Segovia, Ávila, Barraco, and Back... Three day weekend on the bike.

It was a thursday night, and the three day weather forecast was calling for a chance of rain Friday, leading into a beautiful weekend.  I decided to chance the weather and set my morning departure time for 8:00am, only to find that I had guessed wrong and woke up to the wonderful sound of rainfall.  Either way I was on my way by 8:15am toward Ávila on N-110.  The rain turned from a consistent downpour to a steady drizzle, which to my luck only drizzled for the majority of my friday ride.  N-110 proved to be quite an enjoyable road to cycle on, the shoulder is adequate for cyclists and the majority of the traffic stays on the Autopista, leaving only the local traffic for me to worry about.  Around 10:00 I stopped in a small pueblo called Villacastin in order to eat some food to replenish my energy for the second leg of the ride.  N-110 provides quite a scenic ride due to the fact that it parallels the mountains for the entirety of the trip.  By noon I was riding into Ávila, legendary for the walls that surround the city.  To my luck I found a fairly inexpensive place to stay for the next two nights before the sky let loose and it started to downpour, for the rest of the day.  A good little 70km ride followed by a good meal and a hot shower.  The next day I would be riding into La Sierra de Gredos, the mountain range found just south of Ávila.

The date is Saturday, November 8th, a perfect day to ride into the mountains, crisp temperatures with hardly a breeze in the air.   I decided to head toward the pueblo, El Barraco, via N-403, apparently Barraco is quite famous due to the fact that two professional cyclist were born here and from what I saw the total population of Barraco cannot be more than 1,000 persons, quite impressive.  The ride there is around 26km, of those 16km are uphill, the last 10km leading into the pueblo are quite steep down the backside of the mountain pass.  The whole time I was riding down the pass I kept in my mind that I would latter have to ride back up what at the moment was so fun to go down.  Once in Barraco I explored a bit, they held their open air market on Saturday, so I was able to attend that, wandering through the narrow streets until I happened upon a small church overlooking a few mountains whose names I do not know.  While looking at the church an old local man approached me, knowing that I was not from around there, do to my appearance, for I was wearing the bib of an Italian cycling team, which I am sure is probably not the best idea.  But this man came up to me, and calmly explained the importance of this church to the pueblo, showing me how they built this church so that at some-point in every day, depending on the season, if a person stands in front of the main door, the sun will come through the bell tower illuminating the path to, well, salvation I suppose.  Then, once finished, the man bid me farewell and wished me safe travels.  I sat and reflected for a bit before getting back on the saddle, looking forward to the uphill battle I had ahead of me.  The 10km climb was not as bad as I had imagined and once at the top I was rewarded with a practically 100% downhill ride back to Ávila.

Sunday rolled around and it was time to head back toward Segovia in order to prepare for my monday classes.  I was on the road by 8:30am or so, but was quite concerned about the heavy fog devouring the road.  No matter how well one is lit up, it is still hard to see in fog that resembles clam chowder.  By 9:30 I had ridden out of the fog and into view of La sierra de Guadarrama, the mountains just outside of Segovia.  The riding from here on out was just incredible, I was able to enjoy on Sunday what had been so miserable that previous Friday in the rain.  The mountains were shinning with the fresh snow that they had received the night before and off in the distance I could see the bell tower of the Cathedral of Segovia, which I believe is the highest bell tower in all of Spain.  I finished the ride back in just 3 hours and 10 minutes or so, and was actually back to my host family before they had even gotten up for the day.  Overall it was a great weekend...

Day one: Segovia to Ávila (70km)

Day two: Ávila to Barraco and back to Ávila (52km)

Day three: Ávila to Segovia (70km)

View heading into El Barraco, 10km downhill and absolutely gorgeous.

The oh so famous wall of Ávila...

This was an interesting/very natural formation for a cross (Barraco)

A sundial atop one of the many towers found in the wall of Ávila.

Deep water soloing on Mallorca

I just recently returned from a ten day climbing excursion to Mallorca.  Mallorca, also spelled Majorca, is a small island off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea known for it's climbing and fabulous terrain for road biking.  I went with no set plan in order to explore the island in its entirety.  

The first location worth noting is Port de Pollenca, a small fishing port which is central to many of the on land craigs.  In Port de Pollenca I rented a bicycle and in either direction from the city, following the coast line, one inevitably happens upon cove after cove with amazing beaches, that if your lucky lack a single person to enjoy them.  On the first day with the bike, I made my way to Coll Baix, a beach that is known for how secluded it is.  It is an hour and a half bike ride to the trail head, and then about a half hour hike down to the beach.  This beach was absolutely breathtaking, and I would recommend it to anyone who visits the northwest of Mallorca.  It is a nudist beach so if you do venture there just keep in mind you will be surrounded by many free spirits.  Just off of Coll Baix was the first cave I found perfect for deep water soloing. There is only one problem with the location, and that is that if anything were to go wrong, the only way out would be by boat or helicopter.  I had a great go on the line I had picked out, and would like to go back with a boat in order to project it.  The route involves about 150' of bouldering in order to gain access to the cave, once in the cave, traverse from left to right and at the right outer edge of the cave start heading up.  The line was beautiful other than a few wet spots here and there.

My next main stay in Mallorca was in Cala D'or, which is located in the southeast quadrant of the island.  The east coast is known for it's deep water soloing, and is home to one of the hardest routes in the world, that being on "es Pontas" a famous rock arch just outside of Cala Santanyi.  I got a chance to do a bit of climbing on the east coast but unfortunately weather blew in, creating wave swells that were far to dangerous to even consider climbing over the sea and risk falling in.  At one of the climbing areas just outside of Cala Santanyi that I went to, in order to see if there was any possibility of getting on some rock, I noticed a difference in sea level of 30 to 40 feet, in only a matter of seconds.  I did get a chance to see "es Pontas" and it truly is an inspiring formation.

The trip overall was a great success, I got to see much of the island as well as spend my days either climbing over the sea or in it.  I now know where to go for specific types of climbing on this island, for the island has a lot to offer as far as climbing goes.  Also I would recommend this island for road bikers, for the island is perfectly set up with hostels set in beautifully placed staging areas around the island to accommodate bikers.

 

Deep water solo just outside of Coll Baix.

(Bueno Majo)

It looks deep enough...

Port de Pollenca at dawn.

Una Actuación

Over the last week I have made friends with a few fellows from Segovia, Chus, and Filjo.  I met Chus while he was slacklining in the court yard just in front of my school, and of course I could not pass up the opportunity to meet someone from Segovia who holds common interests with me.  After a few days Chus invited me to help him run a performance that he and Filjo were putting on.  At the time I had no idea what it involved, but being eager to get involved with the local culture I was all for helping out.  The night before the performance I went with Chus and Filjo so they could show what it was I would be doing, and to my surprise I was to be controlling both the sound and light boards.  I have never used a sound or light board so I had three hours to figure it out,  I think a week would have been more sufficient, but I guess you gotta work with what you got.  By the time the three hours had passed I had a general grasp on what I was to do, then only to have Filjo inform me that the dancer may change all the settings that we had just gone over and completely change everything I had just practiced...

The next day rolled around and I anxiously awaited the time I would meet with Chus and Filjo to head to the Pueblo called Perogordo, where the performance was to be held.  I brought with me three of my friends from school, Chris, Megan, and Kerri, all of whom are very keen on separating themselves from the group of American students and actually getting involved with local Spanish culture.  After taking a few wrong turns on our way to Perogordo, we finally made it around 8pm, and by 10pm we were ready to go with the community pouring into the little performance hall.  The entire Pueblo showed up for the event, with a bustling 250-300 people in attendance.  I had met with the dancer about 1 hour before commencement and had made the proper adjustments to her preferences, but I have to say with so many people there to see the production and my lacking Spanish abilities I was more than a little nervous.

The house lights went out and it was show time, Filjo and Chus provided entertainment in-between dances so that our dancer could change outfits between each song.  The skits they had were hilarious and the magic awed the audience.  The dances were more than amazing, each oriental dance featured a different view or aspect of African culture.  The dancer (whose name in all the excitement I forgot) was born in Cameroon I believe, and was absolutely perfect in her presentation.  There was a total of five dances, the last being a very exotic hand drum piece entitled "Vanaye," finishing with a drastic drop in lighting and a mountainous roar of approval from the crowd.

 After everyone had cleared out we took down all the equipment and all had a drink together in celebration of a successful performance.  I am very happy to have been a part of such a great experience.                                    

 On our way to Perogordo

Chus and Filjo in action

The awe-striking dancer

My station with the Light and Sound Board with Kerri at my side for support

The Final Bow...

My plan for the following year...

Hello to all those who may be reading this,

I have made this site in order to share with others the adventures and curious side notes that may occur in my life this following year.  I am currently in Segovia, Spain where I will be studying for the next three months. Following the three months I have here, well, we'll see what happens but I will for sure be in Angers, France for the spring semester to finish off my first Major, that being French.  After I am done studying I plan to meet a friend of mine somewhere, plans are still yet to be made, and then we will proceed to tour by bicycle for a month somewhere in Europe with the original plan being to tour Spain.  All in all I will be in Europe for a year, two semesters, and lots of adventures, everyday presents new possibilities, all of which making me more intelligible about myself and those whom I find around me.  So I hope you enjoy my stories that I have to share for they may be as surprising to you as they are to me, always awaiting the moment which may change my life forever...