Day 6: Cazalla de la Sierra to Zafra

April 28, 2023

It was a scenic departure from Cazalla and since we left so early the air was crisp and refreshing. We opted for the early departure due to temperature predictions and the length of today's route. We were fortunate to have some cloud cover on and off throughout the day - it helped a lot. Who would believe such a heatwave in April in Southern Spain!?!

The route began with some gentle hills and we saw lots of sheep hanging out under the oak trees.

After an hour or so we came upon the village of Guadalcanal and decided to try and access the church.

It sat by a lovely plaza, but it was all locked up. Someone explained something to me, but it was in rapid Spanish and I didn't catch a single word.

This must be the Christian entrance to the church.

And this must have been the original muslim entrance assuming it was originally a mosque before the Christians added to it.

After our detour, we got back on the road - can't really diddle dally today since it's a long ride. The scenery was ever changing.

And then we came to Llerena and found more ruins, before . . .

A beautiful plaza has been built in front of these ruins, but we didn't find any signage for explanation.

A monument to someone special to this town

And off we went in search of the church, but the ride on cobbles became rather bumpy and it sounded like our rim was hitting the cobbles. Flat!! I immediately pulled up Google Maps and found a bike shop that had photos that looked really good. Chuck pumped a little air in the tire and we rode to the bike shop. A half hour later we walked out with new rim tape on our wheel and we were happy campers. No time now to find the church so we continued down the road.

Beginning to remind me of Central Oregon

Continuing down the road we came to the small village of Medina de las Torres and it offered some great murals for our viewing pleasure.

Our paradore home for the night - built in the 1400s.

Dinner began at 8:30 pm (Spanish time and that's still early for dinner).

All in all it was another great day on the tandem. By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was pretty hot. We did wander for an ice cream, but we didn't spend any more time outside than necessary.

Today's ride: 111 km (69 miles)
Total: 1,847 km (1,147 miles)

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