November 2, 2013
Medina Sidonia
A day of surprises
The straight route from Arcos de la Frontera to Medina Sidonia is only about 25 miles, but we took a scenic, serpentine route east to Algar and around the Guadalcacin reservoir which was twice as long. For no obvious reason this was a different route than the one I had preplanned - now that we were over here it just looked better to me on the map for some reason - so I didn't know how much elevation gain it had other than what I could glean by looking at the contour map. In the end we both thought the route was a great choice - very scenic and enjoyable the whole way (yawn - another great ride through beautiful country, quiet roads and perfect weather - this is getting almost routine!) but were surprised by how much climbing we did. There were no long grades other than the final climb up to Medina Sedonia but it all added up to 4500 feet of gain, the most of the trip so far.
One of the highlights of the day came right at the start: Arcos. The city looked stunning first thing in the morning - the view from our hotel's rooftop at dawn were amazing in the morning light; the streets of the old town were even more striking nearly emptied of tourists and sidewalk cafe and bar clients; and it was wonderful to circle below the cliffs on the way out of town and see the city from below.
The ride around the reservoir east to Algar and west again to San Jose del Vallee was a roller coaster; one gradual climb and descent all morning. The countryside was great - from the tops of rises we had long views, at the bottom we often passed or crossed over arms of the reservoir, and the agricultural fields were constantly beautiful. I think we must be here just after the fall plowing, and all the rolling open fields have an almost velvet appearance.
We had a picnic lunch (ham, great cheese, some whole wheat rolls, fruit) on a rise overlooking the reservoir, and shortly after turned off at San Jose for a generally straight shot south to ride's end. The last several miles passed through a vast wind farm; watching the slow, graceful sweep of the huge blades, we appreciated our tailwind even more. This must be quite windy country, and our ride would have been much harder in different conditions.
Medina Sidonia held an unpleasant surprise for us - the hardest climb of the tour so far. The city drapes a large hill that peaks at about 700' above the valley floor. Our road up gained most of this elevation quickly, starting with a mile of about a 10 percent grade. Pretty well spent (and out of water) by the time we reached the edge of the old town, we found that the route planner had a second unpleasant surprise for us - a routing error. Our mapped route went up a long, long staircase rather than an actual road. Since there was a ramp on the side and it looked fairly short at first, we decided to push up rather than reroute; but after turning a bend we saw that it was actually about four times as long as we thought at first. Not fun.
Medina Sidonia had a very pleasant surprise waiting for us though, making the climb well worth it - the city itself. It is a wonderful place, and a much more interesting one to stay in than I had expected from my research. It has some beautiful old churches, striking residential architecture, a huge and lovely central plaza, and a delightful ambience. At the top of the hill are a monumental church, ruins of an alcazar, and great views. It made a perfect end of the day to stand on top with a small crowd of others and watch the sun set over the city.
Elevation log: 4500' today, 52,900' total.
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Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 991 miles (1,595 km)
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