July 17, 2011

Another clear blue sky – another battle with heat and mountains. We are skirting around two natural parks today – the Sierra de Castril and the Sierra de Cazorla – both are beautiful areas but we are just running along in the foothills rather than going through the main areas. Still there is always another time to come back. We see our first glimpse of the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada in the distance – we can actually see these same peaks from our house (although they are 130 km away from where we live), so we know we are getting near home now.

The wind becomes a major factor – by mid-morning it is strong, hot and in our faces. It generally builds up during the day in mountainous areas. It saps our strength and we are both pleased and surprised to see a quite a large hotel in a small town after 74 km. It turns out to be very well-appointed, although the people running it seem a bit amateurish. We plan an early start tomorrow again to try to get some kilometres in before the main heat of the day and before the wind becomes too strong.