We had a lazy start to the day, knowing that today was the shortest distance we'd planned for the entire trip. We toured the Jimena castle and town cemetery on foot, and saw griffon vultures flying above. The info centre and La Sauceda memorial were closed.
It was too hazy to see Gibraltar, which is about 30 km away.
The Jimena castle wasn't terribly interesting. There was almost no interpretive information.
We departed at noon, zooming down out of town prior to starting the 20 km uphill ride. Gail’s stomach was still not great, so she took it slow.
We're definitely in the land of cork. We passed a cork sorting yard near base of town.
Despite the ride being a short one (fewest km of the trip), we stopped for coffee and tiny sandwiches in San Pablo de Buceite before starting our climb to Gaucin. Leaving San Pablo, we had the first and last dog chase of trip - he was a noisy small dog, and was quickly called off by his owner.
Our climb was full of switchbacks, but was uneventful until right at the top, when there was a very light rain shower. I was waiting for Gail, and pulled out my rain jacket for the first time. I didn’t really need it though - the shower lasted only about a minute, and it turned out that we were only a few hundred metres from our hotel. Are we the only ones here? Possibly. Too bad that the hotel restaurant is closed. It's a simple place, but it's clean, secure, and the wifi is good. We walked 1 km into town and did a loop of the core - it's a beautiful place. Another ho hum salad for dinner, but in a wonderful setting.
Looking back at Jimena, another well-defended town on a hill.
