February 20, 2023

Day 54: Alhama de Murcia (Cycle/Drive)

The recent great cycling continued today with an ascent of Collado Bermejo. My Garmin indicated that the climb's length was 21 kilometres, with an ascent of about 1400m. However, there was some down as well as up in that there 21 kilometres! Unfortunately the final kilometre could not be ridden because that would have meant cycling into a Spanish Military Zone, which I wasn't going to attempt!

Eventually, I'd arrive up there!:

Accordingly, my maximum elevation reached by bike on this Spanish adventure so far is now approximately 1560m, rather than the 1583m it could have been!

The view from the top:

Next time I think I'll approach the climb from the opposite direction, as my impression is that the descent will be better. Here's a look at said future descent (i.e., today's climb) - this photo was taken from approximately half way up! Just after I took the first photo showing the rest of the climb:

  • Distance driven: 2 miles
  • Distance cycled: 61 km
  • Weather: Overcast in the morning, less cloudy with some sunshine in the afternoon 13°C when I set off at 10am, rising to about 18°C mid afternoon.
  • Location: Google Maps

Today's Route (actually I did the reverse route) - The route shown is the "normal" way to go!