Paradise - the flat version (Castilla - La Mancha)
In the guide book I was carrying, the region Castilla La Mancha receives less
coverage than a part of the city Granada. For three days I
had been trying to acquire a map of the new territory I was going to enter.
No such luck. Everybody told me I had to go there to get one. The last map
that would have shown Castile La Mancha, was all the way back in the
intellectually curious university quarter of Granada. I have a map of Castilla
La Mancha now, and apparently can use it as proof that I've been there.
With such a lack of information, compared to other parts of Europe, I was
wondering if my style of light bicycle touring was even feasible here. I didn't
carry a tent, and only food for 2 days maximum. I was counting on sleeping
in a bed in a room. Would I find this here ? When I say this now, I feel like a
complete idiot, because I was right in the middle of the best part of the
bikeride. The best touring routes have just the right amount of
infrastructure, not too much, but just enough, just enough to eat and sleep
and bike, with everything you need for your particular style of biking, eating
and sleeping.
The first road in Castile carried the dreaded N prefix. It bypassed the Sierra
Alcaraz and its towns, all the way to the village of Alcaraz. But besides
having the feeling of missing attractions, it was a wonderful, quiet route with
sweeping views. Later that day, I saw picture of the villages in the Sierra
Alcaraz, and if I hadn't spent this many days on dayrides already, this would
have been another one, at least one. Oh well. If it wasn't clear already, the
world is big enough so that you can never see it all.
Surprise, Alcaraz had a tourist bureau. It was hidden away, under a
colonnade in the central square. The plaza with its two unmistakable church
towers could have looked at home in a major city, not a sleepy village with
empty streets at the edge of a wild mesa. Since I made it just before siesta
time, the tourist office was even open. No standing in line here. Whatever
people were on the streets, were here for the mobile merchants who had set
up shop outside of the city walls, overlooking the far plains I had biked in on.
The market vans sold clothes, sewing machines, toys, shoes, most things a
villager could imagine. Instead it also dealt in vegetables, and grilled
chicken, which are more useful items for most bicycle tourers. So let's
celebrate lunch with a grilled chicken and tomatoes, and see what the
tourist department brochures had to say about Castilla La Mancha: "Castilla
La Mancha situated in the heart of Spain, enjoys an amazing variety of
geography ...It's one of the largest and most spectacular territories with a
large surface dedicated to Natural Parks. Here unique ecosystems invite us
to visit surprising corners, kept almost in an untouched state." That sounded
better already. Let's see what it had to say about the town of Alcaraz .itself
As it turns out, this fortified town played a major role in the skirmishes
between the Christians and Muslims in the 13th century. The economic
importance of this fort and later city state of dry plains and mesas did not
match its strategic importance. Paradoxically that's very often the reason
why a town is such an appealing place to visit today. Later the 16th century
was one of artistic progress in Alcaraz. That's where the two unique towers
looking out over the mesa landscape date from. One is hexagonal, the other
pentagonal with a Gothic cresting.There is even a rational explanation why
this bicycling paradise of tiny roads should exist here. ..
http://cyclepass.com/t_03_Spain_France.html
Day 160-164. Alcaraz Pucol, 303 km (7646 km)
Day 160. Alcaraz Albacete, 88 km.
A cold and nice day, I look forward to biking the Via Verde. I have my
breakfast and get going. I struggle a bit to find exactly where the track
starts but once I find it, it looks fantastic.
It seems to be an old rail road track that the clever people have converted
to a walking/biking road. As I will find out during the day it runs through
many tunnels and has a very gentle grade, I guess it was a very old and
tired train that used to run here.
The first tunnel has a sign saying con iluminacion, interesting, I will later
find out that many of the tunnels did not have lights. The lights are very
high tech and are operated by motions sensors so that just the section that
you are in is illuminated.
The first 18 km or so are uphill, once I get to the rest area in Robledo its
mostly downhill to Albacete.
Downhill from here
There are many MTB cyclists out and about on the track, its a very nice day
for biking. There are many tunnels and bridges, some of the longest unlit
tunnels must be about 400-500 meters. Its really cold in the tunnels. I bring
out my speaker and play some music, its really great to be off the road for a
day.
Unfortunately I have a headwind that means that I must pedal the bike
downhill, that sucks a bit. One tunnel is closed so I must take a detour out
on the big road, the tunnel was very short and I could see all the way
through it, no reason why it should be closed.
I meet a Dutch cyclist just as he is coming out of a long tunnel, his front
light has been cracked while flying Ryanair to Girona. He is trying to fix it in
en route. He has a house in Fuengirola so we talk some about the costa. He
is riding from Girona to Fuengirola, he has gone inland over Teurel.
He had some very high passes at 1700 meters. He had brought his tent but
found out that all campings are closed this time of the year so he had
stayed 15 days in hostals and likes. He was going to Alcaraz so I gave him
some tips on hostals.
As I get closer to Albacete there are two more detours on the Via Verde so I
give it up and ride the N-322 almost all the way.
The last 10 km or so were very slow, I biked the outskirts of Albacete and
found the hotel. It was in a shopping area outside Albacete but had
restaurants and supermarkets.
http://tomascarlsson.info/blog/nesw/2014/04/20/day-161-164-alcaraz-
pucol.html
