Into the Hills

October 1, 2022

Palacios y Villa Franca to Montellano

A beautiful day in every way. We had a Spanish breakfast this morning, a croissant, orange juice and coffee. That’s it folks. We survived. We loved our hotel. Gorgeous building, friendly people and an amazing restaurant. We forgot to take a picture so I poached one from the internet.

We left on the N4, wide shoulder, very little traffic. We tried a secondary road running parallel to the highway for a bit. It was great until it turned to gravel. The CN checked his trusty Guru and the next opportunity to get back on the highway he could see was 3 kilometres away. I left him navigating and got started as I am slower than he is on gravel. Imagine my great surprise when about two hundred meters down the road there was access to the highway on what looked like an exit from a farm. Yahoo! That saved us some time. There was virtually no traffic on the highway and it was a great, flat ride.

We turned off onto SE9014, or was it 9015? We rode through a charming little village and carried on for about five kilometres. The road was excellent.

Then the magic happened. We turned onto the most amazing road which was definitely there only to access the farms. We rode for ages without seeing a car and the views were fantastic right from the start. I don’t have enough superlatives to describe this ride, and the pictures just don’t do it justice. It had to be seen to be believed.

Just us and the road. About 45 minutes in an ancient Fiat came over a rise with an ancient man at the wheel. He could hardly see over the steering wheel. He saw us though, and smiled and waved. I loved it.

The vistas were vast. I felt like I could see forever.

The sense of space! I felt very, very small again, but for much better reasons than big trucks.

The first shade in quite awhile so we decided to stop for lunch. This was our view.

I sat under that olive tree, staring at the incredible views, feeling so, so lucky.

So beautiful. I can’t even imagine the vistas before the harvest. This was very special though.

Clearly there is some source of water down there.

The road, which had been paved, with the occasional spot where it was falling apart, now became gravel. It was so darn beautiful we didn’t care. Keith said we could possibly be on it all the way to our destination, and we were both quite okay with it. It was that spectacular. It would have taken awhile though. And that is when things got even more magical.

We dropped down a hill and look what we rode all the way into Montellano. The same amount of traffic too, meaning basically none.

Next up was a restaurant at the side of the road. We stopped for some ice cold drinks and Keith took a couple of pictures. Our server was the sweetest young girl. She had as much English as I do Spanish but we got along just fine. Obviously my Spanish pronunciation of Fanta has improved.

Local colour. A happy smoker. He left pulling a trailer full of dogs, one of three trailers with dogs we saw today.

Keith got a picture of this one still parked as we left the restaurant. There were eight dogs in there. Our host at tonight’s hotel explained they are hunting dogs, usually after wild boar. I think! There were some charades happening during this explanation, but I got most of it. It is the only legal way to transport the dogs in Spain. He said we saw several because it is a Sunday.

There are days when you think to yourself that there are easier ways to travel. And then there are days like today when it is just such an absolute joy.

A walk about the town followed and then dinner in the room. Dinner last night was divine, but eating at 9 PM is something we still haven’t completely adjusted to.

The only challenge tonight is that our plan for tomorrow was to take the 37 kilometre Via Verde from Puerto Serrano to Olvera. It sounds spectacular. Thirty tunnels, four viaducts, griffon vultures, not accessible to cars and an award winning greenway. Tonight, while looking at pictures on the website I noticed this.

That Spanish word for attention got my attention. This notice incidentally, was not on the website last time I looked, which was only a few days ago. Google translate was used. They are closing the greenway at Coripe tunnel for maintenance. That is about halfway into the ride.

So, the poor CN has had to come up with a different route. We will make inquiries tomorrow in Puerto Serrano, and have discussed riding to the tunnel and pleading ignorance, but that would be a big detour if they say no. There is a parking lot at Coripe, with access to the trail, but we haven’t been able to determine where the tunnel is relative to the road access. If the access is before the tunnel it is a no go. Keith is on Google Earth now. One way or the other, we will be in Olvera tomorrow night.

An update. I feel like an idiot. Poor Keith. I thought today was Sunday. It is Saturday. The greenway is open on the weekend. He just made me double check. Can you blame him? Back to Plan A.

Check out Awesome ride on Relive!
https://www.relive.cc/view/vrqDgzDpJL6

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 990 km (615 miles)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	5

Scott AndersonIt’s too bad that tunnel is closed at the moment. If you haven’t booked into Olvera yet though you might consider Zahara as an alternate destination. We rode there from Utrera by way of Coripe ten years ago and it was one of the best days of the tour: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/iberia2013/zahara-de-la-sierra/.
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonWhat a wonderful ride! Glad to hear you can ride the via verde.
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1 year ago

Rich FrasierAmazing pictures! I was already jealous of your ride - this is making it worse!! I've always been a little nervous about touring in Spain and Portugal but you're really tempting me!
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1 year ago

Keith ClassenTo Rich FrasierIt was a great day. We were both captivated by the views as we gained some elevation. We too were somewhat nervous touring in Portugal and Spain. Neither one of us has been to either country.
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1 year ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Scott AndersonOh my goodness! You ran out of superlatives too! Isn’t it amazing here? Yesterday was certainly one of the best days of our tour too. For me there is something about those vistas, that feeling of space, the beauty, the physical part of it, I could go on…that is so, dare I say, addicting!

We have both read your link, the pages before and after, and it is so helpful. We will be reading more tonight. We have already accepted there will be a train at the end of this trip, so we can ride in circles here if we like.
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1 year ago