Day 14 – to Poveda de la Sierra

A really good hike in the cool of the morning, and once the cool had warmed I was 1600 metres up, and there was a good breeze.

I put together a mix of routes. Partly I was on the Camino El Cid, for which there is a footpath as well as an on road bike route. El Cid, or Rodrigo Diaz, was a medieval knight, alongside Don Quixote and Don Juan is one of Spain’s most treasured and renowned heroes. During the Reconquista, he fought his way from Burgos to Valencia, which he eventually managed to win back from the Moors.

And partly I was on the Spanish GR10, or the Senderos de la Miel (the route of honey ). I wanted to spend as much time as possible high up, and with the occasional off-path forest traverse, this worked well.

From Chequilla I drove the wonderful sealed road over to Parelejos de la Truchos, and picked up a few supplies at the artesenal store there. Then into the Alto Tajo Natural Park, which features the Tajo river in spectacular steep sided gorges. There’s a 10 mile rough track that I drove, stopping halfway for lunch, and a visit to the Laguna.

In the late afternoon I got to Poveda de la Sierra and found a convenient viewpoint parking just out of the village, looking down to the Tajo river far below. My idea had been to eat at the bar restaurant in the village. I got there about 6.30, and it had just closed after lunch service, reopening for food at 9.30 pm. I’m still getting used to these Spanish eating times.. I settled for a couple of beers, and back to the van for food, and the Vancouver Sevens on TV.