Day 158
Gorge-ous
We had booked two nights in the hostel at Cañamares to dodge the snow, so had a very rare restful day doing absolutely nothing. The forecast snow did not arrive but we were happy to stay put. We were still concerned about the following day’s ride, as we were going to quite a remote area, even higher than we were now. We decided on an 8am start as it was 44 miles and apart from the two day ride out of Granada, the most climbing of the trip. I sent Niall details of our route, and with quite a bit of trepidation, off we went. Within minutes we had stopped, no not snow but stunning views. The route took us through a gorge. We had mile after mile of wonderfully weird cliff formations, death defying walkways perched high above us and waterfalls below us, formed by the Tagus river. Our “let’s get there” decision was forgotten and I stood slack jawed enjoying the views and Tom took photo after photo. We were cycling through the Alto Tajo nature reserve. Famous the world over and our second Games of Thrones film set. Used in Series 6 apparently!
As we passed by a field three small dogs seeing us, gave chase. Tom’s flags clearly fascinated them and they ran after him, tales wagging and barking furiously for a mile or so. We had survived our first dog chase!
The drone came out at our lunch stop in the village of Arbeteta. It is a tiny village of apparently 49 inhabitants and one very well behaved dog who sat keeping us company whilst we ate. Tom was blown away by the castle and church there, filming, away whilst I may have shared my lunch with the dog. Lunch and filming over, our friendly dog disappeared and we continued on our journey.
Our worries about the weather had appeared unfounded. The sky was a deep blue and though cold all that climbing was keeping us warm. I had brought inadequate gloves for the low temperatures though and had decided to wear a pair of bright pink Marigolds on top . The extra layer nearly kept my fingers warm, how Tom coped riding without gloves when he was filming and taking photos, which was most of the time, I just don’t know? The man’s a legend! After lunch we realised that the temperature was dropping and ominous clouds were replacing the blue sky. Fortunately we were nearly at the end of the day’s ride and to keep us warm the last seven or so miles were all uphill. Our bed for the night was in the local pub, not a bad choice if we get snowed in!
