Wednesday October 1, 2014

After yesterday\’s day of climbing we obviously had hit the top and today it was downhill, not quite all the way. We did have some minor hills to climb but we were definitely rewarded today for the climbs of yesterday. Any hill we went up today we definitely got the reward of a downhill – elevation gain 454 metres, elevation loss 853 metres – this means more downhills than uphills:)

We are now in Andalucia, an autonomous region of Spain which has a different dialect, which I am trying to get used to.

It is a beautiful area with some lovely scenery.

We arrived in El Ronquillo at 11:30 and proceeded to look for an Albergue. Sorry, no Albergue in Town and very little in the way of accommodation. We had some lunch and considered cycling to the campsite that was indicated on the road sign, but when I asked how far it was, the person in the municipal office said it was 8 kms away not 5 kms that it stated on the sign. It was located west of where we are headed tomorrow which is south. I really needed internet connection today to book accommodation in Seville, as we have struck out with warmshowers. We are in a hotel room again and I have managed to find a reasonable priced backpackers in Seville for the next 3 nights.

I am also trying to find out what happens if you overstay your welcome in the Schengen Area.  It is not good.  Ralf could be asked to leave and not be allowed to enter a Schengen country again, or he could be fined, or both. The fine could be anything from EU 6,000 to EU 10,000+.  Because the French didn\’t stamp Ralf\’s passport I thought we were home free, but that isn\’t the case – the burden rests on you to prove when you arrived in the Schengen Area.  Ralf\’s British entry stamp allows him to stay in the UK until the end of November, but England isn\’t part of Schengen and he should have had a stamp for the Schengen Area.  However, because he didn\’t I am not sure what will happen when we are ready to leave the Schengen Area.  Apparently Italy is one of the worst places to get caught without a Schengen visa.  Of course, we are going through Italy and you are supposed to go to a police station within 8 days of arriving in Italy.  That is when he will get busted. If we prove that we arrived in the Schengen area in August, then we only have until November 1, 2014 before he has to leave the area.  I am in a bit of a panic about the whole thing.   We expect it will take us another month to get out of Spain, which means he will overstay.  It is all rather worrisome.  Ralf just shrugs his shoulders and say lets worry about it when it happens.  An EU 10,000 fine would really put a big dent in the budget and if he gets deported, and not allowed back in Europe, that puts a big dent in the travel itinerary of visiting the old East block countries that neither of us have visited.(: