Another Via Verde, somewhere near Córdoba

After an overnight stop at a site near Córdoba we headed into Andalusia, the province of endless olive groves and towns of white painted houses nestled into the hillsides. The temperature slowly rising as we head further south. Our destination being a camperstop in the town of Cabra and our fourth Via Verde - The Subbetica, the route of the old Olive oil train.

We couldn't believe our luck when we arrived there and found the camperstop was within 100 yards of the trail, there was space for 4 motorhomes but our only neighbours were another English couple - John and Gill who are on the road for a year in their motorhome. We arrived at lunchtime which gave us time to head out for a 26 mile ride heading north on the trail. Within a mile we arrived at a disused railway station now converted to a visitor centre and cafe, but most exciting there was a real live steam locomotive! 

After stopping for photos the trail headed out on a picturesque route along the foot of the mountains across spectacular viaducts, deep cuttings and a our first tunnel ( luckily not too long as we had forgotten to bring our cycle lights! ). 

The route had fabulous views of the olive groves as far as the eye could see, the heavy smell of olives hanging in the air and  at Zuheros, perched high on the mountainside the remains of a Muslim fortress.

 

At our turnaround point at another converted station in the town of Luque we stopped for a cold drink surrounded by noisy Spanish families out for a Sunday afternoon before we headed back to the van for our evening meal

The Camperstop seemed peaceful for the night but this was not to be the case with nearby rubbish bins being emptied at 2am, a jackal making a very weird Ha-ha-ha noise at 3am, a man with a leaf blower and a noisy road sweeper cleaning all around us at 6.30am - it was definitely not a quiet night! Still, that's Spain for you!!! And the overnight parking was free!

The next morning we set off on our bikes along the track this time going south. This time the scenery was different, we passed through more industrial areas and the countryside was a mixture of olive trees and vineyards, the trail was also much quieter for it being a weekday. 

For our picnic lunch we found another converted railway station where we could sit under the shade of the trees to eat our food and relax for a while before plodding back up the slow but steady incline to Cabra and our van. 

We certainly think that this Via Verde is the best one yet with marvellous scenery, but little did we know that our next was even better!!

Our first of many tunnels

Keith fell in love with this beauty!