I wanted my tostada with butter and jam (preferably orange marmalade but I haven't figured out how to ask for that). I finally got the server's attention and ordered what I wanted (ending up with strawberry jam, oh well) while Al ate both big breakfasts. I really don't know how he can eat so much!

The next bit of fun was getting out of town. We did a lot of circles, trying to find our preplanned route. I'd edited my original (copied from the Anderson's ride in the opposite direction) to take us to the hotel I'd booked in Carmona but I didn't think finding our way out of Écija would be a problem.

We finally got on the highway and we're making great time, especially compared to yesterday. Pavement and a gentle tailwind will do that.

We left the highway after about 32 km to ride northwest to Fuentes de Andalucía. Nine km of side wind, which felt a lot stronger than the previous tailwind! After more circling, we found a bar for lunch and a well-earned break.

Fuentes de Andalucía has a bell tower too! Probably more than one.

The next leg of the ride was on SE226. At first, we were buffeted by gusts of wind from the left, a change from the right-side wind on A407. We stopped for a drink (no way I'm trying to get a bidon while riding a loaded bike in these conditions) and a farm tractor pulling a trailer turned onto the road just behind us and passed us. We followed that tractor almost all the way to the Autovia. He kept a nice speed and the wind, thankfully no longer gusting, took the diesel exhaust to the side.

SE226 just before we connected with the tractor

The Autovia, you say. Yes, we'd copied the Anderson's route but we could also see on the RWGPS heat map that many cyclists took the Autovia for the few km between where SE226 joined it and the exit for Carmona. We saw the unpaved track the Andersons had taken, with all the dust stirred up by today's wind, and opted for 5 km on the Autovia. The shoulder is good so it wasn't that bad, but it's never a pleasant ride beside fast-moving traffic.

We found our course again when we got up the hill to Carmona. I was following Al and he led us straight to the nice hotel the Andersons had stayed at. I guess the route he'd pinned in RWGPS hadn't updated after I edited it. Our hotel, the San Pedro, wasn't that far away, (we'd actually passed it at the entrance to the town), but it's not as nice.

View from the mirador opposite the hotel we didn't stay at

Once again we had succumbed to the siren call of the restaurant with an early-opening kitchen. Walking back across the plaza, we saw that Carmona was a little late putting up their Christmas decorations compared to the other towns we've been through. Starting with Malaga at the beginning of November, we've seen Christmas decorations everywhere.

Another night shot with the iPhone. Our hotel is just past the church tower.

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Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 891 km (553 miles)

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Scott AndersonWhat?? I can’t believe you passed up a chance to ride that unpaved track. I thought I’d made it sound irresistable.
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2 years ago

David MathersYou gotta do what you gotta do. I remember cycling through Normandy wheat fields towards Mt Saint Michel when we suddenly saw the Mt from a 10k distance….reminds me of why we cycle tour.
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2 years ago

Rachael AndersonYou made a wise decision not to go on the unpaved route. I can’t help but chuckle that you went to our hotel. Sounds like something we would do.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonYou did make it sound pretty good compared to the alternatives. But not on a windy day.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Rachael AndersonThat's what happens when you copy someone's route and load the unedited version. I had the edited version but my to-be-replaced Garmin was up to its antics, zooming in and out on its own. Al was leading and he had the original version.
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2 years ago

Carolyn van HoeveHello great to be reading your Spanish journal and re-living our own trip through here. Very good thing you didn't go down that unpaved route! We attempted to go down it but unlike the Andersons it had been raining and we got bogged in mud. We turned around and went back to the main road, but all our apps were indicating we wouldn't be able to access the A4 on our bikes so it was a huge loop nearly back to Marchena and another nearly 20km long goat track to cut across and get onto the A380 only to be greeted with a thunder and lightening storm as we got near to Carmona. I think we did over a 100km that day and one we won't forget!
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2 years ago