Author: Grant and Barbara

A day of ups and downs. One of the ups is Barbara’s swollen hand is unswelling, but not enough to ride. So I was left to roll across the dusty plains with instructions to photograph.

A large part of today was uphill – making stopping for photos not easy if you want to get going. The other part was sweeping downhill. Which makes for a grimace to lose momentum when braking to take photos. I made the sacrifices.

More suphur mine communities. One monument read

DUE TO LIFE’S CIRCUMSTANCES, WE HAD TO EMIGRATE, WITH THE ILLUSION AND HOPE OF ONE DAY RETURNING. INAUGURATED ON 08/22/2009 BY VIRTUDES HERNÁNDEZ REQUENA (HERNÁN-VALLE)

The community of Gor we stopped in (Bar Mor) for coffee had a population of 6600 in 1950. 755 in 2021. Agriculture is now the main industry, noting the service industry has increased with the opening of a nursing home. Are folks shipped in to be out of the way given the remoteness? Anyway the ones being helped around looked well looked after.

The descent took us passed an amazing azure coloured water lake. The rocks seemed to have changed. Not having the cycling geologist with me to tell me to what, I’ll have to be satisfied with they looked harder.

Granada is a rest day tomorrow. Seems a fine place.

It turns out Baza, which on the face of it is a nice scruffy working town, has an important religious past. This passed me by – on a short day which was mainly downhill – my energy levels sank later in the day. It does have two very well equipped bike shops – maybe the clergy have seen the light and got into new habits.

Barbara investigated the Medical Centre in Velez Blanco for her wasp sting, so avoiding the easiest day cycling yet.

We passed many houses that were built into the hillside caves. Old and new. Perhaps cool. I’d worry about the soft rock and how water tight it is. Given how old many are, I must be wrong. It’s not made clear what the sewage system is: maybe I’m over thinking things.

We’re on the edges of the Sierra Navada. Some large gorgeous across dust filled planes. We’re into the Granada Geopark too – must be another UN designation. Dark skies will be next.

Enterting Andalusia region, where we end up is a wee town nestled at the top of a hill. Castle, cave (UNESCO so box ticked), church, convent. Busy place for its 1800 residents. Perhaps a recurring theme: the town was originally Muslim around their castle. Which was built on in the 16C by this one.

Lots of places look refurbished, including the castle. Maybe tourism.

What wasn’t so pleasant were the pig farms we passed. You know those cute free range huts for pigs in East Anglia: happy pigs? These were tin shacks in the baking heat and solid ground. Not to happy, slowly cooking pigs.

The rest of the ride was through mixed farm lands on quiet roads. FIrst pistachio tree for me. Lots of pine trees. A fertile plateau.

Two other things of note. One was this huge spider. It watched with interest as Barbara ran her hand in the trough of running water. To cool it and try to alleviate the swelling from a couple of wasp stings.

Tonight we had pork…….

Our splinter group headed up to the Basilica.

Another place steeped in history. What a crass statement – like saying “Welcome to our historic market town“. Everywhere has history, just we care to invest more time in judgements about what is interesting.

The Knights Templar thought enough about this place to create a castle or two. Building on that already there from previous Muslim dwellings. Crusade country. A delve into the Knights (a papal army) 200 year history (religion, land grabs, money, ambition, deals) and the Crusades (Muslims vs Christians, Jerusalem) and you might be mistaken for thinking you’re watching a replay on our daily news.

No stitches were dropped on the tour of the Emroidery Museum. Which turned out to be a fascinating insight into the [continuing] May wine horse race https://youtu.be/v9XCSy9sOeg?si=dq0qscU7bVxQvSbt Now UNESCO listed. The horses wear 14 piece embroidery sets. Then men and horse run up hill. Fastest wins. It doesn’t say if the first horse shits or pees, to make it slippy, always wins. Maybe the way my mind works.

They are running up to the Basilica. Which hosts a [genuine no less, verified we’re told] splinter of the original JC cross. Embedded in another cross inside something else. All very sacred, making this the 5th most important Christian site in Europe. According to whom is not clear. People look at me without understanding when I say it was probably just a skelf.

Tommorow we head to Granada for the next 3 days. Should be dry.

The surprise of today was fields of asparagus. Google lens is very useful at times!

A lot of today’s route in a former sulphur mining area, though the roads we were on didn’t show the lasting debris. The main operations were in the 18 and 19C. The Spanish Monarchy claimed ownership – important for gunpowder. What a plot.

What we can see is quarries and fields of crops. One high plateau has acres of green fields and pine trees, in the middle of what is mainly desert. Must have a secret water supply!

Towns are few and far between, as is shade. We missed a Holy week drumming festival. Whew!

Caravaca is our destination. Fingers crossed for a restful rest day.