Today we ride from Ronda to Arcos de la Frontera. Weather forecast is 60% probability of rain so we take our rain gear - which is not needed. The ride is great, particularly the first part. We are riding primarily in a forest with a large number of cork trees (right below). There are no cars and the road surface couldn’t be better. The scenery is great. The wind is strong but we’re at least partially protected by the trees. Starting at 2,200 feet we lose 500 feet of elevation and then re-gain it. After our coffee stop (see next paragraph) we continue to climb to 3,600 feet. Then we have a 10 km, 2,000 feet descent.
Above, we approach Grazalema, our coffee destination. The city center, below, is thriving and very picturesque.
We stop at a small bar in El Bosque for lunch. The bar keeper doesn’t speak a word of English but is very gracious and we manage to communicate well enough to get great sandwiches. The last 30 km – we take a short-cut here – are along A-372, once again an extremely smooth road with a wide shoulder. There are two slight up-hills and 3 down-hills. We make good time and arrive shortly after 3:00. It was a good day, not nearly as difficult as projected.
Photos above: Left – church in Grazalema. Right – Apartment in Arcos de la Frontera.
We now have two fairly easy days ride to Tarifa, the southernmost tip of Spain and of continental Europe. And on Saturday, we’ll be back in Dallas.
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