May 5, 2019
Parque Natural de la Sierra de Cazorla
Arroyo Frio to Genave
Despite the next day being a Sunday both supermarkets were open, clearly they are busy during weekends. As for the cycling much different day to yesterdays climbing as road follows rivers for most of the day through Parque Natural de la Sierra de Cazorla. It was a relaxing ride with only small climbs through a much different landscape as there was more a variety of trees today rather than the mono-culture of olive trees as I have found so far in the rest of Spain. Much more shade and felt like I heard more variety of birds today. Traffic was light and I was able to relax while cycling enjoying the views. Went past a few camp grounds, most had caravan and RV but there was also room for tents but all were too early in the day for me to stop at. Other then here haven’t seen many camp grounds and only near Ronda have I seen any other caravan parks so far in Spain.
My first stop was the park interpretation centre which had displays on various animals found and previously found in the area along with plants and other environmental information. I didn’t really have much of a plan for my ride as either I misinterpret information provided or there just was not much information on things to do in the area. Did stop briefly at a small botanical gardens area.
So I rode along until I found a cafe and stopped there because there was a lot of people there so thought it must have been a place of interest. Initially I discovered that the cafe had wifi with a password provided, so spent time checking by emails and contacting people for my further plans having not found wifi options since leaving Jaen other than a quick McDonalds stop. With it also being midday on a Sunday I realised it suit time zones for contacting home as it was 8pm there. So spent some time catching up with parents while charging my iPhone.
After chat finish I saw that a red motorised tourist train had pulled up. Often see them in cities but wasn’t sure why it was here until I looked inside and realised it took people on a tour of a zoo. Since I couldn’t visit on foot, went for a ride. It was okay, conductor spoke only in Spanish but I could sometimes get the drift by his motions. Inside the reserve contained some domesticated deer and goats that were feed to attract them to use. What I enjoyed more was the walking trail at the end which provided views of the man made lake and there was an aviary containing birds I had never seen before, thought I may see wolves as well but they didn’t seem to be there anymore.
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For the rest of afternoon was a relaxing ride with not many cars as the road follows the lake high above providing views, while the larger trees provided some shade. I had assume the river continued further east but instead there is a dam half along the road. After the dam the road is even higher away from lake so here is less scenic views of the lake and with more climbing, therefore less enjoyable. Did consider a track to avoid climbing but it looked rough and maybe I couldn't get through. At one stage there were road works but with a 6km detour decided to go around closed signs and found just a small section of works I got through easily with no one working today.
My plan for the day was to join the rail trail and camp at a former station before riding towards Albacete tomorrow. Found rail trail easy with a good wide surface as you climb through some cuttings, finding Genave station which is abounded with farming equipment stored here and only rail trail infrastructure is some picnic tables but no water.
Today's ride: 81 km (50 miles)
Total: 1,062 km (660 miles)
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