Last night in Malaga: hopefully

Today is Wednesday 18th March it seems impossible to believe that our flight to Gibraltar was on the 8th March, how much life experience can 2 people pack into 10days! Seriously though 10 days of what was intended to be a 100 day trip, never thought I would be so keen to get home after only 10 days!

Just taken a break for the 8pm applause, tonight followed by an audition of Viva Espana! The emotional release and adrenaline this provides is difficult to describe on paper, but to watch neighbours from all the flats opposite clapping and shouting, tonight the taxis at the train station could be heard joining in! Love it!

So in 10 days we have climbed the Rock of Gibraltar, Dave rebuilt 2 bikes and 8 days ago we set off! We have battled with dual carriageways, unintentional off road riding, tent pegs bending as we pitched the tent on what amounted to hardcore in estepona and then Marbella, where we altered our route off the coast into the hills. We then had some lovely but challenging cycling, hauling 100kg up the hills! Pushed bikes into Alora, if you have been there you understand, if not then go! We have cycled through olive groves, citrus groves and mountains!

Once arriving in Malaga we have made use of our camping gear and played many games of rummy and Uno, Dave is the rummy champion and Lesley is the Uno queen! We have eaten in our room, applauded with the Spaniards at 8pm, read books, listened to podcasts. It turns out that Dave is able to stay still better than Lesley! I have paced up and down and felt like a caged tiger!

So now for some figures!

6 days in the saddle

Cycled: 233 miles

Climbed: 15,500 feet

Time in the saddle: 22.5 hours

Thats all from me for now!

A bit more from Dave: The word Travel apparently derives from the word for a 3 pronged torture instrument. It has felt painful at times! The whole concept of a journey without predetemined stopping places has felt strange but is probably very much the way to go. If you have the time of course.

Alora was a great example of this. Lovely town super hotel and completely off the beaten track. Other places such as Antequera would also have been wonderful in different circumstances.

It requires a very different mindset to slow travel but I think we could we could get used to it!

Today we also managed to find somewhere to store the bikes which was a big relief. Whether we will actually see them again is impossible to say. The receipt could have very well said: Received from customer One Large Beach Ball (as we cant read Spanish) but it seemed genuine.

Tomorrow we pack up and hope and pray that our flight isn’t cancelled.

Hopefully the next blog post will be from good old Blighty!