Biking to Benamagoza

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When we arrived in Spain we were all abit under the weather, just a case of stopping so it all catches up on us, consequently John even sat in the sun doing not a lot for the odd hour...however putting the bikes back together kept him entertainned for a wee while. The only 'damage' from the flight was Anne's front forks seemed a bit out of alignment, but a bit of gental weight seemed to 'bend' them back...This all could have been because I put the bike rack int the bike bag with Annes bike...

The family eventually came out with the obvious comment that I had been trying to ignore, Cutar is on the top of a hill and the whole area seems to be.....hilly.....very hilly....ooops

The obvious or best solution seemed to be that we all bike down the hills and I cycle back up to get the car and rescue the troops. This plan was first tried on a jaunt to the next small town Benemagoza, it really was so hilly that I double checked and adjusted everybodies brakes before we set off, and poor Ronan eventually started complaining of sore hands from holding the brakes on so tightly, just about all the time. But with a few ground rules of Ronan staying behind me (the thought of him speeding off and getting out of control and then plummetting off the road down incredibly steep hillsides didn't bare thinking about....) we managed to get to Benemagoza in one peice. Benemgoza is a typical andalucian small town, not quite like Cutar, or El Borge which have classic higgley piggly building and tiny cobbled or concreted narrow streets, but being built in the valley rather than on the hill, seemed slightly more spread out..and full of British ex-pats...! They certainly weren't as evident as in a small town Anne and I were in years ago above Malaga where all the notices and adverts were in English, but there was just a subtle realisation that everybody in the queue at the supermacardo spoke English and most of the couple and groups in the cafe bars seemed to be english and definately living there. Anne and I spent quite a few glasses of wine in the evening discussing the raison d' atre of it all , but whilst it was'nt in your face, and there were still loads of Spanish folk and it was still a very spanish small town, we seemed to gravitate and prefer the villages up the hill where English wasn't heard.

We found the play park to keep Ronan amused and anne sat in the sun while I cycled back upthe hill to get the car. It was a good work out but still feeling under the weather a little it seemed to require a lot of effort, but I did realise that actually the hills wern't that bad, with loads and loads and loads of bends , whilst they were constant, they weren't really that steep. Ronan counted 87 bends between Cutar and Benemagoza..!

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Photos

Road sign
Says it all really - the hills weren't so bad....

Grafitti at El Borge
How the locals deal with English ex-pats......