October 22, 2021

We left the beautiful town of Valez Blanco to finish the last four kilometers of the climb up the mountain we began yesterday. The weather called for a bit of rain and indeed the sky looked threatening. However, the front was coming in from the coast and that hill that was so hard to climb helped us by holding back the rain clouds until we had passed dryly into the wide valley below the sierra.

Abandoned dwellings still punctuated the landscape reminding us of the small, family run but marginal agricultural operations that have now been overtaken by agro-biz throughout this region. An entire way of life that underwent a sea-change in a matter of a few decades

Part of journey took us through a narrow valley carved through soft limestone cliffs. Here Spanish residents in both the past and present have gone troglodyte, carving well insulated homes into the sides of the cliffs. There were many such dwellings and they reminded me of the pueblos of the American southwest. There is a tradition of this sort of dwelling in southern Spain with entire towns nestled into the hillsides especially in the southern province of Cadiz. In a few days we will pass near one such town, Setenil, as we make our way to Ronda.

Today was what someone called a “rolling rest day” with only 85 kilometers of riding and just over 700 meters of climbing. While it was definitely easier than the previous day and far easier than tomorrow, it was hardly a day out of the saddle. Maybe after tomorrow’s grind we will reflect on it with loving fondness. It certainly was an interesting and beautiful day to be touring on a bicycle.

October 21, 2021

First, my title is not a typo or an example of my poor spelling habits. We are now riding through that portion of Spain that was invaded and occupied around 700 AD by the Moors. The invasion took less than ten years to complete and the occupation was not ended until 1492. Many of the castles that we have seen were either built upon old Moorish forts or after the reclamation as a defense against another invasion. Many were built by wealthy Spaniards newly rich from the easy gold harvested from the Americas by the Conquistadors.

Today these castles are sometimes maintained as a local tourist attraction or allowed to fall into ruin if located too far from a town or sizable village. Some are hard to spot if you are not looking carefully.

Our ride was a fairly short one but with two big climbs separated by a wide valley and a route that offered a long downhill glide for around ten kilometers. This glide passed through some industrial agricultural lands with large operations raising chickens and hogs and apparently doing so with little human labor.

The toughest part of the day came at the end when the temperature was the highest and we faced a seven and a half kilometer climb of around 700 meters (2,300 feet). Our destination was a stylish, boutique hotel just below the castle in the photo. The entire place had a charm that reflected the style of an old hacienda but with modern conveniences. Our dinner was a lavish nine course marathon of cuisine that seemed to never end. It is good that we burn so many calories with our rides as we appear to be eating our way through Spain.

October 20, 2021

We spent this day is mostly rural surroundings leaving behind us the orange and mango groves for some marginal olive orchards and some rugged hill country. There were a lot of climbs, some of them steep as we wheeled our 95 kilometers through over 1100 meters (nearly 4000 feet) of uphill to our destination in the town of Caravaca De La Crux where it is said a relic from the original cross is enshrined.

Along the way we passed another relic, this one of the financial collapse in 2008. In that year Spain’s hot housing market collapsed as did many other around the world. Near the region of La Mancha (as in Don Quixote) is a failed development of epic proportion. The story we were told was that there was a rich mining development that was to become the center of an entire region bringing in thousands of workers and high paying jobs. An ambitious city was developed with many homes and buildings fully completed and many more in various stages of construction just when the boom went bust. What remains is a ghost city of epic size that could be yours for the right price. I have posted a photo of the contact information if you are interested.

There are also plenty of other abandoned opportunities nearby such as this attractive, handy man’s special amusement park. With either of the above you too can be a modern Don Quixote and tilt at some seriously big economic windmills. Finding your own Dulcinea may be an additional adventure.

The town of Caravaca de la Cruz is another ancient Spanish town with narrow streets, a huge cathedral and of course a Holy Relic. It is the fifth Holy City of the Catholic faith and is the sanctuary for a miraculous cross. This cross was brought by two angles who flew in through a window delivering the cross to allow a captured missionary priest to celebrate a mass before the Muslim king who ruled the area. During the mass the wine and bread are transformed into the body and blood of Christ but their appearance stays the same. However, this time the king saw the baby Jesus instead of the host. The king was overwhelmed by these miracles and immediately asked to be baptized into the Christian faith. The cross is also believed to contain a relic of the original cross of Christ’s crucifixion. The town has welcomed pilgrims and tourists of all faiths ever since.

Abandoned Castles and Other Things

October 19, 2021

Our second day of our six day grind to Granada began with a climb. It was uphill all the way from breakfast but the road was well paved and the slopes mostly gradual. There were a number of castles along our way and some were rumored to be open. Unfortunately the rumor was false unless the day was a Saturday. I had the good fortune to encounter two faster riders coming back down from their climbs to the castle to let me know that my effort would not bare fruit. I was able to turn around without making the full climb to the disappointing castle gates.

We traveled mostly through farmland today with the landscape being rugged and rural. The orange and mango groves disappeared to be replaced with the ever present olive orchards. Most of the land appeared to be dry hardscrabble with olive groves of various ages in various states of growth. Once in awhile there would be a some grape arbors that appeared to be past the harvest.

There were a large number of abandoned residences along our route that all seemed to be of similar construction and vintage. All had terracotta roofs over a thatching of wood and fibers. The walls appeared to be adobe brick and if I had to guess, I would put construction sometime during the late 19^th or early 20^th century. I asked about their abandonment and it seems as though most of our group thinks that modern, mechanized farming methods and the resulting farm consolidations ended the economic vitality of these smaller, family farms resulting in sell outs or foreclosures that forced the former occupants from their homes. These home gradually have given in to the relentless processes of wear and weather to decay into the relics that were sprinkled along our route.

It is sad in a way to witness this change and I wonder what these communities would have looked like in the years long gone by. It reminded me of the abandoned school houses, log buildings and other empty and discarded structures that I see as I cycle at home in the Ottawa Valley. A lifestyle lost in the currents of time only to live in our imaginations.

October 18, 2021

After our day of rest in Valencia we set off on day one of a six day grind to Granada. Most of the days are not that tough but day six looms ahead of us like a monolith with 2000 meters of climbing and over 135 kilometers of riding. It does no good to worry about it. What will be, will be and now is the time to live for the moment. That moment is taking us through orange, olive and mango groves as we leave the coast and begin to exercise our climbing skills.

The scenery is much as it has been, still beautiful and interesting. Much of our route is over farm roads and bike paths with little to no traffic until we hit a town. Even there, the traffic is light and the drivers savvy about cyclists and courteous towards us. A gravel truck passed me on a long climb that ended at a summit where the driveway to the gravel plant entered the road. By the time I reached the summit he had reloaded and was ready to get back onto the road just as I passed by. He acknowledged me with a toot on his horn and some applause for reaching the summit. It’s nice to be recognized.

Once again I encountered a fortress on a hilltop as I climbed that would have been right at home in Game of Thrones. It was perched far above my summit and seemed positioned to command any approach to the rich valley that it guarded. Unfortunately, there was nothing about its history or use that I could see as I rode by, so it will remain a mystery to me.

The rest of this day was just more olives, oranges and mangoes as we rode into our home for the evening. The beer was cold and the fellowship of the riders comforting at the end of the day.

October 17, 2021

Today is a rest day in Valencia so I decided to do a short walking tour down towards the waterfront. Valencia was once plagued by the annual flooding of the Turia River. As the city grew to over 2 million people and became the third largest in Spain, this flooding became such a problem that the Turia was dammed and diverted around the city. Today the former river bed is a long, serpentine park that winds through the city to a spectacular terminus at the City of Arts and Sciences. This ultra modern testament to architectural design is home to museums, a science center, a large theater as well as an expansive plaza with reflective pools. It is truly worth the time to walk and absorb the beauty of man made design

As this park flows along the course of the old river bed, it passes under bridges and offers places for children to play. People practice yoga here, jog, ride their bikes as well as other recreations. It is also popular for concerts, weddings and social gatherings. This is a great use for the old river bed and it appears to be the center for active lifestyles with people in motion everywhere.

Valencia, like most European cities, has its older sections with wide plazas and narrow side streets. In the city center these areas seem dominated by restaurants and the usual assortment of stores from company owned brand name outlets to small mom and pop operations. McDonalds and Burger King always seem to have a prominent spot but I can not understand why. Of course there is the required large and elaborate fountain to serve as a focal point. These areas are almost always busy and pan handlers, buskers and the occasional pickpocket can be experienced here. Guard your purse or wallet while you enjoy the sights, the tapas and your choice of beer or wine.

(or Gullible’s Travels)

October 16, 2021

Once again we are skirting the coast on our way to Valencia. Today we are staying away from the shore but can occasionally glimpse it in the distance. We are traveling through orange and olive groves with other fruits and vegetables thrown in from time to time for flavor. Sometimes we go through an industrial area and the towns along the way vary in focus from industry to agriculture with agriculture being predominant. Today it was mostly agriculture with a whiff of hog that fortunately came before lunch. The oranges are mostly ripe and everything seems to be nearly ready to harvest. Rogue oranges that have fallen to the ground and rest along side of the road can be rescued from their rotten fate and turned into useful food by the industrious cyclists.

Castles and fortresses seem commonplace along our route and most of us ride right by these days without stopping to notice. I still find them interesting. All along the coast they show up, usually on a high hilltop in various states of preservation. There are usually a few lookout towers placed strategically beyond the walled fortifications. Some have become tourist attractions and some just remain, high on their summits, as a reminder of violent times in the past.

In the previous town someone told me that the area is known for its anchovy farms and that I should be able to see some of the trees where they grow. While I looked carefully for the anchovy tress, I was never able to spot one. I have never liked anchovies on my pizza and really don’t know what they look like so maybe I saw them without recognizing them. The people here are very honest and seem to have no sense of humor yet for some reason I hear them laughing at something as I ride away.

Our ride today was one of the shortest and easiest in recent memory: A mere 75 kilometers with hardly a climb worth mentioning. There were dedicated bicycle paths for much of the trip. After a day of rest in Valencia we will have six days straight of longer rides with a lot more ups and downs before we have another day off. By now all of us should be in great shape for the challenge. We shall see if I am as well.

October 14 and 15, 2021

Our days are starting later now that we are well into mid October. There is no sense in riding before the sun is up. We left Tarragona, a pretty seaside town at around nine a.m. And started to head southwest along the Spanish coast to out next stop in Banicarlo. It was a long ride at 134 kilometers but the terrain was mostly flat. Unfortunately there would be a headwind but there always seems to be a headwind when you are on a bicycle.

Our route took us on a zig-zag course that would put us along the coast for a bit and then up into the more rural farm lands of the countryside. It would be like this all the way to Valencia. On one of the coastal legs, I managed to glimpse a guy walking two Irish Setters, one about the size of my current male Rascal and the other a female about the size of my previous setter, Blaze. It was a homesick moment.

Away from the coast we were into orange and olive country with black olives and Valencia oranges growing almost everywhere. If you get one of those wooden crates of oranges for Christmas this year, I likely rode right past your fruit. Most of the oranges were still green but some were getting ripe and there were harvesting operations underway during both day’s rides.

The ride from Bencarlo to Castello was much like that of the day before only shorter at 87 kilometers. The scenery was similar and we still alternated between coast and farmlands as we followed the route of Spain’s high speed rail line between the mountains and the coast. Our route followed some old farming roads when it left the coast and we entered some rural villages where farm operations seemed to predominate. As we approached one over this rough, rural road the spires of a large cathedral appeared as if on a hill as we rounded a bend. It reminded me of something and for a moment I thought I saw skywriting spelling out, “Surrender Dorothy.” As it turned out, it was just a large church in a small town and even though I was not in Kansas, I was also not in OZ.

October 13, 2021

Leaving a large city always requires a lot of caution. In the case of Barcelona that attention to the traffic is a job that never seems to end. Barcelona is big with over a million and a half people and those people all have to get somewhere and by some means. Riding out of it seemed to be a never ending journey that sometimes appeared to be coming to an end only to come upon another traffic circle and another swarm of commuters on various conveyances. There was even a woman taking her dog somewhere on the back of her bicycle.

For most of the journey there were clearly defined bicycle lanes and even traffic lights at bicycle eye level. Occasionally we had to merge into traffic but in Spain, as in the rest of Europe, the drivers respect the bicyclist’s right to use the same road as they do. We were given ample safe distance by the passing vehicles and they even slowed and rode behind us until the oncoming lane was open enough for them to get by. This rarely happens on the North American roads that I frequently travel.

These bikeways and other structures such as the long, curving bridge in the photograph, allow muscle powered transportation to commute safely without encumbering motorists. Infrastructure built with all users in mind tends to solve a lot of problems.

From Barcelona we generally went from one urban area to another with little or no rural landscapes in between. There were occasional stretches along the cost to offer some scenic breaks but little else to make this route more than a 100 kilometer long grind. At least the climbs were few and gentle and we did get to see some

motorized hang gliders hitting the thermals along the coast for a few minutes. I think the high point of the day was our roadside lunch. Our stop for today is in Tarragona, a pretty little seaside town that also has a UNESCO World Heritage Site somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, unless we ride by on the way out tomorrow, there will not be enough time for me to visit it.

Europe 2021

As I have been riding across Europe it seems that nearly every large town or city has been infected with a plague of graffiti. Maybe coming fresh from the Picasso Museum made me hyper-sensitive to bad art but I felt the need to write a few words on the subject. Cities in the USA and Canada have similar infections but it just seems to hit me harder to see buildings that are ancient by my standards defaced with some of the nastiest stuff to ever leave the nozzle of a spray can. I understand that some consider it an art form but given the quality of some of the work, it is clear that the artists need a hell of lot more practice before exposing their incompetence to the public. Even impromptu art that has a degree of artistic merit gets covered in crude tags that destroy whatever the original artist intended. At times I would like to see the vandal skinned with a dull potato peeler.

Some cities are worse that others but every city, even Venice has some. Barcelona seems especially bad with spray bombers willing to paint nearly anything that stands still for long enough, even the trains.

This is not to say that every form of graffiti is bad. Temporary construction barriers and boarded up windows are fair game but maybe the street artists could get together and jury the installations. You could start by just painting your bedroom wall until judged good enough to try the front door of where you live. From there you may be allowed to progress to boarded up windows and finally to construction barriers. Your crowning glory could be to be given a commission to do an actual wall mural.

Until such a graffiti bureaucracy is established, maybe cities the world over should invest in some power washers and blast the stuff off as soon as it is painted. There is no glory in graffiti that is unseen and the real city that lies underneath can be both ancient and beautiful without additional decoration.