old western playing here

On a dusty road, rising out of alhama de granada, we came upon an abandoned casa, and we shouted into the canyons below hooooolaaaaaa


The sun setting at one of the most beautiful and
magical camping spots we found, in a valley by a small river named Rio Frio.

Goats crossing Rio Frio in the morning.

At the base of the mountains where Rio Frio begins, lies an abandonded village with a few broken down houses and a mill.

Some more goats we met along the way...

We spent a night in an olive grove in the mountains, sleeping under the protective branches of an olive tree.

Sun rising in the olive grove.

At this point in the ride, we felt like we were in an epic film. We bravely rode our donkeys(bikes) into the bright andalucian sun.

Oh those ondulating green hills...

After we left Rio Frio, we had a climb ahead of us! This is at the top of the mountains, before heading down into the beauty of the gorges at El Chorro.

WOW!! El Chorro surprised us with its gorgeous cliffs. We had no idea what we were coming into until we rounded the bend and saw this!

The rocks here are amazing, dizzying in fact. It was as if we stumbled upon the Yosemite of Spain.

Incredible caves awaited us around the next bend.

Monique, of course, climbs them!

In retrospect we should have holed up in a warm cave in the valley of wonders. The wind picked up and the clouds moved in quick as we climbed out of the national park. We thought about camping on the banks of this lake but were detered by the ominous clouds and our lack of whiskey. We needed something to warm our bellies.

AHHHH!! Our first snow of the trip!!! This was on the ride between El Burgo and Ronda, 24 kilometers, the majority of which is straight up until we hit "El Puerto del Viento" (The door of the wind) at 1190 meters. We were actually thankful for the uphill ride in the snow - it kept us warm!

A view near the top...brrrrr!

We were excited to capture the beauty of the snow on our bags. After a few hours of riding in the cold wind, the snow had piled up on our panniers and, by this time, we were in no mood for taking pictures. :)