Left Granada on a cold Sunday morning to begin our ride to the sea. Each day was very different from the previous and all were wonderful. The first day had us making a long climb to the top of the pass through the Sierra Nevada.
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| Our lunch neighbors |
The second day had us riding along a fairly flat high valley with snow covered peaks to the side with lots of apple orchards and wind turbines.
The final day had us plunging (although there were a couple of steep climbs thrown in for good measure) 53 miles out of the Sierra to the Mediterranean seaside town of Cabo de Gato.
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| Poor Anne - 18% grade! |
We spent the first night in Guadix, where parts of an Indiana Jones movie were filmed. The town is known for its centuries-old underground cave dwellings where troglodytes have lived for generations. The second night was in Abla, a fairly non-descript town. Today we are finally camping again as the temperature out of the mountains is warm and lovely.
There were several delightful events during the ride today. First was the return of the smell of orange blossoms. There were no oranges high in the mountains and we had missed the lovely pervasive scent. About ten miles before we came to the first tree we could smell the blossoms as the scent wafted up from below -- wonderful!! Then, we saw a chain of caterpillars crossing the road -- why?
Finally, we came across a flock of the most amazingly colorful pigeon-like birds. Nearly all were the brightly colored males trying frantically to mate with one or two bland colored females. They would swoop and dive through the sky then land in a tree along the road. We would ride up underneath them and just watch in amazement. A couple of Spaniards were there as well. We naively thought they were bird watchers until finally one of them shimmied up the tree, caught the female, stuffed it in his shirt, and descended. They held the bird on the ground and all the males flew down upon it. The men then scooped up as many males as they could get, tossed them in a cage in the back of their car, told us they were worth muy euros, and drove away. Quite a spectacle.
The downhill ride felt like a well-earned respite from all the climbing. The only drawback was that some of the descents were so steep we had to ride the brakes hard. Once a fully loaded touring bike gets over 30 mph there is almost no stoping it, so it's essential to keep under control. Oh well, no complaints. It seems like we have reached the eastern most point of our revised itinerary. Tomorrow we head west along the Mediterranean for an eventual return to Lisbon.
The views are amazing....but the birds and the caterpillars were my favorites from this post. It seems almost wrong to be watching the birds....however.
ReplyDeleteThe "chain of caterpillars" are processional caterpillars if you see them again keep wel clear - The pine processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae. Sometimes placed in the genus Traumatocampa, it is one of the most destructive species to pines and cedars in Central Asia, North Africa and the countries of southern Europe.[1] The urticating hairs of the caterpillar larvae cause harmful reactions in humans and other mammals. The species is notable for the behaviour of its caterpillars, which overwinter in tent-like nests high in pine trees, and which proceed through the woods in nose-to-tail columns, protected by their severely irritating hairs,[2] as described by the French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre. (Wikipedia). We have a dog with no tongue because of them and the hairs can cause swelling & shock in humans.
ReplyDeletePS Great photos.