May 5, 2023. Horcajo de los Montes to Toledo. Distance: 61 miles. Elevation: 4,006 feet

Today’s ride started out with two fairly long steep climbs then leveling off for awhile and then one last epic climb that went on for nearly an hour. So many switchbacks. If you look closely you can see some of them below as well as the valley floor we crossed to get here. You can also see some of the forested lands. Once we got to the peak it was a lovely long, long gradual 30 mile descent into Toledo. Perfect for the tandem as we zipped right along.

We arrived at our hotel La Hacienda del Cardenal mid-afternoon. Here’s a picture of our room

and the view from our shower window.

After a quick shower we ventured off to find a good tapas place. There’s a series of six escalators that take you up up up to the old town area. Here’s a view of part of the city below.

Chris is amazing at finding just the right place down a narrow side street where the locals go. This was a very small place but super friendly. We asked for a tapas recommendation and received something like a pork stew with bread for dipping. I had vino blonco and Chris has gotten into Radlers (lemonade and beer). Very light and refreshing. As I was getting ready to take a picture of the place someone there took my phone and told us to get in the picture and so here we are with the bartender (in black shirt) and the owner (white shirt).

I mentioned before that every evening around 6 or 7 we have Happy Hour and presentation at the hotel. After our tapas find we took the escalator back down to the hotel for our evening group Happy Hour and presentation. Here’s the room where we met this time. To the left of the screen is Roxan the tour organizer with the Bicycle Adventure Club. She lives in Anacortes. To the right of the screen in the blue shirt is Simon the tour leader with Iberocycle Bike Tours. Seated to the left are Barbara and David. They live in San Luis Obispo where we first met them in March while we were “training” for this trip.

After Happy Hour we headed out once again to find a place for a light dinner. Here are a few street scenes.

Here’s the little street where Chris found our dinner spot for tonight.

And here’s the House Salad. It doesn’t look that great but it was an amazing salad with lots of Spanish olive oil and balsamic.

And one last view of the city for today.