After our first fighter mission a couple of weeks ago, we’re ready for the second one. Again, we’re targeting the Sierra de Guadarrama roads and mountain passes. Its proximity North Madrid make it to be the best scenario for a daily trip.
This time we can cross to Segovia as the Covid19 situation seems now to be under control. So, travelling to near-by provinces is allowed. We plan to repeat the Navacerrada mountain pass, but this time we’ll go downhill on the Segovia’s side, and come back to Madrid via another beautiful mountain pass: the Navafría one.
This time we take off earlier, as we want to avoid the possible busy traffic on the road around noon.
We’re also testing a couple of new accessorizes on our GoPro camera. The first accessorize is a foam windslayer to cancel, or at least reduce as much as possible, the annoying wind noise you get when you record with the camera “naked”. The second is a Lift-The-Dot lanyard we’ve tailor-made to secure the camera.
The appearance of the camera with these accessories is quite positive. Let’s see how it works!
First section – From home base to Navacerrada mountain pass
This first section runs on the nice and fast road towards the Sierra de Guadarrama, the M-607. This is almost a motorway, with two lanes on each side, and perfect smooth tarmac. But it’s limited to 100 km/h in its fastest parts, with some restrictions to 80 km/h in a couple of curvy zones. The first waypoint this time is directly the Navacerrada mountain pass. In this occasion we’re not deviating to Manzanares El Real as in our previous mission but we continue on the M-607 until we reach Cerceda.
We climb again the M-601 without traffic and reach the first waypoint: the Navacerrada mountain pass at 1880 m altitude. Today we don’t do any video on this section, as we have done it in the previous mission.
Second section – From Navacerrada mountain pass to San Ildefonso
The road downhill from Navacerrada mountain pass on the Segovia’s side is the CL-601. This road has a mythical section, called “Las siete revueltas” which are seven 180º curves that became famous since the road was constructed, as they are considered quite dangerous. This is because the road is very demanding on the brakes and steering, and also the engine if you drive uphill, and decades ago the cars were not as reliable as they are now. So, overheating the engine uphill, or losing the brakes downhill was frequent, and unexperienced drivers used to “fly off the road” at these famous seven curves.
The 3-Wheeler roars downhill, and we have to say that we are extremely satisfied with its handling. It really sticks to the tarmac and the speed on the curves is much higher than you can expect when you have your first sight at the vehicle. It’s pure driving delight.
The Morgan lives up to its reputation as a sports car. The driving from the top of the mountain pass to San Ildefonso is a fantastic experience behind the wheel of the 3-Wheeler.
The only problem when you drive such a fast car in a mountain road as this one, is that you can’t pass the cars in front of you but in very few places, so you normally get stuck behind the “snails”, as it happened to us this day.
We finally arrive to San Ildefonso, which is a beautiful village with an fabulous royal palace.
This royal palace was constructed by Phillip V, king of Spain and also Duc D’Anjou as he was grandchild of Louis XIV. So, he wanted to do a smaller summer palace inspired in the French one of Versailles. The result is a magnificent building with large gardens and astonishing fountains. It really worth a visit.
We park inside the fences of the old village area and head for a nice breakfast in a terrace under the shade of the centennial trees. In the video you can see the terrace, on the left side just before passing the fences.
The first and second section of today’s mission are accomplished!
Third section – From San Ildefonso to Navafría
After the succulent breakfast in the fantastic frame of San Ildefonso, we head towards the village of Navafría, our next waypoint.
On our way we cross the small village of Torrecaballeros, famous for its roasting ovens, and the delicious suckling lambs and pigs that come out of them. On another occasion we will make a stop for lunch here, but today the objective of the mission is to travel the route as soon as possible to avoid traffic.
We quickly get to Navafría following the N-110. This road is excellent and fast.
We cross the village to start the best section of today’s route: the Navafría mountain pass.
Fourth section – From Navafría to Rascafría
We leave the village of Navafría and take the SG-612. This is the road that heads to the Navafría mountain pass. In our honest opinion this is the most beautiful mountain road of the area. The lushness of the pine and beech forest and the play of light and shadow of its curves is spectacular. In addition, in general it does not usually have a lot of traffic, so this Saturday we barely come across few cars. A luxury road to drive a Morgan 3-Wheeler.
The mountain pass is at 1773 m altitude, and we cross less than ten vehicles on our way up. A fantastic experience.
While passing the mountain pass, the SG-613 is rebaptized as M-637 as we’re back into the Madrid’s province. This M-637 ends in Lozoya, another nice village just by another reservoir in the Sierra de Guadarrama: the reservoir of Pinilla. We drive along the reservoir on the M-604 until Rascafría, that welcomes us again with his beautiful main street and the monastery of Santa María de El Paular.
Fifth section – From Rascafría back to home base
From Rascafría we repeat the M-611, through the Morcuera mountain pass, and cross Miraflores de la Sierra and Soto del Real to finally reconnect with the nice double laned M-607 and get back home.
We did not make any video today of the Morcuera mountain pass, as we did it just a couple of weeks ago. And because this time it was a little busier than the occasion before, mostly because of cyclists. We passed and crossed dozens of them.
This mission finalized safe at home, with no incidents and a big smile on our faces.
Second short fighter mission accomplished!