Today was to be an easy day, at least relative to yesterday. Since the hotel has its own bar and restaurant (and only charges 6€ per person), we decided to have the hotel breakfast. The downfall of many hotel breakfast buffets is often the coffee--we haven't had a good cup of coffee from a fully automatic machine on this trip. And that includes places where the "barista" pushes the buttons. This breakfast was very good.
When we came in, each table had been provided with a bottle of local olive oil.
This wasn't a self-serve buffet. The same hard-working woman who'd attended on us and most of the rest of the busy restaurant last night was here again. We ordered café con leche and orange juice and then the rest was brought: a piece of toast (the Spanish version, a small French-style loaf sliced horizontally and toasted, dry), slices of cheese and two kinds of ham, butter and two kinds of jam, crushed tomatoes and salt. (Salt and pepper aren't normally on the table in Spain.)
A popular way of eating your toast in Spain is to drizzle it with plenty of olive oil, then top it with tomatoes and salt. Very tasty!
We were well into our toast when we were brought pastries. A giant croissant and a smaller item, each cut in two. I managed half the smaller pastry while Al ate most of the rest, but even two hungry cyclists couldn't eat all the food we were brought.
Our RWGPS route out of town involved a lot of riding the wrong way on one-way streets. I'm wondering whether that is because riding the wrong way is actually legal and often done here or because I developed the route originally in the other direction and then reversed it. In any case, we managed to exit town without incident and got onto A339. It's a busier road than we like but there was an adequate shoulder and we weren't on it very long. We turned onto peaceful A3226 and followed that to Carcabuey. So far, so good, but in Carcabuey the route set out by RWGPS should have been carefully reviewed and edited. Al was glad it wasn't his fault because, he said, he'd never be allowed to forget. Instead of turning left to stay on C336a, we turned right. We soon left the asphalt behind and started up a steep unpaved "road" which had occasional drainage ruts along and across it (it must rain here sometimes). I walked the steep bits though maybe I could have ridden up on an unloaded mountain bike. We did get a nice view from the top.
The worst, however, was yet to come. The steepest descent I've ever encountered. At least it wasn't a loose surface. No, it was that rough concrete we sometimes see on European farm tracks. And did I mention steep? I walked down with both hands squeezing the brakes. When I can examine the track more closely, I'll try to determine the actual grade but I'm guessing around 30%.
We emerged onto the minor highway we should have been on and rode it until it joined A339. Our course turned off again where the minor highway continued on the other side, but there was a dead-end sign and we didn't want to be led astray again, so we continued on the busier road.
A339 took us over this pass but I was too tired from the long climb to even try to cross the ditch to lean my bike against the sign.
After crossing the ridge, we descended down down down to Cabra, where we found a café in a park to have lunch.
The waiter was very busy so we each ordered a second beer to accompany our food. The first ones had somehow disappeared while we were waiting. Al's first one was quite a bit larger.
There's even a campground on the route. While we were having lunch, a couple saw our bikes and came over to say hello. They and their two children were from Malaga and camping here. They had ridden the Via Verde to Cabra for lunch.
View from our window. It must be pruning/burning season because we’ve seen and ridden through many small patches of woodsmoke since leaving the Alpujarra.
The church (built on a former mosque) contained many life-size statues in various materials. The interesting thing, to me, was that many of them were dressed in embroidered velvet robes.
I had duck with raspberry sauce. Note that there’s nothing else on the plate besides the duck, some fancy mushrooms underneath, and the raspberry sauce. Al ordered something called “black Iberian pig” on the English menu and got pork, frites, and a skewer of grilled vegetables.
For dessert, we shared a treat that included quince and saffron cream. It disappeared before I thought to take a photo. We also tried again to order sherry. Al received a snifter of some sort of brandy while my snifter contained a clear liquid. I don’t think either was what we’ve been trying to taste. Oh well.
Scott AndersonI suspect that you built the route first in the other direction and then reversed it. That’s the classic symptom - a mess of wrong-way rides down one way streets. Happened to me just a week ago in Viterbo. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonYes, that's exactly it. I would have thought the software would take such things into account, but no. We got the proof today when the route directed us the wrong way around a traffic circle. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
