Today has been a simply wonderful day - one of my best ever but before I get to it, here's a pic from last night in a nice bar - a pub really, in Arroyo del Frío. That is not a cardboard cutout, it's a real fire and I was as close as I could get to it without singeing my eyebrows. Yesterday's pictures from North Cape looked warmer than I felt.
This morning when I opened the curtains I was greeted not by solid grey cloud but a blue sky with fluffy bits of cloud adding interest here and there. Yesterdays bikers had promised a change in the weather and they were spot onAt around 08:15 I tried to check out but the only person around was a night porter who hadn't the means to prepare my bill. I was encouraged to have a cup of coffee by a cleaning lady who appeared - I knew breakfast was only served from 09:00 so I thought it kind of her to take pity on me while I waited for the bill to appear. This took longer than I had wished for, but the night porter did his level best to make up for it. After phoning someone who would take action to prepare the bill he bustled around and made me a great breakfast which made me much happier. Then he presented me with the bill which had been prepared and was about half what I expected - with no charges for breakfast either. I asked him if he was sure this was correct as I would have hated for him to get into trouble for undercharging me. "No", he assured me, that was correct. When I cam to pay the bill, my card was declared invalid - uh oh. I paid in cash and asked if there was a machine where I could try the card. I was directed to one in the main street and off I went in some trepidation but no problem, the card worked to withdraw cash.
As I was mounting my bike again, an old land rover minus exhaust drew up in a cloud of smoke and a horrendous racket. It was the night porter who said, "I thought I might catch you here, you left your rucksack at the hotel" (my Camelbak in fact), "shall I bring it to you?" I thanked him profusely and told him that I was quite happy to return to the hotel to pick it up which I did.
I left the hotel feeling much happier about my stay thanks to those folk and wondering if I would have taken the same trouble for a passing stranger.
Next came olives - I have seen my hundred millionth olive tree today for sure. There must be about a thousand trees per capita for the population of Spain. They covered the hills, the valleys and the plains I crossed today. It seemed as though the Natural Park had been an island in a sea of olive trees. There were though, mountains and hills that provided my kind of road though and I enjoyed a great day's riding. The weather was perfect with blue sky, sun and temperatures between 18 and 27 degrees. Even my helmet cam seems to be working again.
I had vague thoughts of where I might stay for the night and at around 13:00 ended up in Priego de Cordoba which was suitable jumping off point for any of my possible choices. I was very close to the home town of one of my Spanish friends, Mercedes, whom I knew not to be there as she is working elsewhere but I texted her to say I was going to have a look at her town, which I did and it was a lovely small town, very well kept, looking much smarter than many of the smaller places I have passed to date. A little further down the road on my way to another collection of "Michelin green roads" I stopped for a cold drink at a restaurant and when I checked my phone, there were messages from Mercedes telling me that I would be welcome for lunch at her husband Antonio's parent's house (10 miles back up the road) and various suggestions of places to visit in the area. It seemed churlish to refuse such a kind invitation so I took myself off to make acquaintance with Mercedes' in-laws.
I was received like the Prodigal Son - with overwhelming friendliness and kindness. They fed me so much, I felt in danger of bursting. We chatted about the state of the world, the relative merits of the local olives, places to see and what the younger generation were up to. I felt extremely honoured and tremendously fortunate to have come to know such lovely people. Thank you Joaquin y Carmen, Mercedes y Antonio!
Today will stay in my memory for a long time.
Here are a few clips from today. I sent it to Youtube rather than Vimeo in the mistaken belief it would upload faster from Final Cut. It didn't.. and the quality was degraded. Still, it gives you a bit of an idea of some of the roads I travelled today. Proper video editing will have wait until I return home as my MacBook Air struggles to run Final Cut Pro.
Sounds like a wonderful day where you met some wonderful people. The video only makes me wish I was there too. Still, at least we have Picos to look forward to. Your exhaust sounds very loud in the video. I take it that's just the recording or have you done something to it?
ReplyDelete