Granada to Órgiva

November 6, 2022

Over the Puerto del Suspiro del Moro

Another night of people partying outside our building didn’t bother me a bit. And another sunny morning. It was a bit cool when we woke up, but there's still no need for long pants. I finished the last of my Starbucks decaf vías today - honestly, they are no better than Spanish instant coffee packs picked up from our Cordoba hotel. Next trip to Spain, I won't worry about finding decaf coffee.

It was relatively easy leaving Granada on a Sunday morning. We had one quick stop for empanada snacks (for later consumption) and only a minor amount of figuring out where we were supposed to be. We were on a bike lane next to a prison for a short while, but were mostly riding on streets.

We had an easy climb up to our first puerto in a very long while. I'd love to know why yesterday's ride didn’t have a sign when we clearly crested a col. Maybe there are too many cols in the Sierra Nevada for them to count.

Today’s col was the Puerto del Suspiro del Moro - 'the moor’s last sigh', the reported location where Boabdil, the last Nasrid ruler, looked back as he left Granada in 1492, also bound for Orgiva. Unlike our ride today, I’ll bet he didn’t get to Orgiva in one day . Also, he must’ve had better eyesight than us. We can see Granada, but not specifically the Alhambra.

Being Sunday, there were loads of road bikers and mountain bikers out today. Only hard-tailed mountain bikes though - I don't think they're riding singletrack. Everyone was in full matching kit, of course.

Our Komoot route kept detouring us into towns. Since we were going downhill, it wasn’t too annoying, and it was nice to see the town centres. We were paralleling the A-44 highway for a while, and passed under it via a low underpass that we missed the first time we passed it. For once, it was okay that the computer was squawking at us to turn around. And then the bike route took us on bits of the old highway that has now been replaced by an autoroute. In places, we had a perfectly good (but out of service) four lane road to ourselves.

Our route had us use this very short underpass. We'd have missed it if the computer hadn't started beeping at me.

We were on a busier highway than for most of our trip, but there was a good shoulder.

The location of 'the moor's last sigh'. I have never read the Salman Rushdie book with that title. Maybe soon!

These three guys represent so many older men that we've seen in Spain sitting and gabbing, enjoying the day.

Those aren't our bikes leaning against the payphone. Yes, a payphone! There were lots of cyclists taking a break.

Spectacular rock cut. And another great road.

This is the section where we rode on the former highway. You can see where the lane has been truncated. Not suitable for cars, but great for us.

We stopped for coffee at a busy spot, with at least one cycle group enjoying noon time beers before getting back on their bikes.

As usual, we had lots of stops today. We've entered a mountainous area called the Alpujarra, and the roads were busier than we’ve become used to, but the drivers were still very polite. It’s also more windy as we approach the coast - there were lots of windmills on route. The roads were twisty and fun as we approached the pretty town of Lanjaron - stopping to eat our empanadas at an overlook with an old cannon. This area looked like it had some nice hiking. We are in the land of 'Driving Over Lemons', a book described in the 'Calgary to Malaga' entry of this journal.

It's a rugged area, with what looks to be great hiking. Very dry! There was a forest fire near here in September that resulted in some evacuations.

Lucky for us, the windmills weren't seeing much action today.

The town of Lanjaron, hiding on the hillside. I'd have liked to spend more time here.

It was downhill to end the day, but I had messed up entering the hotel’s address - well, actually, Komoot had the location wrong. But I should’ve checked when the end point wasn’t in town. The extra riding cost us a few kilometres and about 30 minutes. We did see the river area of Órgiva and overheard a concert with live pop music by an English band/artist. And we had fun looking at tracks of people who had walked and biked (!) through wet concrete a while ago. I like to think I'd turn around if I accidentally biked into wet concrete.

The hotel Puerta Nazari is a small family run hotel with a restaurant and bar. We had post ride beer and a delicious potato dish (papas campesinas) at the hotel bar and then went back upstairs for showers and a break. We had a late dinner of croquetas and tasty veggie soup, and I had the urge to drink my first glass of red wine this trip. Will I sleep poorly as a result of red wine consumption? TBD...

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 1,089 km (676 miles)

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