23 - 28 April 2017

It was time to go back to Spain again, but this time I crossed the border by boat instead of a bridge.

On Sunday I had to pack everything back in, what took a lot of time. After I said goodbye to Vodka the dog I left the house of Gerald. It was a warm day, but cycling went well. There were a lot of small roads with less cars. After some hills I arrived in Albufeira. I stayed at a couchsurfer, but he had to leave at 6 PM to go to work. Later he seemed to be the worst host I ever met. I made onionsoup in his microwave, because there was nothing else to cook and he offered me the prepared chocolate bread from the supermarket. That's fine for breakfast or lunch, but not for dinner after a day cycling. I ate the soup while I watched a movie on Netflix and after that I went to sleep. He had offered me to sleep in his bed, like his friends do, but I'm not one of his friends, so I resisted. The other option was a matress on the floor. Sounds fine, but not if you know it was only 2 cm thick. That was not even the worst, because when I almost fell asleep, he came home and tried to wake me up. I acted like I was sleeping, because I was to tired. He turned on the lights and the music and after a while he started calling with a fired. For two hours! I thought about packing my stuff and leaving, but the cold outside withhold me from that idea. I only slept about four or five hours that night and in the morning I left as soon as I could. That was definitely not what couchsurfing should be like. At the supermarket I indulged myself with a nice chocolate brioche croissant breakfast and after that I had enough new energy to start cycling. The weather was sad, but there were a lot of small roads that lead to Faro. From Faro I cycled to Santa Catharina and then through the hills where Victoria lived on her Permaculture farm. She is trying to be so self-sufficient as possible. She was a lot better as the last host I stayed. We had good conversations and I had the whole room and a bed for myself.

The next morning I had breakfast with peanutbutter, what is hard to find in a supermarket here. I didn't say goodbye to Victoria, because she was meditating and I didn't want to interrupt her. The cycling started with a tough climb through the hills, bur luckily that was only on the beginning of the day. In Vila Real de Santo Antonio I took the boat to Ayamunto and I was back in Spain! I followed the Via Verde del Litorral, what means: green road along the coast. In the beginning that was fine, but at a moment it started to be really green. Litteraly! First with some sand, followed by an fallen tree and a lot of mud and thorns. In the end there was a muddy puddle with a small road on the side. After I crossed that I was completely done with it and pitched my tent a couple meters further. After I cooked pasta I fell tired asleep.

On Wednesday I tried to continue the cycle path, but soon there was another puddle, so I went over the parking lot of a big farming company to the bigger car road. I went to Huelva and cut off a little bit by following a canal through a forest. Cyclists are actually not supposed to ride that road, but I was not the only one, so I took the chance. Later there was also an cyclepath (with asphalt) through a swamp, what was nice actually. From Huelva I followed a car road again and a little bit after Almonte I found a bit of forest without a sign that said camping was not allowed, so I pitched my tent there.

The next day I had a lot of time, because the warmshower where I was going to stay would not be home before 6 PM. So I took my time and followed the N-road through the forest. I arrived early in Sevilla and cycled a little bit around and red my book before I went to José Maria. There I had a nice shower and we talked about different things.

Today I slept a little bit longer and I want to walk to the centre of Sevilla again, but it is raining pretty hard. Maybe later. Now it is time to do my laundry and read more in my book.

For lunch José Maria took me to a small restaurant where we had tapas with his colleagues: Alejandro, Antonio, Paco and Valle. They don't speak very good English, but we had a really nice time!

I cycled 55,5 km on Sunday, 77,8 km on Monday, Tuesday I did 61,3 km, Wednesday it was 89,2 km and Thursday I cycled 60,2 km.