Sorry, JR.

Querido Juan Ramón:

Sorry, babe. After all the e-mails, phone calls and everything, it just didn't work out in the end.

We left Osuna shortly after nine and rode south towards El Saucejo, like I was saying I wanted to do back in 2004. The weather mostly behaved itself - there was wind and sporadic showers, but it wasn't anything scary - until we got to El Saucejo. Just before we descended into town the wind picked up (now I see why you've got that new wind farm just outside of the Barrancos Blancos mountain pass) and once we got through town, on the way towards Pruna, all hell broke loose.

Not only did the wind blow so hard out of the west that we couldn't get much velocity up (and this on a descent with a 6% grade), the storm that nearly knocked your electricity out came over that mountain pass in a black cloud that managed to devour the entire sierra. We had no choice but to turn tail and head back to the motorcycle rally at El Saucejo. I'll say this much - you have some awfully friendly and generous motorcyclists in your neck of the woods. Not only did they let us hang out in the beer tent while the storm blew through, they insisted on feeding us until we were about to burst, kept the Pepsi and beer coming, and were some of the sweetest people I've ever met.

So we finally got out of the beer tent at 3PM and headed over Terril. Walked over it, really. The wind picked up, the storms blew in, and it was just so much easier to push off the bike.

By the time I called you from the Ratones Coloraos bar in Pruna, we really didn't know what to do. If you'd been able to tell me that the Vía Verde de la Sierra was totally clean and passable - and I know from past experience that, 90% of the time, it probably is - we would have been there in no time. But I could tell from your voice that you were getting as clobbered as we were, that you'd probably had a number of cancellations too, and that you weren't in a position to guarantee safe passage to anybody.

I regret not being able to see you. I enjoy hanging out with you, listening to you talk about the area and hearing the passion in your voice when you talk about the beauty of the region. So I hope that I can make it up to you by publicizing the Estación de Coripe B&B and recommending it to everyone as a great place to stay and find out anything they want to know about the Sierras de Grazalema and Alcorconales. I hope that people take the time to discover the Estación, and get a chance to have one of the friendliest cups of coffee in Seville province.

http://www.estaciondecoripe.com

All the best,

P