What a difference a day makes! Our ride today was nice and flat (relatively speaking) and, other than taking a few wrong turns, relatively uneventful. I love this GPS system! If it's programmed correctly, you know immediately when you're off track.
We started in El Acebuchal, a small town @ 20 miles from where we slept last night. Total distance today was 36 miles and the weather was a little cooler than it has been due to a light cloud cover (I even started our ride with my jacket on). The landscape has changed somewhat too. No more cork oak savannahs and not nearly as many olive orchards as we've been seeing. Instead, we cycled through fertile farmlands, planted with corn, wheat, onions, sunflowers, and miles and miles of orange groves.
Our lunch destination, Almodovar del Rio, has an impressive castle at the top of the town which can be seen for miles. It became our landmark as we cycled along, disappearing and then reappearing depending upon the bend in the road, but always getting a little closer as we sped along. After lunch, six of us hopped in the van for the transfer to Córdoba. Justin and Lauren (the "youngsters" in the group) decided to ride the extra 17 miles to Córdoba, which was a bit hillier than the morning ride. (I think the rest of us were still recovering from yesterday's hill workout.)
Tomorrow is a rest day and lord knows, I need it! Hope these tight quad muscles will start feeling better.
One of our first glimpses of Almodovar del Rio's
castle through the morning haze
Jerry climbing one of the few hills we had today
A closer view of our iconic castle landmark
Almost there - taking a quick rest break
Looks tough but amazing!! Can't wait to go on one of these bike adventures with you guys!
ReplyDeleteWe can't wait either!
Delete