Broken glasses

April 30, 2019

Montecorto to below Teba

I had planned a route trying to avoid climbing 350meters up to Ronda on the highway, using the train service in the area while still doing other climbs. However, I accidentally broke my glasses frame while packing up this morning so knew I need to get to Ronda before 2pm as more than likely siesta time will make it harder to find an optometrist and with the next day being a labour day public holiday.

So set off, firstly climbing on the highway and then finding it easy to get down again but then finding that I would prefer not to be on the highway climb instead if I cycle 8kms away from Ronda I could get the train back. Route wasn't that flat south following the Rio Guadiaro so didn't save any climbing. Stopping at a local waterfall on the way, having to walk across the river to get there.

Morning ride, decent shoulder but plenty of traffic

Google maps said there was a train at 1pm but when I arrived at the station found out the whole line had been replaced by buses due to track work, so I had to back track re-doing some climbs and then using goat tracks to push bike up to Ronda, instead of the using the highway which zig zags its way up, arriving after 2pm.

Before this was a goat track and this section was steep

I managed to find 6 optometrist closed for siesta before finally finding one open. Raul has tried to glue my glasses frame but it hasn’t stuck and even when the optometrist tried fitting it back in it didn’t feel right. If it hadn’t been a public holiday tomorrow I may have tried to see if glue worked but since my morning ride had been blurry decided to get a new set of glasses. Just another item that survived Russia last year but couldn’t survive Spain.

As for Ronda very touristy as the old town part is located on a high island peninsula with only 2 bridges joining the rest of the city. There are scenic views of the cliff faces and walk ways around the edge including an old medieval wall you can walk on top.

Could walk around most of the edges of the gorge in Ronda

Was able to walk around getting views looking back to where I climbed from

With train not running to leave Ronda I had a few choices but with varied levels of climbing required. Managed to find a route with one long climb of 200meters over 15kms before descending 600meters for 20kms, therefore barely needing to pedal before searching for a while for a place to camp as sun was setting, eventually finding a football pitch that has flood damage to camping in. While located way above me was the town of Teba.

Once over the hill it was a quick descent

Didn't take many photos as I didn't want to stop

Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 642 km (399 miles)

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