Πάνω από τη Rioja, από την Torrecilla στην Almarza, Ημέρα 28

Monday, 14.8.2023, Day 28
Today we completed the 4 weeks, we've been on the road for 4 weeks, covering over 1700 km so far (1400 km on the saddle, almost 350 km by train), and we still have about 800 km to Cadiz.
We started in our mountain village Torrecilla after a double espresso at 8:30 am and initially drove uphill into the mountains via the old, now closed, country road. Because the road was closed, we had it all to ourselves, it was wonderful (take a look at the first few photos). However, it was also very exhausting as it was uphill for over 30 km. In total, we climbed 1200 meters today and it was actually our queen stage. It was our 7th mountain stage, but today was the most challenging, but possibly also the last on the way to the Atlantic. Today, we reached a height of 1710 m with the mountain pass road, and we don't have to go any higher on our entire journey, so from here to the Atlantic, there will be some uphill sections, but mostly downhill.
Speaking of mountain pass roads: we actually thought that we could exit from Rioja at a height of 1450 m through a long tunnel, but then we realized that the tunnel is closed to bicycles. The alternative was a mountain pass road on the left, which had an additional 7 km and 250 meters of elevation, on a serpentine road that we were not prepared for. However (see photos), it was a beautiful, lonely route with wonderful views that we wouldn't want to miss. Exhausted and happy, we arrived at the peak, celebrated ourselves, crossed the border from Rioja to Castile, and then had a rewarding descent of about 15 km to our destination Almarza. Almarza is a beautiful little mountain village with a church that has huge bird nests on the belfry, a bar with tapas and wine, and a very pretty country-style accommodation.