On Saturday morning I had good legs, so I went for a longish bike ride in the
mountains, with significant climbing. My destination was the village of Tibi,
where Lili (originally from the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but in
Spain for more than 20 years) makes delicious goat cheese with the milk sourced
from the goats tended by her husband. I have known her for several years but
had not visited her shop for a few months.
After huffing and puffing after 42 km with a brutal 2 km climb up to the centre
of Tibi, I arrived at Lili’s shop and to my delight, there was a customer
there. To my delight, because I had been concerned about the state of her
business during the pandemic:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-nT2czz7/A
As is apparent, Lili sells other things than her cheese in the shop; she also
gives shelf space to various artisanal products made by people in the
surrounding area.
Lili cut me a slice of a delicious, strong cheese:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-hvPJJGn/A
And I bought two other cheeses from her, including a delicious spreadable
cheese with chives, visible on the counter:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-Xt6Dv7q/A
Lili told me that during the past year, with the slowdown in the restaurant
business, she decided to slow down and just focus on her shop. Before, she
would spend most of her days driving around to restaurants all over the
province, trying to market her products. Now she just sells to a couple of
local restaurants and relies on walk-in traffic at the shop. She told me that
she is enjoying the calmer life and still makes enough to get by. Sure enough,
just as I was leaving, a group of six customers, visitors from Madrid, arrived.
This is the storefront, with my bicycle parked in front, and the brown bag with
my cheeses sticking up from my handlebar bag:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-VnQ7Fg9/A
I said goodbye to Lili, rode a few hundred meters to the town’s grocery store,
bought a Coke and took a break before riding home. To get out of Tibi there is
a 2.5 km climb up to 730 meters above sea level, a pass called Puerto de Tibi
which featured in this year’s Vuelta a España. So I felt pretty good. For those
interested, this is my ride:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7589508150
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.frozenlight.eu
YNWA
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