Friday, May 26th 2023.
Móron de la Frontera to Olvera, to Setenil de las Bodegas.
We set out early again after stopping in a cafe to have a morning coffee. It’s 9:00 am and the morning rush hour traffic (15 minutes of rush) is now over. After another 15 minutes of navigating to our first road off towards Setenil de las Bodegas we enjoy our fist downhill for 2 Km knowing full well that this will be a day of massive uphills and at least +28 degrees and perhaps some wild winding road up some rough trail, through a rock pasture, stream crossing, and yet another mountain to push the bikes up. We weren’t wrong in our prediction and we decided to set Google Maps to follow the walking route more than the biking route and it certainly did take us on the most direct route, straight up the mountains and backroads.
The road less travelled to the right for our first downhill coast of the day.
This was the early morning smiley part of the day with cool weather and new legs. At about the 16 Km mark of several down hill coasts followed by several KMs of uphill pushing, we came across a valley trail shooting off through what looked like a private farm. We didn’t have a data of Google Map so up the mountain we went just to confirm we were about to commit to the garden path route. We confirmed and then back down we went and committed to the rest of the journey.
The road just kept getting higher and higher and we did a lot of pushing today.
Far in the distance we could see the town of Olvera. We’ve learned not to be too excited about being on top of a rural road (rough washed out farm road) and seeing your destination in the distance because 100% of the time you have to approach it by pushing your bike up a massive mountain when you’re completely exhausted and out of water rations.
A few wildflowers later and a brief lunch stop under a shady tree, we gained a few more kilometres and we believe that we’re past all of the washouts and white knuckling downhills that Fran chose to walk rather than shake her teeth loose.
Lunch al La Pannier
Lots of rugged road behind us and nothing but downhill from here “said no one ever”.
We finally reach the end of the gravel and come to a fork in the road. The right side is more gravel, and the Goog says go left on the nice concrete road that seemly leads into town only 5 Km away. We glide effortlessly down the extremely steep hill with the brakes maxed out until we hit a level spot to take a picture of the past half K we just descended. There’s a few overly large cactus to look at and also our destination of Olvera looming in the not too far distance.
I hop back on my bike and then BLAM!!! The chain breaks again! I wasn’t even putting the coals to it or shifting gears.
At this point we’re on a nice downhill road that’s paved so what could the problem be?!?! We can see Olvera from here so we’re practically home free.
I push my bike for another half K and then start gliding down the mountain flat out boogie to see how far I can get and soon realized that the reason the road is paved is so it doesn’t wash away because it’s so steep. Fun fun fun when you’re cooking in the sun.
After a 2 Km downhill run at Mach bike speed, we walked another Km along the level part of the gravel road only to meet the most extreme paved road we’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. It was so steep that when I stopped to take a break and put my front brake on, the bike would start to slide down the hill. This went on for a half KM until we finally came upon a Camino with a water fountain, restaurant and BEER! Plus the added bonus of a bike shop right next door that may be able to fix the chain.
This doesn’t look like much of a drop off over the right side of this road, but believe me it is!
We’re finally on level ground and only 2 Km from Olvera. We stop for a well deserved beer ( or more 🍻) and sandwich and the lady running the restaurant was kind enough to call the bike mechanic next door to come and help us out. He shows up a half hour later but tells us he’s not allowed to work on any bike that doesn’t belong to his bosses rental fleet.
He called the motorcycle/bicycle repair shop in Olvera another 2 Km up the mountain and they’re closed for another hour so we force ourselves to have another emergency beer to put a band-aide on the chain wound.
Weaving and wobbling through the town of Olvera nearing 4:00 pm in the hot sun after pushing our bikes up 3 KMs of the steepest mountains yet, we arrive at the motorcycle shop and waited for them to open.
A few minutes later, the chain is fixed by a mechanical magician and we’re on our way towards Setenil de Las Bodegas.
First we pass through a beautiful Puebla Blanco called Torre Alhaquime just on the outskirts of Olvera and then enjoyed a magnificent descent on one of the most scenic and winding roads yet. This made the all day uphill battle worth it.
Eons of sheep and goats have walked the strip slopes carving deep paths into the landscape.
As we approach Setenil de las Bodegas, the rock formations begin to change dramatically. The water erosion has created large gouges throughout the canyons large enough to live in, and we begin to understand why Troglodytes would have happily inhabited these cliffs as formidable dwellings in warring times.
Yet another uphill push to our destination. The choice at the fork in the road is either up on the right, or down on the left. I vote for the downhill road.
We finally arrive in Setinel de las Bodegas after nearly 60 KMs of the roughest washed out road, puddles of water, a broken bike chain again, huge mountain grinds pushing the bikes up in hot weather and a lot of uphill pushing on the highways.
The stats on Fran’s exercise app speaks for itself. 227 flights of stairs and and 18 1/2 KMs of pushing a bike uphill. No wonder we’re feeling a little exhausted tonight.
