April 5, 2011

As it turned out, the terrain today was relatively easy compared to yesterday.  The day started with a 5 km climb, followed by a long downhill stretch for about 20 km – it should have been the easiest day yet, but the wind had other ideas.  It came in such strong gusts from one side that it kept blowing us off our bikes, so we had to walk downhill – how frustrating is that?  Fortunately, not for the whole 20 km – the twists and turns in the road meant that we could get back on the bikes for short stretches on the sheltered parts.

The scenery is really dramatic, with deep gorges and rocky outcrops, and one advantage of walking the bikes was that we had time to appreciate it.  I have to say ‘well done’ to the Ayuntamiento de Jaén for providing a cycle route, completely separate from the busy main road, on the approach to Jaén.  It made reaching the city a real pleasure.

I’m quickly discovering that the hard work involved in a trip like this is not just riding the bike; loading and unloading the bike, trying to keep the bags organized, washing the cycling kit, downloading the photos from the camera etc, etc all seem to keep me busy.  Funny thing is that Ken seems to be busy inspecting the inside of his eyelids whilst all of this is going on!