Riding Via Verde

Hi BoBbers,

From Albercete it was beast mode down to Granada along the wonderful Routa de Don Quijote, which is a pristine gravel path that runs along an old train line (including through the tunnels). The gentle slope and lack of traffic meant that I could cover some big distances, while camping in abandoned train stations at night.

Olive plantations dominated the landscape, even over steep rocky outcrops, as if they’d been laid in a sheet over the uneven terrain. The olive harvest was in full swing, with Landrovers and tractors whizzing between fields and towns. I’ve never seen olives being harvested before and it was fascinating. Some people still rake them off the trees by hand but there’s also a motorised machine that latches on to the trunk of the tree and violently shakes them off onto big blankets on the ground.

I had one awful evening when, after a particularly big day, I hit a patch of rough clay that clogged up BoB’s wheels, even when pushed. I ended up having to carry him on one shoulder with a kilo of slippery mud clinging to each foot. When I tried to set up camp, a farmer released his dogs who barked at me while I slowly packed up camp and carried my bike a few metres at a time away from his place. After about an hour covering one kilometer, I set up camp, covered in mud. The next morning, BoB and I had a three hour spa day under a bridge and were fresh and clean again.

After a quick taste of civilisation in Granada, I met up with Alice, heading south again along the coast. The road was awful, forcing cyclists to ride a sketchy highway without a real shoulder, push the bike next to the highway or to wind endlessly through golf courses and luxury resorts. After a quick stop in the UK territory of Gibraltar (you have to cross the airstrip to enter the city!), we took a few days to rest in Tarifa, with Africa beckoning us only 15km away across the straight of Gibraltar.

J&BoB

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