Jimena de la Frontera to Gaucin

November 29, 2021

Short but mostly uphill

Another super-short day, you say? Well, it was short in terms of km ridden but we climbed 774 m in those 24 km, with over 600 m gained in only 12 km.

We started our day with breakfast at Bar Restaurante Pastor 2. The little place was run by a very sweet older couple who seemed well-loved by their regular customers and breakfast was basic but very good. We’d had dinner last night at another restaurant on the same plaza (La Tasca, also good) and had wondered whether the Plaza de la Constituciòn offered a good view in daylight. It did, all the way to the Rock of Gibraltar.

The view through our skylight in the morning.

The hotel atrium. We are on the top floor but our bikes are down there.

What’s that bump on the horizon? I’ll take a photo with PeakFinder.

A better view of the Rock of Gibraltar from the hotel terrace (taken with a better camera).

This morning was much warmer than the mornings for the last couple of weeks, probably because we are now in a warmer place. But we were heading back into the mountains and probably won’t have such warmth again until we get back to the coast.

Last view of Jimena. A nice town to visit.

Image not found :( — A closer view of (I think) one of the sphere-on-a-stick trees. This one didn’t look as healthy as those in the forest yesterday but they looked like pines.

View from the road. This is my favourite photo today.

We have an apartment in Gaucin, with washer, and only 49€. Expectations weren’t high but the place, once we found it, is charming. After a quick cycle to launder our cycling kit and hang it up, we had lunch at a bar just a few metres from the apartment. (On previous trips and earlier on this one, we’ve hand-washed our cycling kit, rolled it in a towel to get as much moisture out as possible, and hung it to dry overnight. With these colder temperatures, that wasn’t working so well, but washer with a good spin cycle does the job. Happily the colder weather also means we can get more than one day out of our kit.)

Recommended lunch spot, maybe 50 m from our apartment.

Al’s salmon was also excellent. With vegetables on the plate! Sadly a rare thing in Spanish restaurants, it seems.

Then I had this for dessert. Torta de la abuela, I think it was called. Best dessert of the trip (and I’ve tested quite a few)!

I used to know a very nice dog named Zorro

Looking east. There are lots of wind turbines on the lower ridge

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Today's ride: 24 km (15 miles)
Total: 1,231 km (764 miles)

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