RTG Carrera Iberia The Daily Dispatch - all days - Flipbook - Page 10
Day 4: Cuenca - Ubeda 11 October 2019
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
The lunch Time Control in Los Olivos was a fine one where
we sat down to a simple but delicious selection of grilled
lamb, pork and local sausage with wholesome bread and a
tomato salad. Between mouthfuls Andrew Laing and Paul
Hartfield commented that they were both delighted with the
route so far and the quality of the road surface.
After lunch then it was reassuring to see that praise such
as this wasn’t misplaced. The route to the second Regularity
at Las Sierras was stunning as we crossed over the 1300m
Puerto las Crucetas where the road was lined with green and
yellow poplar trees all the way to the border with Andalucia.
The Regularity itself though was a stunner. It suddenly
“all got a bit Monte Carlo” (albeit without the snow) as the
increasingly narrow and twisty road shot upwards and, the
little red Saab of Roland Singer and Bernhard Ziegler took us
all back to the halcyon days of Erik Carlsson.
Dry stone walls, jagged cliffs and vertiginous drops kept
the drivers focused, whilst the navigators sat with eyes glued
to the schedule.
The end of this section marked the end of the day’s
competition but the run into the night halt in Ubeda was
anything but dull. This is truly a stunning landscape and the
hilltop town of Segura de la Sierra was picture postcard perfect
and with some sensibly relaxed timing there was ample time
to make there most of the many photo opportunities.
There were some tired crews this evening but, most
importantly, they were all happy crews and after a refreshing
drink or two they sat down to yet another excellent dinner
and, after the fashion of Don Quixote himself, reimagined
and retold the day that they’d just had.
Sholto Gilbertson and Caspar Killick, 1964 Jaguar E-Type
Jeremy and Jenny Clayton, 1966 Ford Mustang
Graham and Marina Goodwin, 1927 Bentley Speed 3-41/2
Geradus Mercator, Dispatch reporter
www.rallytheglobe.com
