Europe 2019

We were picked up by Neil and Chriss at 9am this morning, and driven out to their place to begin our adventure - they have a little white cottage about 2 kms out of the village of El Gastor, located about 30 kms north-west of Ronda. Neil is a chef who is originally from the UK, and Chriss is a travel agent from NZ. They live for 9 months of the year in NZ, and spend the other 3 months (July to September) in Spain. This is their first season of running this tour, and we were their last group for this year, as they will be heading back to NZ in about 4 weeks via Portugal and Vietnam. They are scouting out opportunities in Southern Portugal to run similar tours for 3 months, as they want to spend 6 months in Europe each year (wouldn’t we all!).

While Neil went to collect the three other people who were also doing the bike ride, Ian and I had a go at mastering the E Bike and, guess what, it is just like riding a bike, but with a magic button that gives you assistance up steep inclines. This was was great, as it turned out there were several inclines that went for quite a way. Overall, we ended up riding about 30 kms.

The rest of our group was an American family who live in Portugal - Eric, his wife Stephanie and son Ryland - it was Stephanie’s birthday, and she had wanted a family trip to Ronda and a unique experience like this one. She also made a deal with her teenage son Ryland that he wouldn’t use his phone except for taking photos! They were a really nice family with a similar sense of humour to us, which was great. Turns out they were staying in the same street as us in Ronda - we were 14 and they were 18 - in fact later that evening we were on our balcony, and could chat to Eric standing on his!

Anyway, back to the day of biking. We left Chriss and Neil’s place, with Chriss leading us on the bikes and Neil following in the van as support crew. We stopped about a kilometre down the hill to check we were all doing ok, and take in the beautiful scenery of the valley and reservoir below. We then had a 2 kilometre ride into El Gastor (elevation 520 metres and population 1,726), a lovely “white village”. This was their local village, and famous for being both the birthplace and the hide-out for the bandit José María “El Tempranillo”. It also had one of the most beautiful narrow steep streets, with beautiful plants all the way up. We walked to the top of the street to get some fabulous views of the village and beyond. Turns out we were the first group to walk to the top, which we all thought was weird, as it wasn’t that hard to walk up and it was worth it for the views. Later on Neil told us that this day had a number of “firsts” for them, including us being their first Aussies.

We left El Gastor, and had another stop on the outskirts of town to get some photos and a delicious snack of watermelon and fig skewers, and water top ups. We then proceeded for about 6 kilometres through beautiful countryside barely seeing a car, although we did pass a number of cyclists (real ones wearing lycra and on road bikes) who gave us the special nod you apparently get as a cyclist. There wasn’t anything too steep to ride up during this leg, and I now had the gears and electric-assist options down pat. We rode through the Olvera area which is famous for producing top notch olives and olive oil, and we saw thousands of olive trees from newly planted ones to big old and gnarled trees that must have been there for a long time.

We stopped in El Jaral, at what I would describe as a Spanish ‘truck and farmer’ stop, for some tapas and wine. Vento Los Villalones is where all the local farmers come to eat, and I can understand why - the food was fabulous. We had a glass of wine served with a plate of tapas which included Gazpacho, skewered prawns, a stuffed mushroom and salad, all of which was delicious. The group got to know each other a bit better during this stop, and there was no shortage of conversation and laughter. Even Ryland seemed to be enjoying himself! The family had been living in Portugal for 4 years and loved it. They are in the Algarve region, which is on the beach in Southern most area of Portugal, and live in a small fishing village - they had to be near the coast. Stephanie has always been near the ocean, and Eric used to be a life saver in LA - a real “Baywatch” lifesaver.

We left El Jaral, and now had a long ride with a big climb at the start, and then the rest mostly down hill. This was the bit I was most nervous about, but with some tips from Neil I was able to make it without having to stop at all. We had a brief stop during this section for a drink and to admire the view, before then making our way to Montecorto, another picturesque white village. We had a steep climb up to the top of the village over cobblestones; the steepness was fine, but the cobblestones made it more of a challenge.

The town has a free water supply that comes up through an artesian basin. There is the sound of running water through the town and it is safe to drink as it gets filtered as it is passes up through the rocks. We took some photos, and then had a steep descent into the centre of town over cobblestones, which is probably the most difficult or scary part of the whole day for me! Some facts about Montecorto:- it is an autonomous community of Andalusia, it separated from Ronda in 2014, has a population of about 600, and has an elevation of 500 metres, . It also has its own flag and coat of arms.

The next section of the ride included some riding on a more major and busy road, and so I decided not to ride this section and to get in the support car with Neil, a wise decision on my part as there was a pretty steep incline just at the end of the ride and it was getting pretty warm. So I think I rode about 27kms of the 30 km ride, which I am very proud of.Læs mere