Our Olvera Area Activities

The weather here has been very nice. Mostly sunny with scattered clouds and temperatures in the high 20s. The photo below was taken from the stairs to the upper roof patio of our rented house. It is such a lovely place to relax and enjoy the scenery. We often spent time relaxing and reading on the upper patio while listening to Radio Paradise on the Bluetooth speaker.

We are really enjoying our relaxing visit to Olvera. We have developed quite a few friends and acquaintances here over the years 

Last week we hiked up the hill that is visible in the photo above, centre top. There is an extensive trail system on the mountain. Both circular and one way routes.  We hiked up for about 90 minutes and then returned on the same trail. This hill is also well known  for paragliding.

These are two photos taken on the trail. If not for the haze, one could see Olvera in the top photo. The trail was rocky and some sections of loose gravel made is quite slippery, but overall it was a moderate uphill trail with do dangerous exposure.  

I tried to include a video of  a group (flock?) of Griffin Vultures circling over us as we approached the top of the hill.  They looked like they were waiting for us to expire so they could have us for lunch.  For whatever reason my iPad was unable to process the video for display.  

We have been cycling every few days.  This photo was taken a a bridge along the Via Verde de las Sierras. The mountain in the background is called Zaframagón. It is a protected area for the Griffin Vulture colony.  

This route took along CA-9101 though La Muela and Dow to the vía verde at estación Coripe.  Then we followed the via verde back to Olvera. Just over 50k in total. 

One or our favourite destinations is the town of Setenil.  It is located only 16k from Olvera. It is quite scenic and there are some nice cafes there.  

We normally bike into town via this arched tunnel. We can lock our bikes to a lamp post on the sidewalk and the walk down the stairs and lanes to the centre of the village.  This town is quite famous because of it’s cave dwellings. Some of which are inhabited to this day. 

A small cafe spreading out into the narrow street. 

I mentioned in an earlier posting that we had rented a motor scooter for a couple of weeks. We made good use of. It was very enjoyable to ride and quite practical for this environment.  It took a few days to become comfortable with it and appreciate it’s assets.  

We mostly stuck to the secondary paved roads which are only just wide enough for two cars to pass each other. They are winding and hilly and often have blind corners.  They are fun to ride on a moto but one has to make sure that one leaves sufficient space for an approaching vehicle in the curves.  

I took this photo after I returned the scooter. The one on the right of the photo is the one we had.  This motorcycle shop (el Motorista) was huge. It was located in an area populated by several motorcycle dealers, not far from the race track in Jerez, used for MotoGP races.

Occasionally we rode on the main two lane highways.  The speed limit is 90 kph on these roads and the 125cc scooter was not capable of maintaining this speed.  Downhill, yes. Uphill, no.  It was comfortable cruising in the 80 to 85 kph zone.  As long as the road was not too busy I was comfortable with this.

I found the scooter more manoeuvrable at slow speed compared to a regular motorcycle. Partly due to the low centre of gravity and partly due to the lack of a tank between you legs.  Also the lack of a clutch and an auto transmission, similar to a snowmobile, simplifies the slower riding. The lack of a high tank at a higher speed seems to make the scooter feel less directionally secure, compared to a motorcycle where knee pressure helps. However, this scooter felt very stable a higher cruising speeds.  

I was concerned about cornering and lean angle.  It turned out to not be anything to worry about.  The bike handled very well in the corners.

The big asset of the scooter over a motorcycle is the cavernous storage compartment under the seat. About  50 litres of secure storage space.  With a rear top bag  (and the 350cc motor) this scooter would make a great Europe touring machine. 

Urban Building Art is common in Spain.  This is the side of a comercial building in the north part of Ronda.  Ronda is a popular destination town.  It is located about an hour inland from the Mediterranean coast and about  45k south of Olvera.  We went there twice on the scooter to have lunch and to do some shopping. 

This cute little fellow was on our neighbours door yesterday morning.