Llerena

October 27, 2013

Approaching the Sierra Morena

We gained our hour back this morning, and so it's getting light around 8 again and dark about 7. We need to start doing our best at getting an early start - not the easiest thing when restaurants don't open for dinner until 9!

This morning worked fine though - we were down for breakfast at 7:30, and shortly after went out for a second pass through the town to see things we ran out of time for last night and to see things again in the morning light. We came away very impressed with the city and glad we had included it to our itinerary. The monuments are impressive, but the overall feel really makes it great - it's full of quiet, narrow streets lined with whitewashed houses intermixed with more colorful and finer buildings. Coming back to our room, we encountered another pair of cycle tourists on the plaza, on the prowl for coffee - Germans on a lengthy tour of western Spain, and the first cycle tourists we've seen so far.

The road to Llerena was very pretty and enjoyable with attractive countryside, perfect weather, and quiet roads. Other than to bask in the ambience, there wasn't much to slow us down other than the occasional cattle or sheep drive, castle, or striking setting. We stopped for lunch in Montemolin and enjoyed a delicious cold cut plate of cheese and meats as we sat outside among an enthusiastic lunchtime crowd.

By the second half of the ride the terrain changed noticeably. We are no longer in the plains of Extramadura but are encroaching on the foothills of Sierra Morena, the ridge that separates Extramadura from Andalusia. By days end we are just over 100 miles from Sevilla as the crow flies. The last half of they day presented us with the first climbing worth speaking about since we left Portugal, and carried us over a series of ridges with 2-3 mile climbs and ascents, some having an 8-10% gradient. We have gained quite a bit of net elevation, and at the end of the day are at 2100' - not really in the mountains, but definitely up a bit.

We arrived in Llerena at about 4, with 5 hours and no food on hand to last us until the dinner hour. It's laundry day, so we clean our clothes and then ourselves before going out to take a look. Llerena is another place with significant history and awe inspiring monuments, but it isn't large and it doesn't take us long to wander through the most interesting parts of the town. After that our interest centers on calories - 9 sounds very far off - but unfortunately it is Sunday and everything except a few bars are closed. Rachael hands me a bag of Brazil nuts, the last of our food stash, and heads off to a bar, returning triumphantly with a donut and small sack of potato chips. It's not much, and we head back to the room to conserve calories, when we find an unexpected oasis - a pastry/candy ice cream shop, open! We emerge with ice cream and a great bag of trail mix (an unexpected treat) and go back to the plaza to watch the Mudejar bell tower repeatedly exhale and inhale its flock of pigeons until dusk finally settles them.

Back to the room, work on pictures, wait for dinner.

Elevation log: 3400' today, 31,900' total