Spain - Hellin to Granada

Day 12 - Wednesday 8 May, Hellin to Granada

After a noisy night and not much sleep I was pleased to get up and get ready for the ride to Granada. Breakfast was included in the hotel room price, but was a bit meagre by comparison with other places so we suplemented that which was laid on with a few shop-bought goodies. By 9.10am we were ready to set off. Almost as soon as we got out of Hellin the roads started climbing and were soon crossing the Sierra de Alcaraz. The scenery was terrific - so much so that we stopped just to take pictures of the wild flowers off the A322.

Heading towards the Sierra de Alcaraz

Once we got to the Sierra de Alcaraz, the scenary started to get dramatic and the ride up to Elche de la Sierra and subsequent descent got the adrenalin going again particulary where the roads narrowed and the bends tightened. Luckily for us it was cloudy and much cooler as we did this last section with Eddy. By about midday we finished our descent and had reached the T junction with the A322, where Eddy was to turn right to start his journey back towards Bilbao / Santander and Badger and I were to turn left for Granada, however before we parted there was time for a last coffee together and a final photo opportunity in a village somewhere near or at Alcaraz.

Saying Goodbye to Eddy

After coffee it was back on the bikes, time to say "goodbye" to Eddy and off to Granada for Badger and me. We still had a fair way to go and didn't want to arrive at Granada too late so we had to put a bit of a wiggle on. We were basically following the A322 west towards Linares then turning south for Granada just after Ubeda. The day was definitely starting to warm up and we kept up a high speed on some quite challenging roads. We stopped for lunch at about 2.30 in a town called Jodar and managed to order lunch all by ourselves. A local biker who had worked in London got chatting to us and wished us luck as we set off of the final drag to Granada.

A few miles after Jodar we crested the Sierra Magina and got our first glimpse of the still snow-capped Sierra Nevada, in 30 degrees of heat it felt surreal to say the least. I had thought they were clouds upon first view! We naturally stopped to take a few piccies.

The Sierra Nevada in the Distance

We kept up a fast pace on the last 20 or 30 miles of the A road that we were on and watched the Sierra Nevada slowly get bigger. We then had to get onto the motorway for the final blast into Granada. This turned out to be quite an exciting ride - the motorway into Granada goes over some very hilly terrain with very steep ascents and descents and - for a motorway - some pretty tight turns; when combined with a hot but very strong crosswind this kept things interesting shall we say! Badger got off at the first exit for Granada, but the excitement was not over. We had to drop into the city via some quite a major descent. We had a panoramic view of the city and surrounding landscape in front of us, but no time to admire it as we descended hairpin bend after hairpin bend. Just to rub salt into our wounds a local with his girlfriend on the back zoomed past on a scooter making us look awkward and clumsy.

We finally got into what I thought was a suburb, but was actually the centre of the city - Granada is not that big at all - comparable perhaps to Edinburgh in size. Following our experience in Lleida our plan was to head for the station and check out the station hotel. This turned out to be a bad strategy as the station was new, small, architecturely boring and had no hotel. Time for a quick piccie of a frustrated Badger at the station then off in what was by now searing heat to search for a hotel.

A Frustrated Badger as Granada Station

It didn't take long to find a hotel, we found the Hostel Athenas on the main drag in about 20 minutes. The prices were reasonable so we got separate rooms as we were staying 2 nights. Unlike France we found that you can't just leave your bikes anywhere, the hostel had a garage, but instead of stumping up the 13 euros per bike per night, we found moto parking bays 2 streets along and left the bikes there. After a cooling shower and a change of gear we set out for supper. We didn't know beforehand, but the Alhambra is Spain's single largest tourist destination and Granada is a tourist town unlike anything else we had experienced so far in mainland Spain. We were pretty much in the centre of things touristic and it felt a bit like Montmartre - interesting but not real. locals.

We had a drink in a bar in the alley behind the hotel, which was pleasant. Badger did his eccentric Englishman thing, which I was starting to get used to. Basically he goes up to anyone and everyone and starts talking at them in English and whatever he thinks the local language is. Usually this involves snippets of French when in Spain and bits of Spanish when in a French-speaking country. Fortunately he usually manages to charm whoever it is and ends up with new friends for the evening. He always carries maps and a highlighter pen and will discuss his future route and places to see in great detail much the considerable confusion but amusement of the locals. After making friends with the waitress and customers we went off to find supper. We ended up in a square outside the Alhambra, which was tourist central. As I have mentioned before we have yet to get used to the Spanish idea of grazing on Tapas so whilst it was just about the last place I wanted to be they served Pizza so I put up and shut up.

We headed back to the hostel at a fairly reasonable hour - I was knackered. My left arm was still sore and my neck was killing me. I had spoken to reception and they had found a masseur who was coming at 10am the next day to try to sort me out and Badger had to get to his Triumph dealer so off to an early bed.

Day Summary

Day	12
Miles Covered in Day	200 approx.
Miles Covered in Trip	2130 approx.