Day 2 - A Day of Two Halves

Now my title of today's blog is in no way a subtle link to my book (on Amazon) or the documentary (Available from  https://vimeo.com/ondemand/145353)
but it was a weird day ... starting one way and ending up so different  as sometimes happens.

I had looked at a map of the area to find a good place to ride and remembered the gorge I had seen the day before. A trail ran right alongside the river and led in the direction of it. So after a breakfast of toast, ham and cheese ... I set off on my bike.
It was already scorching hot at around 10am and the path provided some much needed shade.

The path was narrow with very steep ups and down and as I progressed along became more and more tricky to negotiate with a bike. Roots... overhanging trees... fallen trees... rock steps... just steps...
You name it... this path had it!  In fact it was totally unsuitable for a bike. Several times I had to catch myself before I fell in.

I resorted to pushing. In fact at a lot of points I was carrying my bike. It was a good workout but not the one I had envisaged.

In itself the path was an interesting one... full of twists and turns and there was the constant babble of the rushing river as a constant. Also as a constant were the hoardes of flies which took delight in my sweat stained legs.. biting whenever I came to a standstill. It was also incredibly humid... like being in the Amazon jungle andthere was no escape from that.

I realised that this path was a bit ridiculous to be taking a bike on and when I came to the hydroelectric station ... there was an opportunity to escape the river path... so I turned onto the intersecting gravel path and wound my way upwards (of course) until I found myself on the uphill of the day before.... long ... steep uphill.

The sun was burning mercilessly down and despite having taken 3 bottles of water I was almost halfway through my supplies. Sense kicked in (and the uphill) and i made a decision to freewheel back to my hotel... fill up water supplies... and then what??
The heat was getting to me a bit. (I later checked the weather for the day and accucheck weather kindly informed me that it had been 38°C today with a Real Feel of 40°C.)

So I made my way back and took it easy for a bit... stopped in a cafe for a coke... read a bit of a book... whilst the sun ticked past the high point of the day.

But sitting around doing nothing isn't me .....


Part 2...

After a bit of a sun break... I re-packed water bottles and headed back to the river path... only this time without the bike. The path had intrigued me and I wanted to find out what was beyond.  In no time at all I was at the point where I had stopped before. Turns out this path was much easier without carrying a bike!!

There were lots of steps to climb beyond that and it reminded me of Switzerland as the path wound up and down beside the river.  Then I came across my first suspension bridge of the day... fortunately short... it made the one on the Europaweg seem solid! With old planks of wood fraying at the edges and gaps between them... it swayed as I tentatively went across.  It was the first of many to cross... each one requiring a slight steeling of nerves. Most of them looked like they had been there for ages tho!

At some point I met a german family who were visiting from Granada for the day. They asked me if it was a round trip walk or if out and back was best... given that there was absolutely no planning involved in my day... I consulted the oracle (maps.me) and tried to help. I continued upwards ... more steps... more bridges.... including a nice long one up to the top of the waterfall and the entrance to the gorge.

The rock walls rose up with a narrow  path to one side... by narrow I mean narrow. In places the rock walls jutted out do that you grasped onto the walls and lent out whilst shuffling sideways. In other places crawling was necessary.  I stopped to watch two men climbing up the rock face with ropes... fixing in as they went... impressive!!

The family I met earlier caught up with me and together we edged along the gorge... then stopped and chatted for a bit. They had half decided to turn round but as I went on... I found a cave with the path running through to the other side... I turned round and beckoned for them to come and have a look.  We walked through the tunnel and got to a bit where the path seemed to run out.  Climbing round... the path did continue... and I left my companions to make their way back via the river. I wanted to see what was beyond!

I was rewarded in spades. The path opened out from the gorge into a bowl surrounded by peaks. Here the sun beat down furiously onto the dry and dusty path... and as I looked up I could see many different trails to take. I decided to climb up and take a circular route back ... I was confident that I would find a trail on the other side of the river that would return me to my starting point.

There was fortunately a little bit of a breeze as I climbed up the slippery dusty path... I did have a thought that the bike would be good here... but dismissed it as soon as visions of me sliding off the edge of the mountain came in mind.
It reminded me of Arizona or New Mexico... partly because of the heat... partly because of the rock formations... but I was grinning from ear to ear as I bounded along the high trail. The view was spectacular... given the incredibly clear skies... I could see for miles in any direction.

I knew where I was aiming for and it seemed that all paths eventually led back to Monachil.. whichever one I took. The sun was still beating down and once again supplies were running low. God knows how much water I have drunk over the course of the last 2 days but I still feel permanently dehydrated. Reluctantly I stopped just path wandering and aimed for the river once again... basically straight down. The very loose gravel made this more of a slide than a controlled descent but somehow I stayed upright and un-scraped by the descent.

I crossed the river again (another rickety bridge) and was almost jogging back (for fun) when I saw just ahead the family I had been speaking to earlier. I caught them up and we proceeded to natter all the way back. Fortunately their English was better than my German !!

We hit Monachil at a time when most of the shops and cafes had shut for the remainder of the afternoon but found 1 still open so grabbed a much needed cold drink and ice lolly. Bliss!!

This afternoon's walk had killed an awful lot of calories but once again nothing seemed to be open on Mondays...
Luckily I had some provisions left over so all was ok. That and because of the heat I didnt really feel hungry anyway.

An evening chill out was on the cards... so between a bit of Amazon Prime and planning for the next day  the time flew by....

Today was a lesson in... plan A didn't work... lets try Plan B and the results were a far greater adventure in the making!

Roll on tomorrow