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Please navigate by clicking on an Andalucian Black Pig above! |
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TUESDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 2008 The pictures are displayed as thumbnails on this website. Please click on a picture to see a full screen image. Then use your browser 'BACK' button to return to this page. |
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'Today we enjoyed a cycle ride of about 12 miles (20 km) mainly over dirt tracks through the Sierra de Aracena starting at Hinojales. That may sound like an easy ride but there were no flat stretches! The hills - both up and down - were steep and daunting! |
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We stopped at Canaveral de Leon on the way to collect our bikes to enjoy a municipal swimming pool. Grant's face says it all! It was cold! |
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After checking the bikes and getting the essential safety briefing - we were off! |
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Catherine's wobbly back wheel caused an initial delay but we were soon underway - not realising what lay ahead. |
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A quick refuelling break and it was off again. |
Catherine's wobbly back wheel had caused her to drop behind so we waited for a sighting of her. |
Yes! She made it! |
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Lunch break was in a picnic area with a pond nearby - which Craig tried to persuade us to swim in - but only later telling us that it was the home of water snakes! |
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The rest of the ride was tough - and I mean REALLY TOUGH! According my GPS recorder we reached a highest point at 2293 ft (688m) and a lowest at 1479 ft (444m) but there were lots of ups and downs in between those extremes! The above three pictures tell it all. However, worse was to come when we found that the fabled 'Bar Boomerang' in the village was closed! |
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| Craig explains that there is an option from Cortelazor to take the support vehicle back to Castano del Robledo but we decide to press on with the bikes despite our exhaustion. Craig said that it was unknown for everyone in a team to opt to cycle press on from this point - but maybe he was just hoping that flattery would be the spur to get us home. Click here to see a space image of the area we cycled. The terrain is clearly mountainous! | ||
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What we didn't realise was that the most exhausting and precarious tracks were still ahead! Walking with the bikes was the only safe option. We were driven on by the mirage of a huge pitcher of beer hovering in a ghostly manner - always close but always out of reach. |
Geoff and Sandy's other websites can be accessed by clicking on www.geoffkirby.co.uk
