Day 841
Sleeping in the kitchen
Our stay in Neira turned out to be much longer than anticipated. Tom's fever abated but he was still very unwell. Fortunately, a wonderful pharmacist who spoke fluent English came to our rescue. He coped with my stressed tears and sorted out medication that had Tom feeling almost human by the following day. Finally, we could return to the road.
As usual we could see the towns ahead of us, high in the hills, we just had to descend to the river and back up again. We rode into the mountain-top city of Manizales via the barrio, as it kept us off the dual carriageway though it didn’t keep the hills away. Boy it was steep. As we dug deep a guy on a motorbike stopped in front of Tom and offered us some advice - “Stay on the main road and get out of this area as quick as possible, it’s not a safe neighbourhood.” We did feel a little uncomfortable, there were still a few friendly greetings, but sullen looks were the norm. A police car drove up and down the hill, we hoped he would keep us safe.
We rode straight through Manizales, Tom had done his usual trick of studying the map and found us as safe and flat a route as possible. Take it from me, Komoot’s suggestion of a traffic-packed tunnel up a steep hill was not somewhere we wanted to ride. The cathedral looked stunning but we decided to head on, there were many more hills to ride. We spent the night in a small town called Chinchina, one of Colombia's coffee growing centres. Well, we just loved it. The streets were pretty flat, the tourist information team not only knew of a hotel where we could wheel our bikes straight into our room, but also rang to book us in,and then one of the team took us there on foot, super service. We found fab places to eat, a central square teeming with locals enjoying the warm evening and a local youth orchestra played for our entertainment. We almost stayed a second night it was all so lovely.
But after Tom’s enforced rest we were keen to move on. Our destination, over a few more hills was to a Warmshowers host. The weather turned against us, we had 4 hours of torrential downpour, thunder and lightning all around. As we rode through the city of Pereira the roads became rivers. We were ready for a warm dry bed. However, it wasn’t to be. Despite having a pin on Google maps to our destination we simply couldn’t find it. After descending way past the pin, down a very rough steep hill, we gave up. The rain continued to pour down, there were no hotels for miles around, we would have to wild camp. Just before we re-joined the main road Tom eyed a spot. Basically, just a roof supported by 4 poles, where in the daytime a local lady runs a food stall. The Ritz it wasn’t but we were very happy.
Then this morning, slightly damp, we hit the road early. Being a Sunday, Colombia’s cyclists were out in force. We were treated to breakfast by a couple of riders, the rest just treated us as superstars, well if the glove fits, as they say!
Three big hills today, and now we are in Solento. A town that attracts many tourists who come to explore the stunning countryside and Cocora Palms. So we are getting ready for yet another hill tomorrow, the Alto de la Linea, that is a 12 mile off-road track of almost 5,000 feet climbing at a steady gradient that makes it look like a straight line up in profile. And it is raining. Will this be our toughest climb yet?
