Almost Northbound

After leaving Lagos on Monday, we headed east again back to Portimao Marina.  The intention was just to stay a couple of nights and start heading north.  However, as the weather still wasn’t great, we decided to hole up here for a while longer.  We also figured that after a budget busting (but very enjoyable!) few days in Lagos, we’d be as well to stay here for the rest of the week as it’s only 2.50 a night, to balance the books and wait for the weather to improve.

Update from Portugal

Pete has invested in a body board.  It's the next best thing to surfing (although I'm sure some would debate that!) until his wrist is stronger as the body board is much smaller and lighter.  After his shopping trip on Thursday, a weekend of surf hunting ensued, starting with a day at Praia do Beliche on Friday.  I don't recall seeing Pete catch any waves, but plenty of waves caught him; it was a bit like watching him in a giant washing machine...!!  He had fun though, so the main objective was achieved!

Laid back in Lagos

I don't know where the time's gone since my last entry almost two weeks ago.  Since then, we've moved from Manta Rota and following a couple of nights in Portimão, we're now in Lagos.

Portugal, land of beautiful beaches and giant strawberries

It’s been a week since our last update and we are now blogging from Portugal!

After deciding to stay another day in Seville, Friday saw the three of us explore the area on foot.  First stop was the Parque de Maria Luisa.  I’m not particularly well versed on the history of it, but from what I can gather, the park was created for an international fair in 1929 and contains a number of examples of Spanish architecture from different periods, culminating in the magnificent Plaza de Espana.  Needless to say, Powell loved the park, but more for the ducks than any of its architectural merits.

Super sunny Seville

This morning, we finally headed back to Ronda for Pete's final appointment.  After a considerable delay in the hospital, with me waiting with baited breath back in Dora, he returned with good news and we set off down the road.

Magical mystery tour

On Wednesday (18 Feb), we took a day trip to Jerez.  It wasn’t a cultured one though, but a mission to purchase goods for Dora (and Pete).  First stop on the agenda was Ikea, for some rugs and other bits to make it even more homely than it is already!  They were all necessary purchases of course...

Tarifa, Conil and Sanlucar de Bring a gas mask!

On Thursday, after bacon butties (thanks Mr Morrison!) and a quick walk with Powell in the rain, we emptied the grey, paid our €12 overnight fee and set off to find some LPG en route to our next destination; Tarifa.

Back on the road and a little bit of home

After 6 weeks and 2 days, we finally left the campsite in Ronda today!  It felt great to be back on the road, despite our first stop being fairly uninspiring; but after 6 weeks of not moving, we didn’t really care!

Life goes on

So we're nearly 5 weeks into life in Ronda and we've been rather lazy lately.  In all honesty, we did have a spell of pretty rubbish weather and it actually SNOWED here last week!  Carmen informed Pete that it doesn't snow in Ronda, but this year it did, just for us.

Standing Stones

It’s almost a fortnight since our last update and 5 weeks on Monday since we arrived in Ronda.  What have we been up to, you may ask...not much really!  They say a rolling stone gathers no moss.  In our case, it’s true and we have found ourselves growing more mossy as the days go by.  Being here so long has also got us pondering our future in the UK and just how soon we should return.

5 more weeks...

It’s been a while since my last update so I figured one was probably about due.

Tomorrow sees the beginning of our 4^th week here on the campsite and I would love to tell you that we’ve had lots of adventures, but we haven’t.

Pearl Jam and Pot

Pete again, It’s only a quick update and not as good as the title would have you believe I’m afraid.

Today marked the occasion of my return to hospital here in Ronda for what I thought was my pot removal and “stitches” out. Sue and I have been counting down the days to the time I had a little more freedom. Clearly I’d still be restricted after the pot comes off but at least I’d be able to scratch an itch and put my hand in my pocket.

Post Op Pete

Happy New Year!!!

Well, as I’m out of hospital and as I'm not allowed to much at all I figured it was my overdue turn to update the blog.

Unforseen circumstances

After visiting Casares on Saturday, we headed to Olvera on Sunday, to another free overnight stop.  There also happens to be another Via Verde there, part of which we intended to ride with Powell before heading to the other end of it at Puerto Serrano and doing the same.  Unfortunately fate intervened.

Leaving Marbella for the mountains

It’s Saturday 27 December and we left the campsite in Marbella this morning.

On Boxing Day, Ash and Mand came over for a final supper and Pete made us a scrummy casserole, which went down well with everyone.  Ash and Mand provided the dessert, Christmas pudding and custard; even in Spain we managed not to miss out on those little British Christmas foibles!  As we were all departing the next day, we managed to not make too late a night of it and were all in bed by midnight....a first all week I think!

New friends and Christmas on the beach!

Christmas has been and gone and we’re still in Marbella.  Well, when I say we’re in Marbella, we’re actually about 5 miles from the centre, but we’re still in the same campsite we were in on Monday!

I'm (not) dreaming of a white Christmas

Following the interesting sights in Orgiva, we made the decision to stick to the countryside for our second day in the area.  We had initially planned to ride out to Lanjaron, around 11km from the campsite we were staying at.  However, I had second thoughts after realising how much uphill cycling was involved so we stuck to the valley instead!

Bikes, booze and bohemians

We finally left Almerimar on Monday, with slightly heavy hearts, but good memories to treasure.  Having eventually spent just over a week there, it was our longest stopover by far.  We’d have been happy to stay for longer, but had decided we needed to move on soon before the restlessness kicked in.  We were also on a mission (well, Pete was...).  After he discovered that his bike is starting to fall apart, he worked out that it would make far more sense to replace the bike than upgrade his exisiting bike and during his internet search, had seen a bargain in a shop in Malaga.  Conscious that it wouldn’t stick around forever and having already spent extensive hours looking for THE perfect bike, he convinced me that it was enough of a bargain to warrant an excessively long drive to go and get it.  Although to be honest, even if I’d objected, I couldn’t have done much anyway as I’m not the driver!

We're Still Alive!

A lack of decent wifi access recently has caused me to neglect the blog a bit, hence the 13 day gap since my last update.

A week in the life...

Sunday 22 November saw us head inland again to a free stopover in Morella.  We were treated to some amazing views, along with some more hair raising bends and sheer drops en route and arrived to an almost empty aire.  It had capacity for at least 20 vans, but there were only 3 of us there and one of those vans left shortly after we arrived, leaving us and another Brit couple from Scotland.