France

Europe's open borders found us riding past the unused/deserted customs building from Spain into France late one afternoon. We decided after stopping to admire the view from a lighthouse to camp there for the night. This decision was also based on the wind that was gradually building. We spent a near-sleepless night in 80km/hr wind hoping that our tent would not blow off the cliff into the sea carrying us with it! The following few days riding were beautiful along the southern coast of France but gusts of wind were becoming dangerous and after we cycled 4hrs to achieve only 26km we decided to jump on another train.

The train brought us to Tarascon – we were now cycling east, with the wind… A great feeling to ride our longest day yet (over 100km) and not be exhausted!

This day unfortunately included riding through Marseille. Not a fun experience. Tim likened it to in Egypt! I just remember being very excited and relieved when we were finally riding away from the city.

In contrast, cycling the following day through the next major coastal city (Toulon) was very enjoyable… Bicycle path through most of it and polite traffic in brief moments of road riding. French cycle paths seem quite variable – after riding 5-10km on a lovely smooth bicycle path, it often just ended with a step gutter. Some surfaces were also mountain bike suitable only and one was simply closed off for maintenance (possibly due to a rock-fall). Navigation was great fun as sign-age rarely exists.



Similarly the camp-grounds in France seem to also be quite variable. Our first stay was at a large camp-ground equipped with pool, watersides, restaurant, bar+wifi etc. We enjoyed a lovely private spot which was large, flat and out of the wind. This cost us 13 euro. Another night without areas for ‘free camping’. The camp ground found us placed in a small area on a gravel slope which was too hard and rocky for tent pegs and we could hear the highway. This camp-ground had a very expensive shop and bar and cost us 22 euro for the night. A lot to pay for the privilege of showering. Interesting as both were coastal, popular holiday locations. There was just no competition for the expensive campground.

Regardless, we both prefer free camping. It is much more private, usually quiet and the only night-time light is from the stars and moon which Tim gets to gaze at if we don’t use the fly. We stayed at free-camp number 30 hidden away in the trees the night before cycling into Gigaro – our “holiday from our holiday”.

On Tim’s South American motorbike trip he met and travelled with a French-man, Kerman. Since their fun together, both have grown up slightly (I think). Kerman and his partner Alice had arranged to spend 2 weeks in their holiday house in Gigaro and kindly invited us to join them for a week. We have enjoyed good company with a series of their other houseguests/friends as well as incredible French food and cooking. While the water is still too cold for swimming, spending time relaxing on the sand, doing small day hikes and simply reading a book has been more welcome than we realised.

We are currently in Corsica and waiting for ferry to Sardinia. Corsica has had everything Alice Springs hasn't = beaches, roads with corners and green vegetation...beautiful in its own way I guess.

We realised yesterday we had a wine-free day...more alarming was that it was also cheese-free! Luckily Corsica specialises in strong flavoured cheeses and today's was exceptional...that or it was actually off and we might be "sea sick" this afternoon.

East Coast Spain

Cabo de Gata is known across Spain for its isolation and that it is not developed like the rest of the Spanish coastline. The edge of the Europe and Africa tectonic plates, it is an old volcanic region – raw volcanic rocks mixing with beautiful beaches and clear Mediterranean waters. We were there mid-week and in low tourist season. And it was warm… Beautiful! The riding was less than good as our bikes really aren’t designed for gravel roads especially with blustery wind trying to knock you off. Great to be warm though and good to fall asleep to the sound of the sea!

The development along the Spanish coast is necessary and inevitable but ugly and designed for one purpose… attract the British and get them to part with their British pounds. We didn’t mind this for the few days riding along the coast… fascinating even after the open farming and mountains of internal Spain. It also put on display the sheer impact that the Global Financial Crisis had in Spain. ‘Almost-finished’ buildings everywhere! Hotels built but just not quite finished – clear signs of a sudden loss of money. We however saw each empty building site as a potential campsite as they offered great views, flat ground and a way to keep out of sight. Best was the chance to see sunrise over the water.

We headed steadily northwards along the coast, veering inland when required to cycle through a sea of greenhouses – despite suffering from mild drought conditions Spain has no water restrictions including agricultural… Europe has to get its fresh fruit/vegetables somehow!

In Cartagena we found the first tourist office worker who gave us useful information… plus the “you must see these roman ruins and go to that museum” spiel. We hence found ourselves on a small train then cycling to take a boat across the bay to save riding around. Successful as we ‘spiced things up from the constant riding’ and met 2 great British couples that offered a BBQ and shower for the night… an insight into moving and settling in Spain, great company and our first BBQ since leaving Australia!

We had enough of the coast at this stage and headed inland to escape! The riding was again beautiful and we found ourselves by accident on another via-verde… this we questioned as half-way through a tunnel we created chaos as a tractor had to move out of our way.

Emily’s morning coffee = Wifi code and Internet. We do this to remain “in touch” but also to escape rain or following our noses. One particular café was in a bar/restaurant and the beer delivery guy spoke great English and passionately showed me how they deliver fresh beer in 435litre plastic bags… of course by this stage it had passed beer o’clock and I had an excuse to sample!

We enjoyed the riding through our last Spanish mountains and then made great progress once we hit the coastal flats and were back where we started in Valencia. Bus tickets proved expensive and we would have had to wrap our bikes in plastic so we hesitated and rode across the city to the train station… 2hrs until next train, bikes allowed and half the price… a menu of the day and we settled into public transport up to Barcelona.

Our Barcelona experience was quick and we realised how much we prefer riding than exploring cities. We walked around soaking up Gaudi’s influence, strolled down Las Ramblas, walked around markets and the coastal foreshore. The F1 motor race was the next day so we watched as the police moved on the hawkers and ‘cleaned up’ the beach for us. We then left the city before dark to enjoy a little more time with our Russian/Dutch hosts. We met Olga in Ronda with 13 Russian Commerades She was helping to organize and translate for their own cycling trip. After meeting up at 2 consecutive campsites she invited us to stay with her and her family when we got up to Barcelona.

Eager to head north we jumped on another train to the coastline just below the Spanish-French fonterra. This left us cycling through the nicest coastal villages we had seen in Spain (beaches without the concrete jungle) up into France.

The Alpujarras

Alpujarras region of Spain is on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. After the riding from Ronda-Granada we thought of ourselves as “seasoned hill climbers” and looked forward to the promising scenery and mountain scapes.

Sundays & public holiday fear – this is our fear of everything being closed…that we can’t just buy a loaf of bread in the next town or that ‘god-forbid’ we have to go without eating a single meal… hence we panic on Saturday afternoons and top up the ‘pantry’ just to be sure. The timing was not the greatest – cycling mountains and hauling extra food supplies!

The first thing we noticed about the Alpujarras was that everything was going to be on a slope. Finding a flat campsite was harder than finding an area suitable to camp. Fortunately we had some great campsites (see pic)

The height and mountain location meant that it is the perfect environment for curing jamon – The regions specialty. My Spanish is laughable… more so the pronunciation and complete lack of grammar (like my English skills many would argue!) but it was satisfactory to understand the process required to produce jamon. Soaking fresh legs of pork in repeated salt baths for 9 days, hanging them in the well ventilated ‘apartment blocks’ and painting them with fat every month. The best jamon is aged for 2 years this way and the original leg of pork is eventually reduced to half its original weight… but worth its weight in gold! The smell, standing in a room of 50+ curing legs of jamon… incredible!

Mountain life is very traditional in many aspects, they don’t introduce machinery due to the steep terrain - was still a shock to see a farmer ploughing a paddock/terrace with a horse and plough. The other thing we loved was the water oozing from every pore in the mountain-side. These springs flow down through channels (known as acequias) which were originally built by the Moors. They are vast, complicated and essential to farm irrigation in the Alpujarras. Most acequias culminate in a village water fountain which is quite drinkable (potable) water. We spent an enjoyable dinner next to a waterfall spring and were told the water was potable. Fortunately tasted it before filling all bottles as it would have been only potable to plants maybe… unless you like the taste of liquid rust! Perhaps I was correct to be suspicious when it was staining the creek red!

Terraces and small mountain villages made up the vistas – hard work to make a living farming in this part of the world.

We came across the most incredible road yet of the trip. I was green with envy of every motorcycle as the road was switch-back and hairpin bends through beautiful coloured rocks and great views. Made even better by the fact we were going downhill… not UP!

We made our way down to the coast again and stayed in Almeria with Martin and Maite, another cycling couple who rode from the most southern to northern points of Europe last year… we picked their brains on the best routes and prepared our own journey northwards.