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Cycling from Jaén to Porcuna
I had found that I could not cycle south from Jaén because of the mountains.
So I cycled to the far west.
The stay in Jaén had been a bit to long due to the weather.
However a nice day showed up and I left.
I had found the Via Verde de la Subbetica (65 km) on my gps map and that green road
started directly outside town.
Once more there are no campings and almost no hotels in this emptiness.
I then made a reservation on airbnb but that person did not react at all.
I wrote two mails to get any confirmation but the only thing I got was the refund of my money !
To bad since that appartment looked very nice and costed only about € 15 per night.
My plan was to hire it for ie two weeks but that didn't work out.
I once more tried to contact the owner of that appartment but again nothing happened.
She and her appartment were brandnew at airbnb according the text so why all that trouble and then dissapeaer ?
Some days later she was banned from that site.
But I found a hotel at 45kms in Porcuna and my room was confirmed soon.
It ment I could cycle the Via Verde partly and would be on quiet roads afterwards.
It was a beautiful and promising day to cycle !
By cycling to the west I was heading into the direction of Cordoba.
And from there I could continue to Sevilla.
I had this idea already long before I was in Madrid, so maybe, only time and weather would tell ...
I raced downhill out of Jaén and was punished directly outside town.
At this heightprofile only the first part is correct.
For unknow reason the gps file got corrupted, maybe while downloading.
I made 360vms today which is some 200vms more then this profile shows.
So it was for sure not that flat from there on 💦.
I am almost certain I would have to push (and rest, intermittent ...) at the last several kilometers up to Porcuna 💪.
I had some last views at the mountains east of Jaén.
And at the Castillo de Santa Catalina south of Jaén.
Bye bye Jaén, Porcuna here I come !
Via Verdes are always extra save, for instance by having a tunnel when crossing some main road.
However, only Via Verdes do have that.
Via Verdes are also extra save since it is not allowed to shoot bicyclists here 😨.
Which profile is the profile ?
Spain is the land of the absolute monoculture. Olives, more olives and only olives. I really wonder how this landscape looked like 40 years ago ?!
Here you can see what a (every) Via Verde used to be : a railway track that got out of use.
They are always flat and non-curved since trains can't climb hills nor steer.
Passing the bridges is always a nice alternation.
Although this bridge had such a wobly surface that I could not cycle it ...
I had to pass one tunnel but happily it was not that long.
Riding in the dark is really raising your hartbeat since your eyes need time to adjust.
And obstacles don't ...
The by far worst tunnel-traject was on my trip
from San Sebastian to Lekunberri 🖱️
Then I left the Via Verde to head for Porcuna.
A roadkill ...
With such a huge fan farmers blow the chemical stuff on to the olives.
If I notice them I stop if I see the wind is towards me.
The drivers however don't stop.
Maybe in the hospital, in 10 or 20 years ...
Looking back from the entrance of Porcuna.
I drank two cans of lemonade at that petrolstation.
Then I had pushed the bike for several kilometers to get here and was quite tired.
I had not seen that smoke when I was in that area this morning although I cycled close to that town.
Are they burning garbage there ?!
I had a nice room and Porcuna turned out to be a nice little town.
This is the track I cycled today, and it was nice !
In the next blog you can read all about my stay here in Porcuna.