We have several options under consideration this morning for our day ride from Berja, so we discuss them over breakfast with our hostess, a German woman who speaks reasonably fluent English. She discusses pros and cons, and also mentions which way the organized road races tend to go. In the end we opt to go virtually straight north, following the course of the tiny Ujicar River on a road that she said tends to carry a bit less traffic than the others.
She’s right about this. It doesn’t carry a bit less traffic though - it carries virtually ZERO traffic once we get a few miles out of town. And a good thing, because the road is narrow and winding, with one blind curve after another. And one stupefyingly great view after another, that makes you want to veer over to the other side of the road to peer down into the canyon for a better view. It’s a good thing that you can hear what little traffic comes by long before it arrives.
The day is perfect, I’d say. Perfect weather, perfect roads, perfect everything. And perfectly quiet. At one point I stop to look at the Ujicar flowing far below in its deep canyon, the river not much larger than a small stream in this season - and I realize I can clearly hear the rush of its water from several hundred feet above.
Oh, and Rachael saw three more Spanish Ibex when she was off ahead of me - again, the youngster was on the road and the adults were hovering in the wings until they all darted up the cliffs. To have had two sightings here, right on the road, makes me think there must be a sizable population in the region.
So I’m running down my inventory of Wow adjectives. I think this has to be the best region for off-season cycling we’ve ever been to. We asked our hostess about this, and it sounds like it stays ultra-quiet like this through about mid-January before tourists start trickling in again.
Sorry. No video again today. We’ll post a videorama when we come to a spot with more upload oomph.
Setting out from our home in Berja, the highly recommended and bike friendly Hotel Don Miguel Plaza.
Climbing up through the sea of greenhouses that surround Berja we came across this wall. At first I thought it must be from mining activity. From above though we see that it’s another platform that’s being leveled for a new greenhouse.
At the summit of the ridge we have a broad view north to the Alpujarra region, with the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada range far off in the distance.
Dropping toward the level of the Ujicar River. It looks quiet here, but over the next hour we did share the road with a car, a small truck, another bicyclist, and a group of three motorcycles.
Darrical, with its Mudejar Church, has Moorish origins. Most of the small villages in the Alpujarra were originally Moorish, populated by those who refused to convert and fled into the mountains when Granada fell.
Cherin, the turn back point of my ride. Rachael, ahead of me as usual, biked on for another mile and then doubled back to meet me here for lunch. First though, I talked her into biking through the village for a closer look at that church.
Not this way. We tried several of these alleys, with Rachael thanking me the whole way for taking her on this excellent adventure rather than sitting down for lunch somewhere.
Except for Rachael it’s even more special because she saw this Ibex family. I, however, saw a woodpecker and a dozen quail, so I’m not complaining. I’m very happy for her, not at all envious.
