As we are spending November and shall be coming back for February/March in Torrevieja (Costa Blanca), I joined a local Ladies cycling group in Quesada. For that, unfortunately, I had to swap my Dolce Specialised road bike for a hybrid bike. Garry & Lynn who left Scotland seven years ago to set up Cyclogical, the Quesada Bike shop, and who are also dynamic rides organisers in the area, made the swap easy with their range of bikes for hire.
Under cloudy skies as it had rained a lot the day before, a group of eight set off at 11 am. Very soon blue skies and a warm sun appeared and remained with us for the rest of the day. Lynn lead the "LADIES ONLY" Section* at a good steady pace (having left Garry manning the cycle shop) and took us via Benijofar, among the orange groves, the artichokes fields, on traffic-free roads lined at times with palm trees (some looking menacing with their pointed black hoods to protect them from being attacked by a small insect which has decimated many palm trees over the last few years in this part of Spain). We continued through the Hondo, a nature and bird reserve, to get to Santa-Pola for lunch at Lugano Restaurant on the edge of the marina. A very friendly lunch followed where most of us shared pizzas and large bowls of salad, apart from a Norwegian lady with a more adventurous taste bud who partook in an extra large portion of pulpo (which is a Santa-Pola speciality).
Refreshed we set off for our journey back, riding at first in some marshy land (this is when I appreciated the "hybrid" bike which coped rather well - and certainly better than the Dolce would have - in the sand and mud...), then along the salty lakes, behind the scenic Santa-Pola salt mounds. We cycled towards La Marina, then to San Fulgimencio where we stopped for refreshments at the Spanish run "Power Pub". After hosing the muddy bikes down at the local garage, we were back by 5 pm at Quesada, having enjoyed a pleasant, trouble-free and friendly ride, performed in summer clothing on this 12th of November. A 70 km round trip.
* The Men Section had left at 10 am and was destined to perform a much higher mileage. The LADIES ONLY section, today was comprised mostly of British expats apart from two Norwegian Ladies and yours truly.
** Meanwhile Frank is developing his table tennis skills twice a week at a local expats club.
Francoise H.
Photos:
Wayfaring Spanish Style
No comments:
Post a Comment