Day 2: Seville to Carmona

Seville to Carmona 52kms

The bike rental guy was coming at 9am to walk us to the bikes. Ray had to have a huge breakfast in anticipation of expending heaps of energy on the road. I was worried he couldn't eat the eggs, cheese, ham, muesli, fruit, two croissants and a pastry quickly enough, but we did manage to be on time. 

Seville has many bike paths, fortunately, as we seemed to ride on all of them to get out of the city. But it was all downhill from there, and I don't mean physically. We had to ride on the road, joining the hundreds of trucks and cars on potholed roads with no verge. Luckily Spanish drivers are very considerate of cyclists, otherwise we would be dead. 

We stopped in Brenes just because of the name and it was about half way. Because of a miscommunication (what? Us?) we didn't have a sandwich, but a chocolate pastry instead. After Ray devoured most of it, we decided to lunch at Cardmona. 

The road was much better for the rest of the trip - less traffic and a better surface, until we reached the outskirts of the old city, where it was very Paris-Rubaix, with steep narrow cobbled streets. I now understand why it's called Carmoaner - there is not one car without scratches.

We made it to the very top of the old town, where our spectacular apartment awaited in a 14th century Arab fortress. From our room we look out onto the surrounding plains in the distance and the 30m pool, just one hundred steps below. I was all for a swim after our hot climb, but Ray was ready for lunch. So after a quick shower, we walked down the hill through the narrow streets to a bar. As it was now 4pm lunch was over, but the young barman took pity on us and made us some. Well fed and hot again, (the hottest part of the day is between 4 and 6pm) I decided that a swim could not be avoided. 

It was nowhere near as cold as Sardinia, and Ray only took about two minutes to get in. Surprisingly, no-one was in, or anywhere near the pool. I enjoyed doing a few laps, and then retiring to the side of the pool, where jets of water offered a great back massage.

A couple of Germans came down to the pool. After I told them how warm it was, they went off to get their togs. On return, they asked if it was ok to get in the water, as they were told by staff that the pool wouldn't open until the first of May. Oops!

We are really enjoying these luxury hotels. Must go off in search of dinner, the road will be much longer tomorrow and any excuse for food.

Pics

Lots of fields with what looks like wheat

A lot of oranges grown in Andalucia. In fact in Sevilla there are shops that sell nothing other than trinkets related to oranges.

We encountered some grand haciendas along the way, although, just like Italy, there was a fair share of the run down variety.

You can rely on Brenda to photogragh wild flowers. Here is a typical selection

Approaching Carmona. It doesn't seem so steep from this angle.

It was a WOW moment. We are staying there? 2 or 3 stars above our usual digs.

That is where we are headed tomorrow. Somewhere off in the distance on that road. Apparently around 76klms off into the distance.

Some silly old bastard keeps following us around.

Our room before all the contents from our suitcases and panniers were spread across the room.

This picture was taken from our room of the pool which we broke into to. When I say "broke into", Brenda was more  or less given the ok to have a swim. However, when we arrived on the scene ready for a dip, all the gates were locked. It was then that I noticed that the bolt on one of the gates only engaged the bolt keeper by a few millimetres. The post that held the keeper was not all that sturdy, so it was just a matter of moving the post slightly (the posts were relatively small 50 x 50 mm timber), and we were in. The pool seemed fine and we had a nice swim. Later I assisted two others to enter the pool area. The next morning we had to make a quick exit from the hotel just in case police were there to arrest us.

One of the main squares of Cordoba. The name escapes me, but it had a strong muslim/moorish influence in the architecture.

Everywhere you look, there is a church or tower or other ancient building

More of the Moorish influence.

Church of Santa Maria

Cobbled streets. Those stones are raised quite a bit above the surface of the grouting to make them extremly hard to cycle across. (For John) In cycle races, commentators go on about them because they are extremely hard to cycle on making them very selective in terms of what happens in the race.. These ones are particularly hard as they are smooth and very slippery.

The courtyard at Paradores De Carmona. Moorish.

Ride Notes

• This map is one provided by the tour company Senderos Y Peublos. We followed it 100%
• It was an interesting day riding, starting with the extensive bike network of Sevilla, moving onto the the cramped and crappy roads just outside of Sevilla.
• After Brennes, the road was a lot quieter and there was a 0.5 metre verge we could ride on, right up until we got to Carmona.
• In Carmona, throw all that out the window, as it is narrow cobbled streets and every cyclist for themselves.
• On the plus side, most motorists are very accomodating, so generally, you don't feel in too much danger. In Australia, you probably wouldn't survive