Day 57: El Palmer (Cycle)

Given the success of the previous off-road excursion I thought I'd try another.

Today's off-road section was less than 16 kilometres in length and, as before, was mostly uphill. Wheh I encountered the track I was somewhat concerned by the steepness of the gradient and the roughness of the surface. Fortunately, the gradients reduced to mostly five or six percent after the first 600 metres or so. Phew! The surface was typically rougher than than the other day. However, although I was the only person that seemed to be riding a gravel bike (with 35mm slick road tyres), it was all doable with out any hicker-bike action. However, the going was slow. I think my average speed of climbing was roughly 9 kph! But I quite enjoyed being off-road with no traffic, in the hills, in peace and quiet.

Furthermore, this off-road road appeared to by very popular with many a folk missing El Domingo (Sunday) church in order to partake in some mountain biking, hiking or running!

Here's a couple of photos taken on the way up to the summit, looking towards Almeria and the route I'd taken.

As I approached the end of the climb I accidentally took a wrong turn, which took me to this location (Elevation 760 metres):

Which turned out to be much more of a viewpoint than at the "official" climb end, here (Elevation 792 metres):

Warning, the early part of the descent, although on road, has a lot of loose gravel. It is a good five or six kilometres before you encounter better road surfaces.

My van here!

A fisher man, nearby my van, here:

Not yet sure what I'm doing tomorrow ... time to come up with a plan, me thinks!

• Distance driven: 0 miles
• Distance cycled: 57 kilometres
• Weather: Sunny, about 22°C on the climb, light winds.

Today's route: