{"id":2996,"date":"2020-08-20T05:09:29","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T04:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2996"},"modified":"2020-08-20T05:24:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T04:24:25","slug":"week-32-lunch-in-polop-and-lots-of-cycling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2996","title":{"rendered":"Week 32: lunch in Polop, and lots of cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first week of August was my first week of a 2-week vacation. The situation being what it is, the usual trip abroad was not in the cards, so this was a “staycation” during which I was determined to disconnect from work as much as possible, and to spend quality time on two wheels.<\/p>\n

32_1<\/strong>
\nI start with a couple of images from Busot, a place I visit 3-4 times a week. I like this spot just before entering the village, where the goats often greet me, albeit warily:
\n\"1160341\"<\/p>\n

32_2<\/strong>
\nIn the centre of Busot, there is a micro-market (two or three stalls) every Sunday:
\n\"1160343\"<\/p>\n

32_3<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday afternoon, we went for lunch in a restaurant outside a small village in the mountains, about 50 km from Alicante. There are many good restaurants scattered around the area, often in out-of-the way locations. The place is called Moli de Xirxles, and it is located next to small stream in a nice wooded area. Of course, one eats outside (I have not been inside a restaurant since early March). Given the informal setting, the restaurant feels the need for the “no shirt, no service” type of sign:
\n\"DSF7606\"<\/p>\n

32_4<\/strong>
\nThe setting was informal, but the food was very good, and reasonably priced:
\n\"DSF7600\"<\/p>\n

32_5<\/strong>
\nThe mejillones<\/em> were nice and plump:
\n\"DSF7602\"<\/p>\n

32_6<\/strong>
\nI entertained myself between dishes by observing a cute chubby dog under a neighbouring table. She was looking around in the beginning:
\n\"DSF7596\"<\/p>\n

32_7<\/strong>
\nBut as the meal went on, the doggie got hot and tired:
\n\"DSF7605\"<\/p>\n

32_8<\/strong>
\nOn the way back after lunch, I stopped to photograph the village of Polop from a nice vantage point:
\n\"DSF7610\"<\/p>\n

32_9<\/strong>
\nNote the cemetery on top of the hill, very common in the mountain villages around here:
\n\"DSF7609\"<\/p>\n

32_10<\/strong>
\nOn Monday morning, I was out cycling again, enjoying the first day of my vacation. The clouds over El Campello looked threatening, but in the end they just went away, a not infrequent occurrence here–we get a lot of false alarms like this:
\n\"1160346\"<\/p>\n

32_11<\/strong>
\nSo after my ride, I drove down to the Mercado Central to walk around a bit and enjoy the city. This is the bar on the square behind the market, usually more busy than this:
\n\"DSF7611\"<\/p>\n

32_12<\/strong>
\nRelaxing with a friend:
\n\"DSF7612\"<\/p>\n

32_13<\/strong>
\nI walked around the neighbourhood, looking for signs for my collection. This one is intriguing:
\n\"DSF7614\"<\/p>\n

32_14<\/strong>
\nPirates:
\n\"DSF7615\"<\/p>\n

32_15<\/strong>
\nOn Tuesday morning, I cycled inland towards the mountain called Maigm\u00c3\u00b3, and this time the clouds looked more menacing:
\n\"1160352\"<\/p>\n

32_16<\/strong>
\nAnd this time, the clouds delivered. Fortunately for me, when I took this picture, they had not yet reached the road on which I cycled:
\n\"1160355\"<\/p>\n

32_17<\/strong>
\nI stopped for my usual break at about 26 km, just before a hard long climb after passing through this tunnel under the motorway. But when I saw this, I thought it wiser to turn around. Bad weather in the mountains is not pleasant:
\n\"1160360\"<\/p>\n

32_18<\/strong>
\nThe following day the weather was back to normal. I cycled to Jijona this time, and took a break on the main street. I have seen these two ladies on previous occasions. Much of the social life in these small towns takes place outside:
\n\"1160363\"<\/p>\n

32_19<\/strong>
\nI cycled home via Busot. The 10 km road between Jijona and Busot is one of the nicest stretches on my customary routes. I especially like this particular spot:
\n\"1160368\"<\/p>\n

32_20<\/strong>
\nFinally, on Thursday I did the V\u00c3\u00ada Verde on my mountain bike:
\n\"1160379\"<\/p>\n

32_21<\/strong>
\nThere are several fruit plantations around Agost, or just fruit trees growing along the trail:
\n\"1160376\"<\/p>\n

32_22<\/strong>
\nI don’t even know what these are:
\n\"1160374\"<\/p>\n

32_23<\/strong>
\nOn this melon field, it is harvest time:
\n\"1160381\"<\/p>\n

32_24<\/strong>
\n\"1160380\"<\/p>\n

32_25<\/strong>
\nAfter 9-10 km, the plantations disappear and the trail heads into the mountains:
\n\"1160383\"<\/p>\n

32_26<\/strong>
\nThis is when the ride becomes most enjoyable, with a pretty landscape and many tunnels and bridges:
\n\"1160385\"<\/p>\n

32_27<\/strong>
\nAnd I was certainly not the only cyclist out there:
\n\"1160388\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first week of August was my first week of a 2-week vacation. The situation being what it is, the usual trip abroad was not in the cards, so this was a “staycation” during which I was determined to disconnect from work as much as possible, and to spend quality time on two wheels. 32_1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2755,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2996"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2996"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3001,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2996\/revisions\/3001"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}