It’s humbling
It’s a humbling thing. to be passed while riding your bike. I’m not talking about being overtaken by a peloton of Lycra clad cyclists out for their Sunday morning sprint. I was taken over by an older man with no dental plan on a one speed bike pulling a bike-trailer with a 60 pound dog in it. That’s...
A Day In Pisa
We spent the afternoon marvelling at the tower. when you first arrive it’s magnificent. Then you become in awe of how the heck is it still standing!
Livreno to Pisa
We’ve arrived in Italy. When You start on these adventures, at least for me, I find it difficult to see myself at the end, or the home stretch. And seeing the end in sight is a reminder of how far we’ve come. We hopped on the ferry at 8am sharp. Which means, to us, that we left our apartment at appr...
Montpellier
Most of our trip has been grinding from one city to another but we decisded to take a day in Montpellier. and I’m glad we did. it was one of those vignettes that is forever etched in my brain. We walked along the drab dark sides streets one day, you know the narrow, quaint street that has seemingly...
Girona to Vilabertran
A tense start to the day. We were all set, panniers packed, rain suit stashed and ready to hop on and go. We had left our bikes locked in the front lobby rather than bring our wet bikes up stairs. I tried to unlock, the bikes. No luck, my key wasn’t working. and we couldn’t find Bob’s keys. We start...
Girona
Merry Christmas! We are sequestered here for a few days to recover and it’s been raining. This is the big Cathedral in Girona. Apparently it was featured in Game of Thrones. We’re staying in the “Midievil” centre. In a beautiful apartment. catching up on sleep and relaxing.
L’Arboç
A first century Roman Funerary… The Tower of Scipios It was built during the 1st century AD, six kilometers from the city of Tarraco, nowTarragona, capital of the Hispania Citerior, in the course of the Via Augusta, the Roman road that crossed the entire peninsula from the Pyrenees to Gades(Cadiz)....
Alzira to Valencia
We thought a short (40+ km) flat day would be relaxing. and we were right. It certainly started out that way. We left Alzira and got out of the city in record time. We were on a bike path and quiet country roads which passed through interesting farmland and managed wet lands growing rice! The orchar...
Ontinyent to Alzira
After a days rest we got on our bikes and made it to Alzira in record time. We followed bicycle tracks and secondary roads through many acres of oranges, mandarins, lemons, kumkwats, and pomegranates. Travelling through this region we got to experience more of the local flavour rather than the touri...
A day in Ontinyent
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Alicante to Ontinyent
Tough day made it to Ontinyent just as the sun was setting! After a few weeks of riding along the Mediterranean we decided to move inland to visit a different part of Spain. Rather than seeing yet another development along the Costa del Sol we weaved our way through farms and olive groves. A lot of...
Playa to Alicante
We had a few “issues” with our Appartments last night. i noticed when Bob was in the shower that I could hear the hot water heater clicking and creaking. I just nought it was the water tank heating. I opened the door to where the tank was an was met with a spray of hot water and dripping tank. The t...
Cartegena -Los Alcazares onto Playa de la zenia
We stayed one night in los Alcazares. There is a history here of a fishing and Spa town. The hotel near where we stayed apparently, was host to 9 special sea water baths. The water along the beaches here is protected by an inlet/peninsula that prevents a lot of fresh sea water in. However, all we sa...
Mazarrón to Cartagena
This, for me, was the best ride so far along the Eurovelo 8. Quiet roads, almond groves and orchards of Carob trees dotting the landscape. there were several times when I saw these trees and wondered what they were. Some had dark brown bean pods seemingly rotting on the branches. Inused an app calle...
Águilas to Mazarrón
We started the day with a slightly overcast sky which turned into rain. A cold rain. We kept going and as we climbed up, up , up, i decided to rest on the side of the road i hear, ”Hey, Laura” I turned around. No mistaking Salvador, with his guitar on his back. We chatted and continued on while he t...
Carboneras to Águilas
Another beautiful day for a ride. As the morning continued on it clouded over and began to rain. we dodged in to some cover to let it pass and then began our ascent. We faced a penultimate mountain pass called Collado de la Granatilla, a fierce-looking climb, however as I like to say, ” If you want...
San José to carboneras
Another great ride and climb under our belts. The highlight for me was after the morning ride in the remote track we stopped for lunch. It was “magical mate”. Quite. Scenic. The birds were flitting hither and thither. And we had reached the summit of the mountain. Such success and feeling of accompl...
Almería to San José
Another great ride under our belts! To me when I see others climbing up that steep hill and riding 80km then pitching a tent on the beach a pang of jealousy erupts. Because I just had to push my bike up that hill. And then, later that night when I’m tucked into that comfy bed, I think about what I h...
Adra - to Almeria
We had a good ride today and saw a few other cycle touring people along the route. Most of them going “south”, as we go north. We stopped and chatted with the impressive @ridesmiles.world (from instagram) who has been on a solo world bike adventure for 94 weeks. She is an inspiration for sure! Yay!...
Motril to Adra
First stop was to get a cup of tea, and coffee at a local cafe. Talked with some locals about our ride so far. They star speaking in Spanish and I say, sorry I do t speak Spanish, in Spanish, and in English he started talking with me. some ominous clouds coming over the hills.. but not to worry it’s...
Nerja to Motril
Today we’re in Motril. I should say tonight we’re spending the night in Motril. We left Nerja bright and early and made good progress. We are using an app called Komoot to help plan our rides. Sometimes the directions are weird and we end up in odd places. For example today we followed the direction...
Nerja
Another beautiful day along the Mediterranean coast. We pedalled parallel the coast along the N340, a secondary road. The traffic wasn’t too bad and we made good time with a strong tail wind in our favour. There were points along the route where we shared the path with pedestrians but mostly along t...
Málaga
Made it to Málaga. After some excellent riding we felt that we’ve finally hitting our groove again. Up until now we’ve been meandering through the board walks and dodging light standards along the tiny concrete path adjacent to the major highway, but today we seemed to have broken free and were cycl...
Riding along the Mediterranean
We’ve spent the last 2days riding along the coast of the Mediterranean. Almost to the point of being tired of the view and the sound of the surf. Almost! Board walks, cobbled walks, concrete, tiled and sand walks all along the Mediterranean. Through posh resorts, right down to the beach. We started...
On to Gibraltar
We headed out of Tarifa with the wind at our backs and a glint of sunshine in our eyes. That glint soon turned to a downpour. We pedalled up from sea level and around 330 m to get over the hill to the next bay. All in a total of 420 m of elevation gain today according to Komoot. However I know we di...
Tarifa Day 5
The bike shop owner called. The parts are in! We skedaddled down to the bike shop before Jaimie closed for the weekend and got the parts and repaired Bob’s bike. The actual time to complete the process was about 1 hour. During that time however, there were many interruptions. The phone rang, several...
La Casa del La Favorita
We have been in Tarifa for 3days and a have stayed at the same hotel for 3 days but have had 3 different rooms! the first night was on the 2nd floor. Up, up, up we went with our baggage into a lovely room, with a balcony looking over the tops of the city. Day 2 we had a room on the first floor with...
Tarifa, Bike Problems!
While riding Bob’s bike started to skip so we headed to a bike shop to see if we could get some help. We arrived ad “Repack” a mountain bike repair shop where we got some help.. Jaime, pronounced Yhaime, helped us and ordered parts and scheduled an appointment for repair in 3 days. Jaime ordered a r...
Tarifa, casa la Favorita
Arrived in Tarifa. along the way we had a few trials and a ride along a busy road with traffic. There was, however, a significant shoulder so we felt safe. One trial was where the road ended and the path was a rocky incline and then, just at the end of the day, with between 5-10k left to go we veere...
Barbate Hostel Barbate
We had agreat room at the Hostel Barbate. Our standards are: Clean hot shower un complicated check in thats a gold standard for us! easy check in with friendly host to show us keys and where to store our bikes. The evening was spent agonizing over routes and the best way to get to Tarifa. There were...
Getting an air bnb
This was maybe the smallest apartment we’ve had. And we’ve had some tiny Airbnbs. For my horse-y friends imagine a box stall (10 by 10) for the kitchen And living room. Then stacked on that another 10by 10 room as a bed room… then get this … up 15 stairs to another 8 by 10 area that is a shower. Hol...
Cadil de La Fronterra.
We’ve arrived safely yet again after an interesting ride over a mixture of road surfaces. One of the best infrastructure for bicycles ever. We rode through a forest on a paved sidewalk. also thru marshland and new construction. the path was easy to follow with sign posts every so often to make sure...
Cadiz -pronounced CAD-y
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We went out to enjoy some of the surrounding scenery today. The town, 3000 years old build inside a stone wall was a maritime strong hold. Fortresses, cobbled streets and ancient churches. Each street narrow and full of stores and people shopping. We’ll have to remember sunglasses. It’s very bright,...
Made it to Seville and on to Cadiz
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There was no worry about anyone mistaking our luggage. Our brightly coloured shopping bags tied with rope were left untouched as they circled around the luggage carousel. And success, our bikes arrived! Unscathed. We gathered our bikes and “luggage” and went into the pleasant quiet courtyard of the...
There are 24 Hours In A Day
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We started the travel day in Halifax. And ended in Seville. Boarded our first flight to Toronto and were excited to be in bulk head seats. Lots of leg room and zone 2 for boarding. I had an impending g feeling of doom. An over whelming feeling of anxiety swept over me as I reflected on the enormity...
Now to Get Our Bikes Through Security
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A lovely relaxing night before the day of days. The Alt Hotel directly adjacent to the airport. We stayed in a modest room, they stored our bikes and it was, honestly for the reduced anxiety, worth the cost.
Hop on the bus, the adventure begins
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We decided to take the bus because we didn’t want the stress of getting to the airport the day of. This way, we can arrive a day early, relax, kinda, and be right at the airport to check in our oversized luggage. We got to start our adventure as soon as Steve closed the doors to the bus. We arrived...
Bike boxes and final packing
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WE have our own bikes that we pack up and take with us. Surly Disc Truckers I call them the work horse of the cycling world. Unlike the ultra lite carbon frame of the road racing bikes these beauties are steel frame and can take a beating. And hold all our gear. Tent sleeping bag camping stuff cloth...
One Week Before Wheels Up
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We are getting down to some specifics now while planning our next adventure. Bob has been busy cleaning our bikes. Chains, brakes, derailler all lubricated and properly adjusted. Fall is arriving quickly and after a summer of drought the skys have now let go the rain. It's 5 degrees and rain today....