Puerto de Mijares - Gavilanes

We climbed the Mijares in June 2005, as part of a stage from Talavera de la Reina to Burgohondo. Clouded sky when starting, and the first rain fell out in the Tietar-valley. We started the climb, which showed a gradient typically for Central Spain, i.e. never really steep. We passed Gavilanes, but once in Mijares-village, the heavy rain made continuing now very unattractive. For this reason, we interrupted and took a coffee in the hostal. After about 2 hrs, the first blue reappeared and we continued in nearly ideal circumstances, the temperature being somewhat less than the days before. The rest of the climb is very regular (6 - 6.5 %), first in a forest region, and finally in a nearly alpine scenery. The road is in good shape. The descent to Burgohondo has a lot of hairpins and offers constantly a nice panorama. On this side, the road is very good.