Zuheros to Córdoba

November 15, 2021

More hills than expected!

We started our day with the hotel breakfast included in our room rate. It was like a buffet, except that you chose from a menu and they brought you whatever you wanted. Between us we had almost every option and they were all very good.

After the very steep descent from Zuheros, we joined the Via Verde and rode as far as the campground at Doña Mencia. Here we turned off to follow little white roads on the map all the way to Córdoba. On the map and on our track below, the route looks like a pretty direct line. Funny how all the switchback ascents and descents don't show at such a scale. Zoom in on our track and you'll see what I mean!

We chose a sunny spot to give the chains some attention.

Typical road this morning. Dead quiet, rough asphalt, olive trees on both sides.

We came around the top of a ridge and were greeted by strong winds and this view!

We stopped a bit early for lunch in Castro del Rio. It was the only possibility of food on our route between Doña Mencia and Córdoba. We were too early for the menu del dia so we shared a mango salad and scrambled eggs.

The salad came with this cute little bottle of local olive oil.

Revueltos (scrambled eggs) Spanish style with asparagus and mushrooms and shrimp.

After we'd stuffed ourselves with salad and eggs, the café owner asked us if we'd like dessert. We declined, but then he suggested something about chocolate. We accepted, thinking it would be a couple of little chocolates (many restaurants have little extras for diners) but no, it was a piece of chocolate cake for each of us (not free but not expensive).

From Castro del Rio, RWGPS had routed us up and over a ridge on an unpaved track. We looked at the maps on our Garmins, which showed that we could stay on the minor highway we were on until it met the A309, which said unpaved track would have brought us to. Slightly longer but far less effort!

Shortly afterward, we turned off onto the first of a series of very minor highways, designated COxxxx. We followed these all the way to Córdoba.

Warnings about the road condition at the turnoff. The road was actually in better shape than the ones we'd ridden this morning, and there was no mud on it. And surprise! This route is also a Camino.

Leaving the olive trees for harvested fields.

Near Córdoba, the first signs of olive harvest.

We kept thinking that this climb would be the last, we'd cross this ridge and coast down into Córdoba but it wasn't that way. There were at least 3 final climbs before that last descent into the city.

I'd edited our route to take us to the apartment I'd booked (starting at a point outside the city to eliminate those wrong-way-on-a-one-way-street experiences. It seemed like we were going in circles but, looking at our track, it was actually pretty direct. We connected with our host to get the key, settled in and cleaned up, and went for a short explore.

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Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 758 km (471 miles)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Scott AndersonI see in your entry to the city you took a roundabout route and missed biking over the pedestrianized Puente Romano, the 16 arched Roman bridge. You should really try to see it before you leave the city.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonWe will. For some reason, RWGPS didn’t want us to go that way. We might even depart that way.
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2 years ago