After two days of chilling in Montemolin, I am back on the road. The new wheel is doing fine and munching a few miles. My original plan was to head further to the east and take in Ronda. After looking at hotel availability at an affordable price, I could not make it work. So routing now is south via Seville. I did manage to find a new route so do not need to take the “N” road as that one has become too boring.
There are two things I don’t like on tours. 1. A steep hill right at the beginning before I warm up. 2. A steep hill right at the end of a days riding. Today I was presented with both!
Starting out, weather continues to be amazing. Some great views to take in.
Road surfaces in this part of Spain are really good. Extremadura is really on top of things (even though the Jerte Valley was rough in places. Even here in this spot where it seems that a flooding event has caused significant damage to a bridge. Road surface is good. 
A few more KM up the hill and its “Olive Country” a clear sign of being south and in Andalusia. And here is another aspect of the Andalusian experience…
..across the border this is what roads in Andalusia looks like. This is a very rough patch. The roads are marginally better but will be generally rubbish for the rest of this tour. (one reason why I did not take the N road south to Seville).
The issue with rough roads is punctures, but the added friction also makes the riding more difficult. In the case of the extreme damage, care has to be taken not to go to fast and sick significant damage to the wheels whilst going downhill.
After a day on the road, time to rehydrate. Cruzcampo is great here. But not too keen on the Cruzcampo they have staretd to sell in the UK (for a fortune by the way).