The fourth day of our Spanish odyssey could reasonably be summed-up as not quite going to plan, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. For a start a late night decision to ride the proposed route in reverse meant that not everyone had the route downloaded on their devices. Thankfully yesterday’s wind had dropped and we enjoyed a brisk pedal out through the camis.
One man and his dog
Of course there was the obligatory small lump en route and added entertainment in the form of a man and his dog driving a flock of sheep down the road causing us to pull in to one side to allow all to pass safely.
Next deviation from plan came when our first choice of cafe stop was closed as the square it sat in was fenced off and closed for renovation. Fortunately, around here seemingly every village has a square with a cafe, so we stopped at the next one and found just enough tables and chairs for us all to sit alongside the local hiking group who had assembled.
Back on the road we soon reached the first real climb of the day. As had become customary Richard stood on the pedals and quickly danced off into the distance. Maddy and I rode together for a while before one of us dropped the other. Clint got out of the saddle and powered his way up, while Graham and Trevor stuck it in the “granny gear” to spin their way up for us all to reconvene at the junction in a village called Fleix.
Or at least that was the intention. In reality I reached the intermediate village of Campell with Richard long out of sight and my Wahoo directing me to turn left off the main climb to take a side road. I followed this turning hoping to find Richard waiting at the next junction only to be disappointed. Thankfully I was at least on a road I’d ridden before so I knew to turn right to ride up to Fleix. Here I spotted Richard just down from the junction stretching his legs and waiting to take photos.
Meanwhile Trevor’s Di2 failed to change up to the big chainring as the road levelled up towards the junction and Graham was clearly having an off-day. Trev was most keen to continue and tackle the upcoming climbs, but now had a bike that might soon become singlespeed while Graham was happy for an easier day, but didn’t know his way back.
Switching bike computers was the easy bit as thankfully they were both using Garmin devices. Adjusting saddle height wasn’t too hard once we’d identified the seatpost clamp was under the top tube and found the right sized Allen Key. Sadly they weren’t using the same pedals and surprisingly none of us had a large enough tool.
The adjacent surgery and a passing local would have been happy to help if they could, but Richard recalled a garage just up the hill. Leaving his phone as collateral he returned with the appropriate Allen key and the day was saved!
Graham and Maddy stayed with us on the descent and the short ride on to Benigembla again for lunch, although understandably Graham was changing gear on Trevor’s bike as little as possible just in case he needed to change later.
Petracos Valley
Suitably refuelled with tostada, Maddy and Graham turned for home, while the remaining four of us set on up the Castells road we’d enjoyed whizzing down two days before. Four became five thanks to the middle-aged man’s bladder as we’d just stopped at the turning into the spectacular Petracos Valley when former Lewes Wanderers Chairman Dom Lowden rolled up behind us. I thus had two wheels to try to follow up onto the plateau and a quartet on the plunge down into Vall D’Ebo.
Dom sure knows his way around as he led us into what looked like somebody’s back door, but which led into the rear courtyard of a cafe I’d been to before. Sadly they were incredibly busy so we mutually agreed to ride on over the Vall D’Ebo climb and into the next town of Sagra for our final caffeine hit.
Vall D’Ebo summit
Much to our dismay none of the three cafes were open at this hour so we bade farewell to Dom and hit the camis again, albeit this time with all the lumps for the day behind us. Not that the fun and games were completely over as, much to everyone’s surprise, we found one of the dips in the otherwise dry camis under water!
Richard had ridden through before we could even ask about alternatives as he, and we, were still keen on that final late stop for refreshments. Not quite the beautiful waterside bars of the opening days, but the beer in the square in Ondara was still cold and satisfying, plus came with some cake to boot!
It wasn’t far back to Denia from here, but what amounted to a rush hour didn’t hasten our return. I thus decided to save myself for the evening’s meal out and the final day of riding rather than join the others at “the bar on the hill” for one more for the road.