Unfinished Business With a Via Verde – Olvera

Zagan the motorhome is feeling spoiled. He is in the Zona Azul (the blue zone) section of the motorhome parking here by the via verde (he green way) in Olvera – it’s the expensive bit (N36.94151, W5.25096). We’ve splashed out €10 on him, which gives him access to all the services, including electricity, we can get our table and chairs out, and we have our own key to the chain that marks this area off from the Zona Roja (the red zone), where it’s €5 to park and empty your black water.

Back in Antequera we got out the map and looked at a few places to break up the trip to the Atlantic Coast side of Spain – don’t get me wrong, it’s not a massive trek, but we like to keep our drives to an hour or two a day. When Jay suggested Olvera because it has a via Verde next to it, I knew it was time to settle an old score from last year.

On Andalucia Day (28 February) last year we were parked up next to another via verde in Dona Mencia also in Andalusia. A via verde is an old train line that has been turned into a cycling, running & hiking path – we also visited one in France last year, but it was the one in Spain that bit me. I was training for the Boston (UK) Half Marathon and as the via verde’s are pretty flat and car free I figured it would be a great place to do a training half marathon. Regular readers of this blog will know things did not go to plan and I fell over after 7 kilometres and did a bit of damage to my knee, resulting in a few trips to the medical centre. This meant that we cut our trip short and I didn’t get to run in Boston.

Arriving in Olvera we were greeted by the imposing sight of a castle on a rock and a church dominating the town skyline. We then had to double-check satnav was right as her route had us plunging down a very steep hill. The via verde runs from the bottom of this very steep hill, so if you want to visit just the town, you’d be better off parking up there – otherwise it’s a bit of a hike back up (you can just make out the castle and church in the photo of the aire above).

Once we had sussed out the red and blue zone system at the aire, we opted for the premium parking as we knew we’d be ‘off grid’ for the next few days, and would need empty and full tanks when we left here. As soon as we were plugged in to the electric, the running gear was on and we were off. Clouds were gathering, cooling it down nicely for a run – it was now to time finish the half marathon that I started last year.

Jay set off first as we run at very different speeds, so it’s best not to run together. With him going first, we knew we’d meet up somewhere on the route. Being an old train line there are several tunnels to negotiate, the longer ones were lit – dimly, so Jay wore a head torch and I had a small hand-held one so I could be seen.

The via verde starts at Olvera following the route of a trainline that used to go to Jerez. After a while I thought I was Super Woman, as I was flying along almost getting a new 10k personal best time, then I remembered, the route went slowly down hill – so from the turnaround point it would be up hill all the way back.

Just after 10k, I spotted Jay coming towards me. He had done 7.5 miles (he does miles, I do kilometres!) and was on his way back up to Zagan. We stopped and chatted for a short while under several circling Griffin Vultures – that largest colony in Spain is a little further along the route. Then it was time to turn around and head back.

I won’t lie to you, I didn’t like the second half one bit, the fact that it started to rain didn’t help. My head kept telling me to stop, ‘oooh look at that view, stop and take a photo’, ‘there’s a road crossing ahead better stop and walk it’ etc. I tried my best to ignore it, but it was hard. The Zermatt half marathon I did last year was entirely up hill and I didn’t enjoy that, even surrounded by loads of people encouraging me. So being on my own with just my head to fight against made this tough – in future I think I’ll stick to flat or downhill only runs! But I am pleased to say, not only did I manage to run a half marathon in a via verde without falling over – I was also only five minutes off my half marathon personal best. I bet you can guess how happy I am.

In the evening, on tired legs, we set off for a walk up to the town. We passed a couple of old ladies slogging up the hill too and when I made a huffing noise, they laughed ‘here everything is uphill’. The sun was setting as we reached the balcony in front of the church, overlooking the town, lighting up the castle and terracotta roofs below us. This town really is in a stunning place – as long as you don’t mind walking up hills a lot.

The town was alive with people shopping and kids playing. From a window above the main road we could hear guitar music, looking up we could see ladies with shawls held in their hands above their heads, turning slowing, faces etched with concentration. A flamenco dance class was taking place.

Finally we reached the bottom of the town and were about to start our descent down the steep hill back to our parking when I spotted a cake shop. On its awning was written ‘Tortas Del Lunes‘. The comments on the motorhome parking said we shouldn’t leave Olvera without trying this traditional cake. Stepping inside the place was full of yummy looking cakes and goodies. I asked at the counter which were the Tortas del Lunes and was pointed to a shelf where wrapped in cellophane were a couple of somewhat disappointing looking cakes. Hoping their looks would be deceiving we bought one and made it as far as the bench across the road before ripping into it (running makes me hungry). Sadly it was just another slightly spiced sponge cake – we really should learn. All the ‘traditional’ ‘must try’ cakes are the same, it seems. Back in Zagan we smeared it with raspberry jam and squooshy cream from a can, which improved it enough for it to be considered desert.

We were both tired and were fast asleep by 10.30pm, so when a group of ‘neds’ visited the parking area at midnight, they woke us from a deep sleep. They didn’t hang around long, and were gone by the time I had got to the curtains to see what was going on. The Spanish registered van parked in the red zone had its lights on and left shortly after. I snuggled back down in bed, thankful that we paid the extra euros for the blue parking, pretty sure the chain across the entrance to the parking kept them away from us.

This morning the sun was back out and the sky blue, so I took the opportunity to grab a few more photos of the area.

Ju x