May 24, 2024
Tabernas
There Ain’t No Tavern in Tabernas
Today’s ride is another that’s loomed large in my mind for awhile. We would be riding through the desert of Tabernas and I am anything but a desert girl, so it was a big unknown. What would it be like to spend a whole day riding through a barren desert? Would it be devoid of life and too hot to handle? Actually, no, and I am pleased to say it was quite the experience to feel like nothing more than a small grain of sand in a weathered, ancient land.
But, let’s start with breakfast in Hueneja. We were given homework when we checked in to the Hotel Molino Enmedia. We were to tell them what items we wanted for breakfast. Now, that’s an assignment I can handle. We checked off everything on the list!
David had repaired his shift lever and the flat tire last night and fortunately, the tire held pressure overnight so we were ready to roll at 9:30 am. The temperature in the mornings have been spot on for cycling, with almost no breeze. Later on in the day, the breeze picks up and stays with us, and it is a blessing. I never thought I’d say that about a cross/headwind, but this breeze sends cool air past us all day long. Lucky for us, the ambient temperature is still under 20 degrees, and this breeze feels fabulous.
For the most part, our route today snaked along a secondary road beside the divided highway that runs all the way from Guadix to the Mediterranean Sea. That highway is very nice in itself, but we’re not allowed on it. Fair enough, it wouldn’t be very interesting anyway.
But, wait. There’s always an exception, right? Shortly after leaving Hueneja, we were faced with a choice: a shoddy-looking service road or the freeway. There were two signs regarding bicycles. The first one clearly said No Bicycles. The second one, just a few meters beyond it, we were not sure about. It was a bike symbol with a grey circle around it. The traffic was super light, so we went for it. We sailed along at 40 km/hr or more (hence, no photos) until the first highway exit. We figured we had better not press our luck so we turned off and carried on along the secondary road next to the freeway. This road was the original highway prior to the construction of the divided freeway and every once in a while, it was cut off (literally, cross-cut with a barrier) and we’d be funnelled onto a single-lane roadway until the next section of two-lane highway.
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Something we have noticed here in Spain are the large cuts in the forest, seen as broad bare swaths sweeping up the mountain sides. Having seen these up close, our guess is that they are fire breaks. In fact, we noticed that the ground fuels had been cleared in the pine forests nearby one of the cuts near Granada. We see these everywhere there are large forested areas.
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3 months ago
Wind is big business in this part of Spain. When we asked Mark why we didn’t see the blades turning, even though it was windy, he said they only turn when there is sufficient demand. The energy cannot be stored for future use because battery technology is prohibitively expensive.
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The freeway maintained a smooth, steady grade while our road was more like a bucking bronc. It serpented up and down through the desert landscape next to the freeway and was peppered with deep dips, surfaced in rough concrete to allow water to run off into a culvert from the adjacent hillside. It’s hard to say when there would be sufficient rainfall to cause a rush of water, but there’s nothing of the sort happening in the near or distant future. Riding through these culverts was a bit crazy to say the least. This is when our Bike Fridays shine… they take a pounding and keep on ticking. On one of these rugged descents, David’s front water bottle went flying from its cage and he ran right over it which meant for him, coming to a dead stop at the bottom of the culvert. I lost sight of him until he emerged from the dip and ground his way up the hill.
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As I have mentioned, this is almond country. Here, we came upon an almond roasting facility. There were huge mounds of almonds in the shell drying in the sun.
Nearby the almond facility, we came upon a goat herder and his flock of goats, plus his herding dog.
We had our fair share of descents today but lots of tough hills to get over as well. At one point, our road was sawed in half to accommodate a railroad. They had signed it to say the road was ‘fin’ but when I scouted it out, the road carried on with a similar sign on the other side. That just meant it was time for a heave-ho across the tracks and ditches, and then we carried on.
Meanwhile, the landscape around us felt other-worldly. Rugged dry hills of the Sierra de las Filabres, with scrubby grasses and broom and not much more growing on them, rose up on our left. To the right, across the valley, were the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. This is the Tabernas Desert, the only real inland desert in Europe. The sun shines here for over 3000 hours a year and rain is virtually unheard of. These lands have been used by many a filmmaker to represent the southern deserts of the USA in the famous “spaghetti westerns” of Clint Eastwood and other cowboy heroes. Fun fact: did you know that the spaghetti westerns were so-called because the film director was Italian? True. Sergio Leone started it all with Lawrence of Arabia and since then, countless films have been shot here. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and even Game of Thrones used the Tabernas Desert as a film location.
Here is the video for today, to give a better sense of what it was like.
Our final 12km were uphill to Tabernas on a rather busy highway. Even so, the drivers were cautious, as it’s the law for them to leave a space of 1.5m when passing a bicycle. There are many roadside signs reminding drivers of this.
We were parched and pleased to reach Tabernas. Signs on the way in remind you that you can have some fun while visiting a western movie set where they re-enact the old westerns.
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As I alluded to at the beginning, there are no taverns in Tabernas. To be fair, there are no taverns here, just bars. And they are not very inviting as they are often a place for the old gents to nurse their drinks and watch the world go by. But, it wasn’t always like this because the town’s name is derived from a time in history when there were taverns here, to the relief of the Greek legions stationed here.
In any case, after checking in to the Hostal Al Puente, we headed for the only supermercado that was open to buy some refreshments.
Dinner tonight was an afterthought, at a mere 15 euro for a salad and a pizza, neither of which was worthy of a photo. Tomorrow we get to ride more desert on our way to the blue water and palm trees of the Mediterranean.
Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 583 km (362 miles)
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Heave-ho! Indeed! & Well done 👍. There really should have been some well-deserved beer rewards at the end of the ride, so sad.
3 months ago
3 months ago
I can’t believe the luck you’re having with weather. I think it was a hot when we were there in March. Keep it up!
3 months ago