October 16, 2018
A wrong turn at Doña Mencía
It wasn’t a wrong turn, really. More an error in judgment. Either way, it stole energy, enjoyment, and time from us. By the end of the day, we were able to chalk it all up as part of the adventure. While in the midst of it, such a zen attitude was not so easy to achieve.
We made the decision to ride to Córdoba today. In our haste, I plotted the route without doing much research. The total amount of climbing was reasonable, and there was a nice net loss of elevation. Yay, gravity! A little red line near the start of the ride worried me a little. “How bad could it be?” I thought. 8, 9 percent? We’ll walk our bikes up it if necessary."
The real problem, and excuse for absolving myself from any blame, is that this all showed on the map as paved road. If that had been the case, I wouldn’t be grousing about it now. The worst parts of it were not only dirt, but rocky and/or muddy. They were also more along the lines of a 15 percent grade. We walked at least half of this 10K stretch of “road.” This wasn’t bike touring. It was infantry training.
There were two saving graces. First, we were very well rested after having been pampered by our hotel experience. Second, when we finally reached civilization at Nueva Carteya, it turned out to be a really pleasant and peaceful little town. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in its charming park, licking our wounds and fretting over how many daylight hours we had to reach our destination campground.
Another thing to worry about: what if we got put on another tortuous stretch like what we had just endured? I double- and triple-checked everything. It looked good, so we pressed forward.
The next waypoint was Espejo, which was another white hill town crowned by a castle. It looked incredible from a distance. I had never heard of it. It must be a hidden gem. Unfortunately, we had neither time nor inclination to explore it today.
We were now on N-432, which doesn’t have huge shoulders, but traffic was light, and as always, respectful. We stopped for coffee and a coke at a Spanish version of a roadhouse, and took one last break in the middle of our last climb to eat the remainder of our bread and fruit.
Once in town, it was the typical song and dance. Do we stay on the street, or move to the sidewalk? Are there bike lanes? If so, how long do they last? All decisions to be made as we monitor traffic signals, cars, pedestrians, other cyclists, and of course, the map.
We got settled into our campsite, had a nice chat with our German neighbors, and decided to make a trip to Aldi to buy more food. I haven’t eaten as much on this trip, which is fine, but it feels a bit odd. Overeating is a vital element of the touring experience. I think we did all right tonight.
Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 886 km (550 miles)
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