Hola!

Kilometers cycled so far: 4431

Well, it's that time again. I hope this Lowe-down finds you all well and a big thanks to those who have sent me an email. You swamped me, but I love getting them, so keep 'em coming!

Alto Alentejo (Central Portugal):

After some cracking days going down the coast, it ended with some bad weather the day I left Lisbon. Lisbon is not very bike friendly, so I left via a ferry across the Tejo, which would have been really nice on a fine day, but you get that.

Apart from a few castles on the way (surprise, surprise), the medieval walled town of Evora was the highlight, which was beautiful, even in the rain. Closer to the Spanish border, I met a Queensland couple also doing the cycle thing, so it great to catch up for lunch and swap a few stories with them.

Extremandura (Western Spain):

I left the rain in Portugal and then hit the towns of Caceres and Trujillo. The Spanish really have the knack for nicely preserving their old towns - you feel like you're in a time warp when you walk around them.

I knew I was back in Spain, with some nice hill climbs on my way to Guadalupe, where I pretty much had the campground to myself. The tourist drawcard of Guadalupe is it's monastery. Even though I've seen loads of old stuff (castles, cathedrals, churches and towns) I was still blown away by the intricateness of the stone work on that baby.

Madrid:

I realized that I didn't get my dose of culture for LD No. 2. So I made up for it here with an art overload - visiting 3 of the big name museums in Madrid: the Prado, Reina Sofia and the Thyssen Bornemisza. So, I've now seen enough pictures of The Crucifixion to last me a life time. But don't get me wrong, I was glad I took the chance to see them while I was there.

Aragon and Catalunya (Eastern Spain):

Just out of Madrid, I had one really memorable day was when I was having some mechanical problems as I hit the village of Vellisca (Vellisca doesn't have much to offer in the way of tourist attractions and is very out of the way). But there was an english speaker in the local bar and asked if there was a local workshop that might be able to help me - there wasn't. However, there was a local cycle enthusiast and I was lead to his house. Miguel was having a family BBQ, but didn't mind replacing the crank and chainrings, while I was sat down and fed salad and sausages! By the time I left, there were about 20 people looking on. One of them assured me that Vellisca is the best village in Spain and from this experience I'd have to agree.

Then it was on to Cuenca, a town perched on the side of a mountain range. Pretty spectacular stuff, so hopefully the photos turn out OK. From there, I stuck to the minor roads through a series of small towns as I continued west. Aragon is one of most untouristified areas I've been to so far in Spain. Quiet roads and clear spring days made cycling though the varied landscape of the plains a fantastic experience.

I hit the coast just south of Tarragona and followed it around to Barcelona. It was near Tarragona that I was confronted with a Gold Coast style array of, high rise hotels/apartments, English style pubs and "Traditional" Fish and Chip shops (reminded me of Ibiza). It was quite a shift from the isolation I'd felt the days before.

I've spent today wandering around Barcelona and will be staying here for another week for a rest (?!?). I've lined up a German mate for a weekend of partying and Barcelona is defiantly the place for it. There'll probably be another dose of culture at some stage too (does watching a Barcelona FC game count?).

Well, that's about it for this month... From here I'm northward bound for Andorra, the south of France and then on to Corsica and Sardinia. So until next month....

Hasta luego,
Rob


Copyright, Robert Lowe 2002.