Thursday, May 25th 2023.
Seville to Utrera, El Coronil, and Morón de la Frontera.
Back in the saddle this morning as of 8:30 am and gliding through the Via Verdes of Seville as parents deliver the little people to school by electric scooter, bicycle, walking and cars. The order of kids being dropped off went exactly like that. Little backpacked people waddling through the streets, sidewalks and trails as we navigated through them like barefooted adults avoiding the Lego bits at the bottom of the staircase.
As we head south past several parks and an enormous sports stadium, the large stately homes soon turn to apartments knitted close together reflecting the distinct characteristics of Seville’s working class people. The large stately residences begins to disappear as we approach the industrial areas of the city.
Our Google map is taking us via the bike route setting on to a predetermined trail that’s predicted to be the most level and “perhaps” straightforward route out of the city. Alas! We arrive at the sewage treatment plant with old bed mattresses, broken porcelain toilets, bags of trash and an abandoned railway line through a dystopian scene of smokestacks and mountains or building materials strewn about by a drunken angry giant arranging the Wednesday recycling.
This is the Seville that makes for a good horror movie plot. However, the sun is shining and it’s +28 out as we avails the shards of glass, puddles of who knows what as we admire flocks of sheep grazing on the far mountain slope wondering how we’re going to get out of this mess without a few flat tires and a case of tetanus from an errant piece of wire finding it’s way around our bike tire.
Upon leaving the wasteland we ended up on a five lane highway clinging to the ditch for the next two KMs until we found a parking lot at a mall to duck into. Having no better option, we went back along side the highway in the ditch for another Km and found a gravel road back downhill and into town through some brambles and ended up in a very nice suburb of Seville. So far we’ve been trying to get out of Seville for three hours and decided it was time to have a morning coffee and snack since it now 11:30.
A few more parks, water features and several well decorated streets, and we were finally heading in the right direction to join on to the Camino trail again.
Fran even found a barber business to buy.
We finally get to the edge of the city and start down the Camino. A couple of Roman bridges later and a castle on the hill and we felt like we were finally heading in the right direction.
Lunch in the sunshine amongst the sunflowers
We quickly do a self check in to our hotel at the corner of the historic district and shuttle our bikes up the stairs and head out to explore the town.
Many of the restaurants throughout Spain close their doors mid day and reopen around 5:00 until we’ll after midnight.
We happen upon the year end school band performance in the town square and stop to hear the goings on. Sound 10:00 pm we find a lovely restaurant and treat ourselves to an order of seafood roasted on sliced baked potatoes and follow it up with an Admiradora con pollo Y queso.
Thoroughly stuffed for the night we head back to our casa knowing we won’t be able to sleep until after midnight since the historic Center will be hopping until at least that time.
That was another big day of biking and we’re continually amazed that Google Maps can take us to a junction of three muddy trails in the middle of some obscure farm field and point out the direction we’re suppose to follow.
By selecting the Via Verde routes and using both the walking and biking routes over the car routes, we’ve spent most of our travels on winding rocky roads, traffic calm roads and the occasional back road with steep uphills through sheep, goat, and cattle farms. Today was a 64 Km day on some pretty rough terrain, and tomorrow will be at least that much again and all uphill, both ways, barefoot, at +28 degrees. My butt hurts!