The lurgy woke me in Velez Bianco at stupid o clock but it was no way as bad as yesterday! I fell back to sleep and woke up in time to pack a little and have breakfast just after 8. Breakfast was a full on affair and for the first time I had two fried eggs, I left the bacon, this with the cheese on toast plus local oranges & two cups of coffee meant I was set up for the day!
The first challenge was to climb out of the ravine where the El Palacil is located, with a lot of huffs & puffs I made it, thank goodness I didn’t leave anything behind. Yesterday’s ascent continued for 7 miles to over 1,400ft which is getting perilously close to the snowline. Once at the top the full force of the headwind rose to prevent me having an easy descent. I stopped for another coffee in Orce and marvelled at the 5 ladies screaming at each other on some live TV show, the Spaniards can certainly shout!
The route then took me through the fascinating valley to El Cura, the valley contains some really old cave houses overlooking the sheltered valley, must have been a very desirable place in the stone age as the rock is very soft so you can easily excavate your own cave (apparently home to Europes first settlers). I then found a great cafe for my standard Spanish lunch of a tortilla & coke afterwards marvelling at the chimneys sticking out of the ground from the cave houses.
Just after Benamaurel the route suddenly changed into a farm track across fields 🙁 I quickly used the Go Map! app to update Open Street Map but the poor Fulcrum wheels are not designed for such conditions. However, after a few miles I spotted a very large warning sign for a private property so I reasoned there must be a reason for it, so obviously I went through and quickly discovered a tarmac road which joined the public road and then skirted the mountain to the huge beautiful lake, then it was back to climbing again up to Zujar.
Whilst at the lake I booked the Jaufil restaurant hotel for €25 its quite a bit out of Zujar but fortunately on tomorrows route. The worst problem is that they haven’t switched the main heating on so I’m sat under the AC blowing out hot air.
The weather today was sunny but with a strong cool wind from the west. The worst thing for me apart from the lurgy is my new super reflective Proviz jacket is totally non-breathable so when I arrive all my tops are soaked in sweat. I guess it may help in reducing weight 🙂
My Strava for the day is:
