Distance: 58.0 km
Ride time: 4:38:46
Average: 12.5 km/h
Max speed: 40.3 km/h
Total: 54093 km
Tarifa is a world known surf spot and that means a lot of wind – something we got to experience during the night. We didn’t get much sleep as the wind kept rocking our tent from side to side – luckily it kept standing. I haven’t experienced this much wind since Patagonia in southern Argentina!
The winds continued throughout the morning as we considered what to do. In the end we decided to push through, even though the gusts were so strong that cycling became rather dangerous. On the climb out of Tarifa we had to push…
Luckily things took a change for the better and after an hour we were able to cycle again. On the road in Spain, on the road in Europe!
I truly enjoyed being in Spain – a place that has a special place in my heart after I lived for six months in Granada back in 2006. The last countries in Africa had been challenging; the crazy kids of Ethiopia, the police escorts in Egypt, and the intensity of Morocco. Now it was time to kick back and enjoy what I was expecting would be an easy ride through southern Spain.
After a nice lunch stop for a Menu del Dia in Algeciras were ran into a new problem. The only way out of town seemed to be on the A7 highway. We asked several people for an alternative route, but there seemed to be only one option. Not sure if it was even legal to cycle on the highway we gave it a try.
7 km further down the road we were able to move over to a smaller road again. The tranquility was restored as we cycled around the Bay of Gibraltar. I had visited this strange British settlement when I lived in Spain and thought it would be nice to stop by for a beer in one of the British pubs to celebrate that we are really back on European soil.
Despite the Mediterranean location, everything turns very British as soon as you cross the border. Culturally this is an interesting corner of the world. Tanger and the Arabic world is only a 40 minute ferry ride away from Spain and the Mediterranean atmosphere, and then there is even the British twist of Gibraltar.
After a pint and a desert in “The Angry Friar” we crossed into Spain again to look for a camp site – after all things are quite a bit cheaper over there.
Tomorrow we will continue the ride along the Mediterranean towards Malaga.
A pub called “The Angry Friar” – can’t get much more British than that!