Day 5 keeps the Sierra Nevada in view, but changes the way you meet it. It is no longer a pass to cross; it becomes the long mountain wall on the southern horizon. The stage covers 54.5 kilometres and about 670 metres of climbing, making it much more controlled than the previous day. From La Peza, the route starts on quiet roads through sparse upland terrain before dropping into the Hoya de Guadix. The middle part brings a clear shift in scenery: ochre slopes, dry valleys, eroded clay ridges and the badlands around Purullena. After Guadix, the road rises gradually again across wider, more exposed ground. La Calahorra appears before you properly arrive, marked by its castle on the hill: pale, solid and hard to miss.
