Ardales to Ronda

October 14, 2022

Another big climbing day

Both having slept well, we had breakfast in our Ardales apartment followed by a 9 am start. We were biking under clear blue skies, and were happy to be in the shade for the first hour. Like yesterday, the roads were very quiet with almost no traffic through this rural area. We saw quite a few locals out for morning walks along the side of the highway, so I suspect it's always pretty quiet.

Beautiful views, including the first sheep of the trip. All that sheep cheese has to come from somewhere.

We had coffee and then an early lunch in El Burgo. As usual, we shared the outdoor eating space with retired old guys who smoke up a storm. It was great to eat almost all our meals in Spain outdoors, but it'd be even greater if it wasn't also the the smoking zone.

It felt like we were the only people around for miles.

Lunch of revuelto (scrambled eggs) in El Burgo. And olives, of course - green is the preferred colour, it seems.

And where do the olives come from? Right here. Harvest is underway, but these ones are still on the tree.

We had a big uphill starting immediately from El Burgo, into Sierra de las Nieves National Park. In search of shade, we stopped at a nice overlook parking lot with a lookout (mirador) reached after a short walk. We shared this section of highway with lots of touring motorbikes and a few Ferraris too. We were all enjoying the smooth new pavement. We also saw our first bike tourers of the trip - two Spanish guys flying down the hill towards us.. They were heading for Malaga, then will follow Eurovelo (EV) route 8 along the coast before going to Morocco.

Into the not-so-snowy 'park of the snow'.

And over our high point for the trip so far.

From the col of Puerto Viento, it was a super nice 14 km downhill coast to Ronda. For once, it’s not a city entirely on a hill - at least not from the direction we approached.

We have an apartment in a building constructed in the 17th century with a typical courtyard. We needed to call for help to access it, because we were at an apartment with the street address 2B, but there was also a 2B right next door - it also had a lockbox and a booking.com sticker on the door. So the question wasn't '2B or not 2B', it was 'which 2B'? 😊 We have this nice three bedroom place for the next two nights. We're within easy walking distance of the sights and restaurants.

Ronda is definitely a tourist town. The views are stunning, particularly in the area of the puente neuvo, the 'new bridge', so it's easy to see why it's so popular.

Not to be denied our treats, we had delicious ice cream in the afternoon, then a quick look around town and bought some breakfast foods and fruit.

We had dinner at a popular nearby wine bar, enjoying a very tasty local blended white wine, plus jamon Iberico and two tapas - white beans with partridge, and braised artichokes with little chunks of jamon. The restaurant occupied a small building where not an inch goes wasted- we watched a server fetch a new beer keg from its storage place in the bathroom.

Ronda's main shopping street. Home to many ice cream shops.

The 'new' bridge in Ronda, completed in 1793.

Translation of the day: 'pork from the armpit area'.

Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 159 km (99 miles)

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