Day 57: Tabernas (Drive/Cycle/Drive)

A most enjoyable day on the bike; all brought about by good attitude, fine weather and a great route.

I found today's route, "Valley of the Blocks", on the Interweb. It is only 32 miles long but, does have some climbing to overcome. So my thinking was to take it easy, relax, and enjoy the scenery, which I most definitely did. I was fortunate that the route is both enjoyable to ride and has lots of interesting things to see along the way. I highly recommend it; today, I would give it 10/10.

The two main climbs were reasonably long, but with steady gradients, typically 5% to 8%. Along the way I was surprised to see so many almond trees in blossom across the mountain sides.

Before I reached the "Valley of Blocks", roughly 18 miles into the ride, I'd only been passed by two cars and a small van.

I was then passed by a dumper truck, shortly after I'd passed by this mountain from which the blocks were being harvested!:

And that was it for vehicular action for the day! 32 miles, 4 vehicles; very quiet roads I'd suggest! Roads that were mostly very well surfaced, which is obviously good when descending.

The big climb of the day was to Puerto de La Virgen at 1070m: 11 kilometres in length, with approximately 800m of ascent (according to Garmin - which I think is a lie! Although there are some descents on the way up (especially a fairly long one near the top), there certainly isn't about 300 metres of descent - according to openstreet map the elevation difference between summit and bottom is about 470 metres!).

I now reside in Tabernas tonight. Apparently, many a western movie has been made here and in the neighbouring Tabernas desert. Some "Game of Thones" shenanigans occurred here too. Not that it means anything to me!

I've had a great day and, whilst out riding was well aware of how very lucky I am to have this opportunity to be doing what I'm doing! Happy days.

• Distance driven: 46 miles
• Distance cycled: 55 km
• Weather: Excellent.
• Location: Google Maps

Today's Route (There is limited parking at the start: Indeed if it wasn't for the thought that I'd be more likely to find a bar showing football tonight in Tabernas, I'd have stayed the night there. Next time! (BTW: There wasn't a bar showing the football!))