Day 23 – EU – Spain [Zahara de la Sierra to Ronda]

28/12/19

30km

  From Zahara de la Sierra (Spain) to Ronda (Spain)

Europe

A shorter day of running, cutting through the Sierra Nevada of Andalucia …

I had been looking forward to today for many reasons. The main one has to do with reaching Ronda itself. Hemingway has been a favorite writer of mine since my teenage years, and both “The Sun Also Rises” and “The Dangerous Summer” feature characters born and raised in Ronda. There is, in Ronda, a street in his honour: the “Paseo de Ernest Hemingway” which I was quite keen to see for myself.

A few weeks ago, Tom Denniss (who ran around the world in 2012), asked if I would pass by Ronda. He has some keen memories of the place which he visited in 1986, and unfortunately missed the place during his world run. I hope the pictures I post today (here and on the Gallery page) do not disappoint him too much! Ronda is touristy, but it looks quite well preserved, as far as I can see.

Tom has been very generous with me in the years leading to my world run. He has answered every email I sent him, offered his advise, shared precious tips – and I also got to read his book “The World At My Feet” – which I have read…. well, quite a few times if you judge by the picture!

We currently are two keen runners attempting the “World Run”: Dustin Johnson, a 23 years-old American Vet, who is very much a high performer! And myself, certainly not as die-hard as Dustin! Dustin is already in Germany and moving way faster than I am, it is unlikely that we will meet on the road.

If you are interested in following their performances, here are the links:

– Dustin’s World Run: www.facebook.com/groups/414270039361660/

– Tom Denniss’ Blog (featuring his own World Run memories): www.tomsnextstep.com

As for today, it was a short run (30km) with a lot of uphill, and a tedious path up to Ronda itself! I had elected to trust Google Map once again, and ended up on a “Camino”, trail, that was just a pile of loose rocks, and the job was to get BoB up and forward without tipping it or falling off myself! It was a very slow progression, I recorded my slowest kilometer ever at 11:55 minutes and an associated altitude gain of 211m!

Tomorrow’s a long day, as I will be crossing the last of the Sierra Nevada mountains, to finally reach the Eastern coast of Spain, on the Mediterranan side, via San Pedro De Alcantara. It will likely be my longest day too, with close to 50km of running planned.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: