Day 58 – to Coripe

The third day of persistent rain today, relentless with its heavy drizzle and warm and humid conditions replace of the windy ones of the last two days. It is also another holiday in Spain, a long weekend due to All Saints’ Day. There’s still quite a few people around, crammed into the cafes and restaurants of Grazalema, or steamed up in their motorhomes. There were two cafes open in the Plaza in the middle of the town, one which ignores the smoking ban, and the other which enforces it – guess which one was full, and which one empty? Masks cast to one side to drag on the cigarettes, whereas in the enforced cafe the staff, twiddling their thumbs for want of someone to serve, did not wear masks.

I left mid-morning and headed to the north of the National Park, to just below the village of Coripe, where there is an old station on one of the most used Via Verde’s in the country, the Via Verde de la Sierra, which runs between Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) and Almargen (Málaga) through the Cádiz mountains. The Via Verde’s are a national network of old railway lines that are now used by cyclists and horse riders, as well as the occasional hiker. This section is a particularly impressive one, with many tunnels and viaducts, including one tunnel of almost a kilometre, and traversing wonderful country. In the rain the few users remaining were packing up their drenched gear to head home. Initially I took an hour long run, to the north east, testing the heel, which seems to continue to improve, but my confidence in putting full weight on it is still lacking. Then the dog and I took the bike in the other direction. I’ve come to grief before in a tunnel, when on Bike Balkans a few years ago, a car came too close and I hit the wall; minimal damage to me, more so to the bike. This time it was the other way round, and of course, no car to blame. There are automatic lights in the kilometre long tunnel, and they went off midway through. In reaching for the headtorch switch I lost control and entered the adverse camber and hit the wall – shoulder and groins came off worse, though I think, hope, only soft tissue injuries. I was able to ride on, though that might not have been the most sensible thing.

Up at Coripe the rain was still hammering down. The village has probably the best, free, area for campervans that I have seen. Each of the twelve sites is on hard-standing, with electric and water, in a quiet and scenic site, just off the road, and a hundred metres or so from the village. I was the only one there, the long weekenders were back home. It’s dark just after 6 now the hour has changed, so it was a quiet night in the van resting the injuries..