As I left Seville I had every intention to go up to Cordoba first, to visit the tourist sites there, I had heard of the Cathedral and the roman bridge, but Seville would not let me find a road I could cycle on. This is the way with cycle touring, every time you are in a large city, trying to find a way out!!!!
As I pass the airport at Seville I decide to head across country to see what I can see instead. so its back to the, make a straight line on the map to Ubeda and generally find roads that will take me there. This can sometimes be advantageous in that surprising places and people enter into the trip.
I head for El Viso del Alcor and then Marchena, Puente-Genil and Aquilar de la Frontera.At a camping stop I meet some french people and they invite me to stay with them if I find myself near to their house, I still have the telephone number and address written on my map of Europe.
One evening trying to find somewhere to camp I turn off the "main" road and take the little country roads. Up ahead I see a transmission tower and find a good place to put up the tent hidden from view.
From the vantage point of this hill I could see the lights, and hear the bands of Semana Santa celebrations going on all around me, albeit in the distance, the noise carried a long way.
The transmission tower was in the middle of a huge olive grove, in fact the whole area was one huge olive growing area. I was woken in the morning by the farmer on his tractor passing about 3 ft from the tent. We exchanged "Buenos Dias" and had a chat.
Back on the road, it seemed like I rode through olive groves for a couple of days. and in villages where the presses were the roads were covered in olive skins and oil.
The weather was very hot and in places the irrigation systems were a respite when the spray came over the road and cooled me down.
Through Montilla, Castro Del Rio, up to Bulalance, across to Porcuna down to Jaen. Here there was a massive celebration and the altars being carried, by about 40 men underneath were as big as the ones I had seen in Seville. I had to wait until the marchers had gone through first as the streets would be full of people. In Jaen this was a couple of hours, I just could not get Cat and BOB through.
An altar
The men with towels on their heads are the ones who carry the altar, its so heavy they do it in relays.
When I finally got going and finding my way out it was very late, too dark to find a plce to camp. Iwent into a cafe at a garage to buy some food and drink. While sat outside the owner let me sleep in a corner of the garage, there was toilet and a sink there, very lucky.
My corner at the garage
The good thing here was that I could have a breakfast in the cafe before I set off. Magic.
The road is going up more and more now as I approach Ubeda and the ridge I have been heading for. The views are stunning looking back on the roads I have come over, I can see hundreds of miles of olive groves neatly laid out in lines.
Through Ubeda I am on the ridge , but the views are not the 360 degree panoramas I expected. the Sierra Nevada can be seen to the south. There are over 20 peaks more than 3,000m, which makes it the second highest mountain range in Europe after the Alps. The two highest peaks in the Iberian Peninsula , the Mulhacén at 3,482m, closely followed by the Pico del Veleta, at 3,396m. The peaks of these mountains are covered in snow.
Going through through the village of Torreperogil some kids shout abuse at me, I just keep going ignoring them, when suddenly a stone hits my front wheel, then another just misses my head. As I turn around they a running away, so I just carry on.
At Villacarrillo there is a turning off to the right into a valley so I head that way to see if I can find somewhere to sleep. This turns out to be one of those moments when you are so lucky.
I find myself in the Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas, on a downhill through woodlands and a river with amazing rock formations. There are lots of holiday villas hidden in the trees. and then I see a little dam down below me and a pinic area, so I turn off and go down .
There are wuite a few people enjoying the place, it was very pictureque, the dam had formed a mill pond with perect reflections. I spent ages wating for the kids to stop trowing rocks into the pool to get the "perfect" shot of a tree reflected in the pool, but to no avail, by the time they finished it was too dark.
It was a perfect day, weather wise and after all the tourists had gone I made my meal using the barbque facilities and then decided it was so nice I didn't need to put up my tent.
During the night, of course, it poured down, and I sat under my poncho, unable to sleep due to the noise of thunder and got wet and miserable.
Early,very early, that morning I carried on along the valley past the Embalse del Tranco and found a camp site. The weather had improved and so I thought it would be a good place to get cleaned up and wash my gear.
The sun is shining, good washing machines, and soon all my gear is hung out drying, until it rained, and rained and rained for three days. I was stuck, but at least there were some english tourists to keep me amused.
And a fortified village up on a hill to visit.
Hornos
From the road in the valley from the road leading up
The rain finally stopped and my gear got dry and it's time to move on towards France so next its the Pyrenees.