In the mountains north of Sevilla, we cycled the route of a former mine railway. The iron ore won in the open pit at San Nicolás del Puerto was transported from 1895 onwards into the valley and to an already existing railway line. Today it is a cycling route through a very green and beautiful nature reserve.
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| happy to cycle again |
After leaving Itálica, we drove about 80 km north into the Sierra Norte de Sevilla which is covered with oak trees and pastures. Here lives the famous pata negra pig happily munching on the acorns (until it is killed and turned into the famous jamon).
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| oak trees as far as you can see |
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| Pata Negra pig living on vast pastures |
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| remains of the mining period |
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| Casas de los Ingleses |
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| Church for the British mining settlement |
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| Iron ore |
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| oak tree freshly cut |
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| racing down hill with a pinched tire |
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| back at the parking of the Via Verde |
In the afternoon, we drove east to the province of Huelva and to Aracena. The navigation lead us on a minor road of 40 km which was fantastic. We cruised on a narrow and curvy road through the hills of the Sierra Morena. All we saw for 3 hours was rolling hills covered in oak trees and pastures for pigs, goats, sheep or cattle. We passed a dam but no village and the number of cars was close to zero.
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| beautiful dam surrounded by endless hills |
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| crossing the dam with our little camper |
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| Embalse del Pintado on the border to Extremadura |
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| The only wolf we saw in Sierra Morena |
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| Flower of the day |