Cycle hard and earn lunch from a Michelin chef!

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Geo: 36.742, -5.16641

Woke up to a glorious blue sky with little wind. So wrapped up in a number of layers we set off with the first 5 km being a very chilly 6°C. The scenery was really pretty with wildflowers and red poppies covering the hillside. A few consistent and steady climbs took us up towards Sentinel de las Bodegas with views of a couple of pueblo blancos (white villages) in the distance.

At Sentinel my legs were still feeling good so I decided to push on and do additional kms and climbing with a loop around Olvera - and cycle a portion of one of the Vuelta Espagna routes. I had a slight disagreement with my Garmin course so ended up doubling back and cycling a few extra kilometres but eventually got back on track.

After a brief stop in Sentinel we cycled on to Cafe Polear in Acala de Valle for a magnificent tapas lunch. The owner of this wonderful little place used to have a 1 star Michelin restaurant down the coast but he decided that he had enough and opened up this small restaurant which serves amazing food. We were especially honoured as Trek had arranged for him to open especially for us as today, 1st May, is actually a public holiday in Spain.

In the evening we were treated to a very informative walk around Ronda by a local guide Jesús.

Fun Fact 1: The traditional white village of Juzcar, 25km from Ronda was painted completely blue by Sony pictures to promote The Smurfs movie in 2011. It was intended to be a temporary project but with the increase in tourism the villagers voted to keep their pueblo blanco Smurf Blue!

Fun Fact 2: A deep gorge separates the old historic part of Ronda with the new town and they are connected by 3 bridges. The one they call the New Bridge was in fact built in 1789.

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Comments

[Amanda]

Really enjoying reading your blog & the photographs are great. Ride safely.