Day 83: Salobreña (Drive/Cycle/Drive)

Due to high coastal night time temperatures, remaining in Tabernas looked like a good idea. Unfortunately, at about 4am high wind speeds and rain paid a visit and awoke me! Fortunately, it didn't last too long ... and eventually the rain stopped and wind speeds dropped ... and I fell asleep. Not awakening again until about 6.15am when the dog barking dawn chorus kicked off! Again, fortunately, the chorus didn't last too long and, once I'd cancelled my 7am alarm, I returned to the land of nod. So, in summary, I didn't have a good night's sleep. I did wake up and get up at about 7.30am.

Following breakfast and some phaffing time it was time for a 67 mile drive to Albuñol where today's ride started (Elevation: 220). The first climb of 21.5 kilometres began at the start (of the ride!). Eventually arriving at Haza del Lino (Elevation 1280).

On the way I passed by the Pueblo of Sorvilan (Elevation 790 metres)

Pushing on from Haza del Lino, the clouds were darkening and filling up the sky and, the wind speeds were increasing. It did cross my mind to return rather than continue on for another 62 kilometres. However, I'd been looking forward to cycling up the second big climb of the day, which was about 15.5 kilometres in length and passed through Torvizcon (Elevation 630 metres):

Where I had lunch ... :

... and where the second climb really starts with about 10 kilometres to go to the summit (Elevation 1256). Although the average gradient is 5.8% there are plenty of ramps in the range of 12% to 20%. Yes it is quite a tough climb, especially when you already have over 1200 metres of climbing in your legs!

However, the highest point of the day arrived after another, shorter climb that took me to an elevation of 1,358 metres (Collado de Canseco - no sign!). From there it was downhill for 19 kilometres; losing about 1,140 metres of height. On another day it would have been exhilarating, today it was pretty sketchy at times due to the high speed crosswinds, especially when cycling the more exposed sections of road on the A-345. Fortunately, during the whole descent only 1 car overtook me! Indeed, just about all of the route was traffic free except for the 10 kilometres spent on A-348, which only had light traffic.

I would definitely cycle the route again if it was less windy and less cloudy for the final 1/3 of the ride.

Oh, and by the way, I'm knackered!

Obviously, I left Albuñol after the ride and, now reside in Salobreña. However, I arrived only to discover that the place I stayed previously (twice) is no longer available for use by motorhomers! So it goes, I found somewhere else nearby!

• Distance driven: 102 miles
• Distance cycled: 83 kilometres
• Weather, Sun with some cloud in the AM, clouding over mid-afternoon with increasing wind speeds - strong crosswinds on the descent!
• Location: Google Maps

Today's route: