Ride Spain & Portugal: places we see & people we meet Part 6


Motorbikes – the places we go and the people we meet: Part 6

I really enjoyed my three night stay in Ronda, (see Part 5) and I think it’s a place that I will return to. It really is so well positioned for great motorcycle riding in that part of Andalusia. If I’d get to return I won’t look any further than the Hotel Colon for a place to stay.

It never takes me long to pack up. I have a familiar and practised routine when I arrive at my accommodation. This routine means I’m generally prepared for the following day before I get showered after the days riding. Electrical items are put on charge: phone, camera, bluetooth headset etc. and I clean my helmet visor. Items for the next day: boots, gloves, neck tube, route card/map etc. are prepared and laid out. I travel pretty light and some items of clothing are washed during the trip and some are disposed of.

Even though I’ve been doing this for years there isn’t a single trip where I don’t think I could have carried less, and this trip was no exception.

Friendly farewell

I left Ronda with a warm and friendly farewell from hotel staff and with a definite feeling that I was sure to return.  I had decided to head for the town of Guadix a city located in southern Spain, in the province of Granada. Guadix lay about 140 miles due east of Ronda and is set on a high plain at the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range home to the highest point in Spain. As ever I wasn’t taking the most direct route to my destination.

Not all social media is bad

Whilst there is much about social media that can be mind numbing and attractive for the hard of thinking – not all of it is wasteful.

I joined a social media group on Facebook aimed at bikers who are touring/planning to tour Spain and Portugal and I found it a really helpful and friendly group. One of the posts mentioned a road that I knew I could factor into my ride from Ronda to Guadix.

The road (in the picture on the left) runs from Yunguera to Alozaina and it was easy for me to find after heading out from Ronda in the direction of El Burgo, and yes the road was as good as it looks.

It’s a waste of time

A few hours into the days ride and I more or less decided it was almost a waste of time trying to decide and remember which were the best roads I had been on – it could well have been the first couple of hours of this journey, or was it the day before on the roads near Coin or maybe it would be roads I had yet to find. Any which way the mornings ride was exceptional and I was thoroughly enjoying myself and the weather was good with a temperature high of around 31c

 

Route to Guadix

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Venta del Ray and a pragmatic decision

I aimed for Loja and then the cafe bar at Venta del Ray, a place I had stopped in 2018 (when I was riding my BMW RnineT) and then again last year on the F900. After a lazy and slow refreshment stop I didn’t really get back into a good rhythm on the bike and my concentration wasn’t quite as good as it should have been.  Because of that I made the pragmatic decision to make a more direct route to Guadix and so in turn arrived at my accommodation at around 15:30.

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Another fine old building 

I stayed in Guadix last year, and in fact stayed at the same accommodation – the 17th century Hotel Abentofail

Information from the hotel website states the place is named after the philosopher, doctor, mathematician and Andalusian poet Ibn Tufail who was the author of the world’s first novel.

Because I had decided to spend a couple of days in the town of Ubeda, Guadix made a really convenient waypoint on my route. Its convenience was the primary reason I had decided to make this stop. I had stayed at this place last year and knew it to be decent, with good parking and welcoming reception staff.

It’s an interesting building and the 20 rooms are set around a quite impressive central courtyard and fountain and on each occasion I have been in that courtyard there is gentle and relaxing music being played – it’s a nice environment.

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A wander around Guadix and a shared evening meal … of sorts

In addition to a wander around the area I was in, I headed for the gothic cathedral – Cathedral de la Encarnación which was nearby to my hotel. It’s an impressive building that was completed in the 18th century after being started in the 16th century.

I paid my €6 entry fee and wandered around but was a little disappointed that I had just missed the time to climb the stairs of the bell tower which I’m sure would have provided fine views across the town.

After a beer in the incredibly well preserved and very beautiful town square the Plaza de la Constitucion, I headed for a supermarket bought something to eat and drink and then Pat and I had a virtual dinner together for 50 or so minutes via video link., which made for a nice end to the day.

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Heading for Ubeda

Ubeda was the town I had picked for the next couple of nights and is located in the province of Jaen, Andalusia.

It’s another remarkable place and I was glad I had stayed there for a couple of nights. The place is rammed with churches, mansions, and palaces and has a UNESCO World Heritage designation. I have read that is has the greatest collection of Renaissance architecture in Spain and one of the most important in Europe.

Linking up the roads

It was also a place that allowed me to link up some roads that I wanted to ride, and this included the extraordinary road from Velefique to Bacares.

If your’e a biker or car driver who wants to try an interetsing and extreme road – just check it out in Google maps. You might want to add it to your ‘to do’ list.

I have to be honest as well and say there were a couple of times on that road when my anxiety levels were raised – it was horribly windy and at times the ‘margins’ were tight!

Just another good day

To get to the Velefique/Bacares road I initialy headed towards Almeira before turning tohead north. I took one of the autovistas for about an hour (a sort of motorway/dual carriageway) which I think took me towards a place called Gergal.

Although an autovista, it really wasn’t hard work at all.  It was just a perfectly empty sweeping ribbon of tarmac through some of the most dramatic scenery of the trip so far.

I did make a navigation mistake at one point and ended up in the tiniest of streets in a very small town which provided some challenges when having to make a U turn.

Spagehetti…

My route also took me through the area of the Tabernas Desert where many of the spaghetti westerns were filmed.

The area was used for filming because it was likened to the dry landscapes of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. There was certainly some pretty dry and dramatic scenery as I made my way to Velefique – and check out the ‘rainbow cloud in the picture gallery.

 

Pictures from the ride to Ubeda

Just look at the sky and the cloud formations in some of these pictures, have a look as well for the ‘rainbow cloud’ and that road!

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Ubeda

I arrived in Ubeda around mid-afternoon and checked in at a hotel called the RL Ciudad de Ubeda – what I didn’t know at this point was that the town was heading towards the culmination of its annual summer festival and fair. It certainly went on to provide a different feel and masses of colour that I hadn’t expected. Come back and check Part 7 for plenty of pictures and colour the final night of the festival.

Accommodation in Ubeda Click any image to open a scrollable gallery

Picture gallery Ubeda street scenes Click any image to open a scrollable gallery

Click here to read Part 7 – the penultimate part of this year’s road trip including pictures from the Ubeda festival