Our Plan - Sort Of

Our plan WAS to take a bus to the Spanish coastal town of Tarifa, just west of Gibraltar. Tarifa is at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula on the Costa de la Luz ("coast of light"), and across the Strait of Gibraltar is Tangier and Morrocco. It is the southernmost point of the European continent. The Med & the Atlantic meet here. The influence of the ocean creates a very small annual variation in temperatures. The average daily high in the hottest month, August, is only 9.3 °C above the average lowest temperature during the month of January. It’s a windy spot however, famous for wind and kite surfing. We have booked 3 nights in a hotel in the old town there and will do some hiking and beach walking - it has vast expanses of golden beaches and a bridge to a small island. Hoping to see lots of birdlife.

From Tarifa, we plan to make our way via bike along the coast to Cadiz, a place we really enjoyed last year. It is one of the oldest, continuously inhabited cities in Europe and is almost entirely surrounded by water. From there, the current plan is to go into Portugal, along the south coast, the Algarve. The green line on the left side of the map below is the Portugal border. Neither of us have been to Portugal. Climate and tourism-wise, this would seem to be an ideal time of year - not too hot or crowded. We’ll see what the biking is like….

As those familiar with our mode of travel will know, we stay pretty flexible regarding our routes and don’t book all our accommodation in advance, except for the beginning and end of our trip in Malaga. That allows for diversions, staying longer in places we like or hunkering down in case of bad weather - or illness. We have had little trouble finding places to stay as we are off-season, also making for very reasonable prices. Our little hotel in the old town of Tarifa is €63/night including breakfast.

Arriving and departing from the same place, Malaga, allows us to leave our bike boxes & hockey bags that contained our packed bike panniers - and any extra clothing with Julia, our host in Malaga. Packing for a bike trip is always a challenge for me, a chronic over-packer, unlike Jim, the minimalist. Here’s a pic of my first attempt at home. I have another chance now in Malaga to re-pack.

We actually went to bed at 7:30 pm our second night here after coming back from a late lunch at one of the beach restaurants, our solution to the dinner times here in Spain! Jim had a starter of the espeto de sardinero, skewer of grilled sardines, a traditional dish here. Most beach restaurants have a hut with a wood fire in what looks like a metal boat where they grill them and all other types of fish and seafood. Then we shared a seafood paella with clams, mussels and prawns. Along with a glass of wine and 2 beer, the bill was a very reasonable €43, including a €2.40 servicio.

Yesterday, Jim spent a long morning putting the bikes back together and solving the problem of a missing part for my front bike panniers.

Meanwhile, not being any help with bicycle mechanics, I went for a walk in the neighbourhood shopping area, found a very nice charity shop and got a cashmere/wool sweater & scarf, 50% off for €9. Will it stay behind in Malaga?

That afternoon, we did the lovely bike ride into central Malaga all along the Paseo de Maritimo. As it was Saturday, everyone was out walking or picnicking or eating in the restaurants or lying on the beach. No real swimming going on as the locals think it is too cold.

Our mission was go to the bus station to ask about tickets to Tarifa. To our disappointment, while there are 4 buses a day there, that particular bus line, Avanza, the only one going to Tarifa, will not accept bikes. We took buses with our bikes last year with no issues. They just had to be wrapped and while we used garden refuse bags and tape last year, we came prepared this time - with single bed plastic bags from U-Haul. Back to the nearby train station - no trains to Tarifa from Malaga. Back to the bus station to check with the Alsa bus line, the one we used last year. No, they don’t go to Tarifa. Un problema!

We discuss various options. We could ride - one day we rode almost to Torremolinos last year - but from there it appeared that in order to stay off busy roads, we would have to do a considerable long climb into the Sierra Nevadas. Not exactly how we want to start our trip and we would have additional hotel costs along the way. Eventually, we decide to throw money at the problem and have the bike shuttle deliver us to Tarifa. Not the usual option we would choose, but as we have applied for compensation for our flight delay and it appears we will qualify for €250 each, we will still be ahead. Problema solved and we don’t have to think about it any more.

We had consolation lunch near the harbour at a favorite place, La Canasta Panderia, a chain bakery cafe that makes the best sandwiches ever. We split the yummy Club that comes with little patatas.

Celebrity alert! Richard Gere was in Malaga. He and his Spanish wife have apparently moved to Madrid - good timing I would say - and he was in town to see the show, Gypsy, a production of his good friend, Antonio Banderas.

After a bit of a recoup at home, we walked down to the beach again to watch the sunset.

I managed to read until 9that night and slept til 8am. Think I am caught up now. Today Jim finished putting various things on the bikes. Unfortunately, I realized my new cell phone holder that would allow me to take photos from the bike, won’t work as the camera is blocked by my handlebar bag that rides quite high. But my dashboard is quite full with Jim’s old Garmin, my handy bell, and a new mirror.

Then we rode along the beachfront in the other direction to meet Marianne’s sister-in-law Lori and her husband Ron for lunch in Rincon de La Victoria. They have been coming here for 3 months in the winter for 4 years. They stay in Malaga central for all the Xmas festivities which they say are wonderful and then move to a townhouse in La Cala del Moral, a little further east from where we are. They say it’s not very touristy and people are very friendly.

I wore less clothes today as the temp was supposed to be 24C. It was hotter! But always a nice breeze when you are biking.

We had a great ride, one we did last year, on a bike and pedestrian path along the ocean. Again, all the locals were out walking and biking and we had to occasionally dodge dogs and very small children careening along on tiny bikes.

We found the restaurant on the beach and had a lovely leisurely lunch, getting to know Lori and Ron. Jim and Lori were in high school together in Campbell River but really didn’t know one another. We talked a bit about how much we all miss Jeff, Lori’s brother and Marianne’s husband. Jeff would love Spain. It was fun to actually know someone here to have lunch with - and their Spanish is much better than ours!

So tomorrow is our last day in Malaga before heading into the unknown. Stay tuned!