Day 1 -Overdone and Underprepared ...

Day 1....
First thing to do today was put my bike together... easy... at least until the back wheel got stuck. After a bit of swearing.. I realised that the brake pads had no space for the disc to go in... it was then I remembered Lewis from AW Cycles showing me brake installation and I realised what was wrong... easy to fix after that...
So bike working well... I sat down to breakfast.
Lack of Spanish a fairly big problem (must learn more) ... I kinda got a breakfast.. at least coffee is easy...
It looked a bit cool.. and I worried that i had packed enough clothes.

I filled my water bottles and water bag... in fact only one bottle with the bag as I wasn't intending to do too much today... just get the lay of the land.
I hadnt managed to do my usual trick of nicking food at breakfast for lunch... all I had was a packet of starburst from the airport... so my first stop was going to be the supermarket.... only I had forgotten that it was sunday ... and there were no 24 hr shops here... and sundays everything was shut!

So I set off anyway...
By now ... it was hot ... not roasting... but warm enough.. 
Monachil basically sits at the foot of the mountains.. so to get into the mountains.. one must inevitably go straight up...

And so the path that I chose did... up and up and up. .. and as I went up... the sun got hotter and hotter. I was following a tarmac road which gave way to a gravel one..
The view also got better quickly and soon I could see for miles. Of interest... a little to my right was what looked like a river gorge.. with spectacular cliffs rising up. The landscape was burnt to a crisp with golden yellow dotted with barely green trees (olive trees maybe)  and as I went up the road became dustier with each pedal stroke kicking dust up from my back wheel.

Eventually.. after much puffing.. panting.. and stopping (to admire the view) I came across the track I had planned to take across the hills. Upwards of course...
This was not smooth gravel and reminded me of The Ridgeway... only dry... ruts in the hard baked earth from tractors... it was a steeper than the Ridgeway and a glance at my altimeter told me I had climbed a way up in the few miles I had done.

I was extremely hot and my water was being drained quickly. I was kicking myself that I hadnt brought the second water bottle... and given how strenuous this riding was... was regretting the lack of food supplies... still ... onwards and upwards.

The next few miles were good gravel roads and with some steep rollers... i.e down a steep incline... followed by up a steep incline....
The sun was beating down and there was almost literally no shade... no escape from the burning ( yes I did put on suncream).

I navigated my way up... and chose a left hand path... as I did so I looked up to this cliff edge... beautifully rocky escarpment high above me. As I did so I saw a couple of cyclist whizz down it...
I made a decision to loop round to that bit later.. and continued on

The good thing about wandering aimlessly on my bike is that I, unlike my usual challenges, have time to stop and take it in. This holiday is not about going far... its about being out in the sunshine and away from people. Literally listening to the birds and insects and enjoying the peace.... so when I found a shady spot... I sat.... headphones off and just listened....
The crickets were chirruping... some winged bug was making a dreadful racket with a hum more reminiscent of a jumbo taking off... the smell of lavender pervaded ... the slight breeze most welcome and the absence of human sounds gratifyingly glorious. In all ... it was perfect. But I cant sit too long and soon the sound of my wheels on the gravel was again audible.

I looped round and hit a dead end... tried another path... to no avail so I turned round and found another path ... this one leading up to the top of the escarpment. It wound round and down and to my surprise..I found a small village nestled there. This meant... a coke... and a much needed refil of my water bag. Unfortunately I had descended which meant another hefty climb but worth it... as I found myself at a forest park. The smell of pine pervaded my senses and hauled my memories back to a year ago... in the middle of Canada... when all I could smell was the pine. Beautiful! I followed the nice gravel path up and around then decided to split off... do a loop of the forest and descend down the escarpment path as I had seen the cyclist do from afar...
This meant a wonderful downhill... on skiddy gravel... which meant that I had to take a bit of care.
Of course... down means that at some point you have to go up... and so when I picked a track ... thats where it went. It would have been more suitable to come down this track and go up on the gravel one... but since when have I ever done anything the easy way. What would have been a perfect downhill mtb track turned into a struggle. Littered with roots and rocks and features that would have made any track builder proud and any mtb er full of delight were difficult to go up and many a time my feet planted on the ground just in time to stop a fall.

By now I was becoming seriously dehydrated
My water intake ... despite the refills was not enough to balance the sweating... and the flies were making the most of the sweat bar once again! Bites were being administered all over and although a few flies paid for it with their lives... most got away scot free.

I guess I was also suffering from lack of sustenance as it was a struggle upwards and by now I was running on empty... so much for an easy first day!

I eventually got to the top... and found a smooth bike path running next to the road... uphill of course... but it was nice not to be bouncing over rocks and roots for a bit.

This led to another gravel path... flattish
.. through the trees and at last some shade!!

Then finally the downhill.
After a day of mostly up... it felt like a much deserved reward. Running down the escarpment... where the rocks jutted out over the valley... the path was loose gravel ... and several times I caught the rear wheel in a skid... avoiding a wipeout by millimeters. Stunning. It was then downhill all the way... past the village and down to the bottom of the valley to connect with the road back to where Im staying.

Up of course... but on good tarmac... so good for legs that had run out of fuel.
Past all the shut shops... and back to the hotel.
Shower then out for dinner... when disaster struck...
My sunglasses broke...
In the still bright sunshine, it meant that the walk into town was uncomfotable... eyes screwed up half shut... like I said ... DISASTER!! and then worse....
Unfortunately... on Sundays... seems like all the restaurants I passed shut at 4pm.
I finally found one that knocked me up a ham and tomato sandwich.. even though the kitchen was shut. I grabbed that and sat in the garden of my hotel.

Bitten and sunburnt... knackered and dehydrated... but ultimately happy because I had been surrounded by nature and alone on my bike... it doesn't get much better than that!!

What will tomorrow bring??