March 28, 2022
Fuensanta
Today's was a ride that when wrong but was really enjoyable despite us having gone "off piste". It was supposed to be an easy day to recover from yesterday's climb. Just thirty eight kilometers, much of it downhill, or so we thought.
It was freezing when we woke up this morning (anything in single figures C is considered polar conditions by folk from where we come from). It might have reached double figures by the time we ventured outside at about ten thirty. The son of the proprietor admitted that life at the top of the pass is pretty cold and is often quite wet. Thankfully the predicted rain didn't materialize but the wind blowing up from the south was icy. In the southern hemisphere we are accustomed to southern winds being cold but here the wind (dust and all) from the Sahara was cold. It goes against all our preconceptions.
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The first three kilometers out of the village were flat and easy but then we were presented with the first of a few climbs for the day. This took us from fields of vegetables to rocky hills with first of all sheep and then olives. And more olives. And even more olives. Occasionally a few almond groves. A descent and through a valley. And then more hills. The easy day we envisaged wasn't eventuating.
But finally we reached the highest point of the day and we started a magnificent descent of almost six hundred meters. So good was the descent that we missed a junction and suddenly found ourselves in the village of Salar, a long way west of where we thought we would be. Salar did provide us with a great roadhouse (diner) where we enjoyed a large and tasty bocadillo with Iberian ham, a bowl of olives and pickles and the chance to accept the fact that we had added more than fifteen kilometers to the day's ride.
Afterwards we had a slog eastwards on the service roads next to the A-92 highway to our destination for the night, the village of Fuensanta. Despite the traffic noise from the A-92 the service roads were great because there was close to zero traffic. The road surface varied between good tar and rough ripio but none of the conditions were intolerable.
Our digs for the night at the Hotel Asador Albenzaire are great value and a good meal and some refreshing drinks had us feeling that today was a good one.
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 141 km (88 miles)
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