Overview day 112-120:
Seville
20 kilometers before Seville, a cycle path starts that leads all the way to Seville. Another dedicated bicycle lane! The sun is shining and with short sleeves and shorts we cycle into Seville (With enough sunscreen applied of course!). In Seville it is very touristy and busy, but we still think it is a very beautiful city. Since Seville is known as a real cycling city, we do our ownset out our own tour with our own bikes along all the highlights of Seville. A beautiful trip, along the beautiful buildings and parks.
Again a defect
After a few days it’s time to get back on the road, on to the campsite! After all those albergues, it is finally time to unpack the tent and sleep in the tent again, wonderful!
After a night at the campsite, we want to camp more, but unfortunately we cycle through an area where there are few (are actually none) campsites. We therefore decide to just head out and see what will happen. After 15km, however, Rob is already stranded: another flat tire. Since we just bought brand tires we feel a bit unlucky. Anyway, we put a new tire on, no problem. We start the job, but the new outer tire is still very tight. With great difficulty we get the outer tire off the rim and exchange the inner tube for a spare one. Put the outer tire back on (read: a lot of effort and violence), pump and go. After 15 minutes Rob is still pumping and we suspect that we broke the inner tube by accident…. Oops. Unfortunately, attempt 2 is no better for us and neither is attempt 3. After breaking all the spare tires, and fixing them again on the side of the road, we finally manage to keep an inner tube whole. We pump the tire hard and just when the tire is full of air, we turn the valve completely off the tire: tire flat again….
Pumping or drowning
After a lot of attempts and a lot of pumping, the bicycle tire even empties through the bicycle pump. The pump is also broken now. So it’s a day like that. Eventually we manage to pump some air into the tire and we finally cycle on, carefully and with a half-inflated tire. Along the way we ask a few times if we can camp somewhere, but unfortunately, no success. Finally we reach the village of Montellano. There too, everyone tells us that there really is no camping or (wild) camping spot, but there is a hotel. Fortunately, the hotel still has 1 room available for us. That evening we fix all the inner tubes, double check whether there are really no more holes in them and in the context of “you have to make your own party” decide to go out for dinner in the village.
The next day we first look for a bicycle pump. We can borrow one from a friendly man, who takes a new bicycle pump from his shop for us, unpacks it so that we can use it. Again one of those moments where we notice how many lovely people there are.
Via-Verde
The route we follow is beautiful. We cycle a large part along the Via-Verde. Via-Verdes are old railways that have been recycled into bicycle- and hiking trails. The great thing about such a Via-Verde is that they often run relatively flat and lead you through beautiful areas. We cycle through about 30 tunnels and right through a nature reserve in the middle of the mountains. 40 kilometers of pure enjoyment! The end of the Via-Verde also means the beginning of many elevation meters. Rob rides up a big hill with some difficulty. Isabel doesn’t. She pushes her bike up. On top of the mountain is a campsite where we sleep that night. Unfortunately, the term ‘grass’ is hard to find here, so with some large boulders we set the tent ’tight’. Of course it rains that night, but fortunately we keep it dry in our tent.
Costa del Sol
The next day there are a lot of altitude meters planned, which also means: a beautiful route with beautiful views. The route leads us via Sentenil de las Bodegas, where we cycle past the rock houses, and then we continue to Ronda. After seeing the Puente Nuevo, we decide to continue cycling to El Burgo. This means a big climb, but what a view! We cycle through the mountains and through the national park Sierra de las Nieves. We hear owls, see vultures flying and cycle between high boulders and then descend to El Burgo. What a day!
The next day we are not yet off the mountains. Again we start with a big climb and again we are treated to beautiful views. The sun shines wonderfully and the sea looms in the distance. From the top of the mountain we rush towards the sea. On to the Costa del Sol.
Morocco
We stay in Fuengirola for a few days where we visit an old friend of Rob’s, pick up a package for Morocco (our new daypack / rackpack) and give the legs some rest. We quickly notice that the touristy Costa del Sol is not really our thing and that we get even more excited about Morocco. When we have received our package and visited John and Hanneke, we quickly get on the bikes to Malaga. Time to buy tickets for the ferry! So the plan has changed slightly again. We do not cycle to Tarifa but make the crossing from Malaga to Melilla.
Morocco we’re coming!
