A short easy day!
Apart from the look of
outrage on the face of the barmaid when I asked for my ratatouille type
tapa to be heated up a little more, it was a pleasant evening and as
usual, considering the number of cerveza/tapa combinations consumed,
very reasonably priced. The hostal was £22.50 a night for a room
with air-con and included a substantial breakfast buffet.
I partook of the buffet
breakfast with gusto, carbo-loading completed, I consulted my road
map page and spurning the main road, headed south-east towards the
hills. There was a village on the map called Turrillas which looked
ideal for the intended short and easy day.
I could see a small
hamlet high on the hillside ahead and hoped with every fibre of my
body that it wasn't Turrillas. It wasn't, Turrillas was much higher!
Part of the climb to Turrillas:
The final approach to
the village was tackled with burning thighs and rasping lungs, a
fierce warm wind was throwing me off balance until I entered the
deserted narrow streets and popped out into the small plaza where
surprisingly there was a single market stall selling clothing. More
with expected disappointment than hope I continued my fruitless
search for boxer shorts sufficiently voluminous for my ample derriere.
I travelled to Spain with very little clothing and despite extending
my wardrobe at various local markets since have not had much success
procuring underwear which doesn't have a tourniquet effect on my
neither regions.
With sadness, I left
the stall. I topped up my bottles at the fuente and took refuge in
the village bar where there were 2 card schools in progress on the
terrace outside. If my Spanish was better I'd have asked the fat
bloke at the first table where he gets his boxers?
I downed an ice cold
coke and poured the remaining ice into my water bottle. I consulted
the map as it seemed a shame to drop back down to the hostal directly
having expended so much toil to get there. I could head east on a
moutain road to a place called Lucainena de las Torres, I'd visited
this village once before by car so I scoured the map for other
options.
A Mirador (view point) in the village of Turrillas:
To the southwest there
was a Radar station on top of a mountain called Colativi. I didn't
intend to go all the way in the heat of the afternoon but I thought
it would be an interesting ascent and I could turn around at any
point.
Heading to the top of the Alhamilla range:
Looking south from the watershed, the Mediteranian in the distance:
Getting there, but not as close as it looks!
It was good to sit on
the summit of Colativi. It's been a long time since I sat on top of
a mountain and although I'd cycled up rather than walked or climbed,
it felt like a proper mountain. It had a trig point on top, it had
far reaching views and it was blowing a gale. At 1387m, a bit higher
than Ben Nevis, I suppose it is a proper mountain.
The summit:
The view:
The outward route took
2 hours and 45 minutes, the same journey in reverse, 40 minutes
including a 5 minute break to cool down my sizzling wheels.
It was an exhilarating
descent, I'm beginning to enjoy descending albeit at a modest speed.
I've stopped feeling inferior about not going fast downhill and am
now a little more relaxed and in control although always there is the
knowledge that a small mistake can hurt.
Back at the hostal,
again a couple of beers and a short siesta took preference over the
piscina.
Tomorrow I would head
back to La Alfoquia. I could take the main road east to Sorbas and
then head over the lower hills to Lubrin, that would be the sensible
option...............
No comments:
Post a Comment