The first week......

Oops! This video should be at the end of this post.

Well I'm on my way. I'll be brief because I just managed to delete about an hours writing. Arrgh! I took a bus from Valenca to Porto, then on to Lisbon where I changed buses for Albufeira, the bike and trailer chucked underneath with the other passengers suitcases.....no problem. I arrived about 7pm, provisioned up, and cycled about 10km in the dark to a likely spot I'd checked out on Google Earth. I then had a pleasant ride through the Algarve working along north of Faro and arriving at the border at Vilar Real de Santo Antonio. This was my first night in a hostel. I'll skip the next few days and carry on here..................................................................................

Day 1 Early morning arrival at Valenca bus station

The eastern Algarve - check out that weather

................................I'm on the coast in the Donana National Park. Tomorrow I plan to cross the Guadaquilvir River. The only way to avoid a huge detour inland is to cycle 30km along the beach at low tide and then telephone the ferry boatman who will then come and ferry you over, as long as

Lots of freebie vitamin C at the roadside!

You can't cross the border by road without a huge detour north - bikes not allowed on the A22 auto route.

Crossing the R. Guadiana that forms the border with Spain. That's Ayamonte in the distance

Flat as a pancake here- tedium, tedium...on the way to Almonte

....and several water hazards. The wheels of the trailer are completely submerged, as are my feet.

one of my better camping spots

Caught in the act - stealing the sausages I was saving for breakfast.

It's mating time for the storks and the mating ritual is rather sweet

Everywhere is so sandy around here and it makes for hard pedalling....or pushing..

This was a game-changing day- I had to push about 4 km along this track and was absolutely exhausted. Bike and trailer weigh 50kg

Why mountain bikes don't have mudguards.........my wheels won't go round!

I call in a garage to jet-wash my bike.......... and my shoes

Waiting for another ferry - this time across the mighty  Rio Guadalquivir

A few damp days......I can't believe that you would have to go so far north to get across this river (at a tiny place called Coria del Rio)

Marking an urban campsite in Jerez, yep....
where the sherry comes from.

it is before sunset. Fair enough. I decide to check the tide times. Absolutely hopeless.... the high tide is at mid-day so by the time the tide had dropped enough in the afternoon it would be too late for me to make the 30km to the river mouth before dusk. So, the next day was the big detour inland through Almonte and across the river by ferry at Corio del Rio, only a few km further north and I would have been in Seville! It was in this low-lying area that I was surprised to find rice paddy and cotton fields.

I was told that I needed to be a proper tourist and go and visit Cadiz. This is easier said than done because bicycles are not permitted on the big new bridge on the west. I found out the hard way after arriving at the bridge. The only way was to catch a train in or a 30km detour to the eastern bridge through San Fernando. I arrived so late at the hostel that I decided to stay two nights, I was pretty desperate to do some laundry! Cadiz is well worth a visit and there are some superb sandy beaches stretching all the way east. I spent a lot of time chilling out on the Cadiz 'Corniche' watching surfers making the most of some decent waves. Carnaval was also in full swing and the bar opposite my hostel was used by groups of 'gaditanos' to get into costume and practice their rendition before being going off to be judged in the 'teatro'. Very interesting. Managed to hang my soggy tent out to dry up on the roof top bar.

Girls putting the make-up on the boys for Carnaval...... in my cosy bar
opposite the hostel in Cadiz