Day 9 — Friday 6 May 2011
Fuente Obejuna – Belalcazar
| Actual Route Details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Riding Distance | 33.51 ml | 53.93 km |
| Uphill Distance | 6.85 ml | 11.03 km |
| Downhill Distance | 17.29 ml | 27.83 km |
| Max Altitude | 2055 ft | 626 m |
| Altitude Gain | 574 ft | 175 m |
| Altitude Loss | 797 ft | 243 m |
| Alternative Route Details | |
|---|---|
| Riding Distance | 42.51 ml |
| Uphill Distance | 17.30 ml |
| Downhill Distance | 20.81 ml |
| Max Altitude | 1964 ft |
| Altitude Gain | 2047 ft |
| Altitude Loss | 2441 ft |
Looking back on the route for this day I really ought to have stuck to my original plan to ride through La Granjuela and Valsequillo, as the gradient is no steeper and the road not bad, despite only having a “road unsurfaced” tag from Michelin. On Google Earth the road is clearly surfaced and with a white line down each edge. If I had taken the original route I may well have carried onto Cabeza del Buey, who knows? Ce’st la vie!
I took the road to Penarroya, flat and picturesque and then turned left and pulled steeply out of the valley towards Hinojosa where eventually I had lunch. At times I was bowling along in top gear at about 30 Km per hour with a view of the road stretching out ahead for kilometre after kilometre, a refreshing change from getting off and pushing. I arrived too early, so sat in the restaurant and had a coffee until they started serving.
Then I rode on to Belalcazar. There was a view of the castle as I rode up to the edge of the town, but in the end I never went to see it. Maybe I will on another occasion. There was a sign for a hostal and I found it quite easily but the door was shut with a phone number in the window. I rattled the door just to make sure and someone came and let me in. They no longer operated the restaurant but did wedding dinners instead and were preparing for one the following day, Saturday. The proprietor introduced me to his son who spoke English and is learning Romanian, I think because maybe there are a lot of Romanian foreign workers in the area, but that is a guess.
