Friday October 17, 2014

A long day of cycling, but not too bad. We cycled for about 20 kms on the highway to Estepone then after following the signs to the A7, we somehow found ourselves on the AP7 – the motorway. We came off at the next exit and followed the coastal road for about 10 kms. As we cycled along this section, seeing all the holiday makers, I wished we could spend a week on a beach relaxing.  Although I really enjoy the cycling, seeing all these people on holiday made me want to take a week of, lie on a beach, drink sangrias and not have to think about visas, routes, where we are going to sleep the next night or  anything else.  I could even read a book.  Take the time to build sandcastles!

We have cycled this way before going in the opposite direction, but on this side of the highway it seemed as if the shoulder was wider, it was easier going in the opposite direction. It wasn’t too bad, but it did get very hot. I remembered the service road from SotoGrande into La Linea, but we definitely had more climbs going this way.

When we arrived in La Linea we tried to find the coastal road from La Linea to Algericas because I didn’t want to cycle over the hills again.   We couldn\’t find it and when we asked for directions, we were told it was all motorway and we had to go over the hills. As we came into La Roque we stopped into the train station and discovered we could take a train into Algeciras. We had to wait for a couple of hours, but it would have taken us an hour and a half to cycle, and at least we were out of the sun. When the train arrived it had a ramp that came out that matched up with the platform and we could wheel our bikes onto the train, no lifting our bikes up two big steps.

We arrived into Algeciras and booked the ferry to Morocco, we leave tomorrow at noon. We ate out last meal in Spain at a Moroccan restaurant and learned how to say thank-you – shukran and hello – Salam.

We are staying at the same hotel as last time. The owner recognized us, we are in the same room.

We have registered on the Canadian and UK travel alerts, so we will know if we should leave the country, due to the ongoing Ebola crisis or national elections which can get violent.

As we get ready for the next part of the adventure, we are listening to a fog horn over the Straits. It is quite foggy tonight, hope it has cleared by the morning.