Day 43: Tabernas (Drive/Cycle)

When arrived at my planned destination yesterday, I did not realise that the village of Alcudia de Monteagud is at an elevation of just over one-thousand metres.

However, late yesterday evening I came to realise the consequences of parking at such an elevation when the wind speed decided to behave in a manner contrary to that forecast by numerous (at least three that I know of) weather Apps.

It was very quick to manifest it self ... first there were some minor warning gusts that were shortly followed by some bigger gusts that caused the van to wobble ... then, there was this noise which induced the thought "hurricane"! Clearly it wasn't, but the van moved more violently and I got to worrying about my safety.

I checked the forecasts, and none were warning high winds overnight (Saturday and Sunday but, not tonight!). I therefore assumed it was a wee bit of local weather that would soon pass. But, by 11pm it had not!

So I invoked Plan B, which was to move the van to a second tier of parking that had a building that looked as though it could provide some shelter from the wind. However, on moving to this location it soon became clear that it offered little or no protection.

It was then that I checked my map and discovered that I was much more elevated than I'd thought I possibly could be. I realised that my best option was to get out of the mountains - i.e., reduce elevation and find shelter.

So, shortly before midnight I drove about 18 kilometres, losing about 550 metres of elevation, and parked alongside the wall of Tabernas cemetery (losing both height and finding shelter).

As for today, after last night's excitement, I did not wake until about 9.15am

The weather forecast was not good: predicting strong winds and some rain. I therefore, chose to embark on a short ride that interested me: 1) because it passed through Los Nudes de Sénes! and, 2) I could collect another mountain pass!

No nudes seen, perhaps due to weather conditions!


Meanwhile in Sénes, the statues were dressed!

A black and white photo of a black and white cat:

And finally, the pass:

It turned out to be a great route for a 2 - 2.5 hour ride. However, the early section of the descent from Collado Garcia (elevation 1246) was a bit sketchy due to gusting cross winds and there was a minor sprinkle of rain about 15 kilometres from ride's end. Fortunately it didn't come to much and I hardly got wet and was dry on concluding the ride.

At the end of the ride my Garmin (navigation aid) informed me that: based on recent rides you are now acclimatised to an altitude of 850 metres. How would have thought?

I would definitely recommend this ride, in the direction ridden.

• Distance driven: 18 miles
• Distance cycled: 52 kilometres
• Weather: Overcast, some rain, gusting windy and about 13°C
• Location: Google Maps

Today's route: