Tarifa, Spain

110 miles 8773 ft ( most climbing in a day on tour )

Total Tour Mileage 4012

Total Tour saddle time : 11 days 10 hours 40 mins

This is my second attempt at a blog tonight as with tiredness I managed to delete my almost completed one earlier.

   As you can see from the photo we did successfully make it to Tarifa, but earlier in the afternoon it seriously looked as though the whole trip was going to be scuppered with less than 30 miles to go.

The road that we needed to take to avoid Algeciras and the motorway was closed and in bits.

 We had a stark choice, jump in the camper for a couple of stops along the motorway or take a chance. At that moment a road contractors van appeared from behind the closed road signs and sending Nick to ask him the score – the verdict came back bikes ok, camper no. This close, we simply said we had to take the chance and see if we could do it, hoping that our six inner tubes would be enough ( luckily we needed none)

 So bidding goodbye to Nigel and Monica. See you in Tarifa, off we set. Well the whole 19km of the Puerto de Ojen was rough, very rough, apart from one flattened mud section in the middle.

 It took us around an hour and three quarters and we finished covered in white dust and Chris’s backside crying out for some smooth Tarmac.

Even then, just after Nick had done his John Paul 2 impression and kissed the Tarmac he had peaked too early, as it was only 500m worth before another 3km of rough road followed.  The important thing was though we had done it, leaving less than fifteen miles to go on proper roads.

Unlike some tours that finish with an easy 20laps of the Champs-Élysées, this day was always going to be a real challenge and not just a roll over the finish line.

So we started out early, ten minutes before sunrise, with an action packed finish like this far from our minds. Leaving the campsite in Ronda, we hit the main road, lights on and straight up rising over 1000ft in the first 6 miles , seeing the sun rise over these horses on the way. 
Turning off the main road we got our first super road of the day, a brand new bit of Tarmac running down a steep sided valley for around five miles, this then took us into a much larger valley where we followed a river up, Nick, as ever said nice gentle gradient here boys, only for us to be hit with some super steep 13% hills, one which the only large lorry we saw all day struggled to go up any faster than us.

Coffee stop was, as is Nigel’s usual habit, at the top of a hill just after this pretty town of Cortes de la Frontera, and we sat outside, already in the shade, and ended up having a nice chat with a couple from North Shields.

It was just after this stop that we saw our first skeletal cork oak trees that would become a familiar sight for much of the day. 
Nick now provided Chris and me with his comedy moment of the day. Seeing this wake ( great collective noun) of vultures we stopped to take a photo.  As you can see they were still over 100 metres away. Nick said “I will get them to move”. First he yelled- nothing, then he said “got it”, so rang his bike bell – of course nothing. Finally picking up a stone he said “this will scare them into the air”. Chris and I looked at one another and shook our heads, as Nick with all seriousness took a run up and threw the stone about 30 metres, the birds that were probably four times that distance away stayed put- we just laughed. 
After this jollity, there followed quite simply one of the best roads for cyclists on the planet. The A375, 42km of uninterrupted sinuous Tarmac to Alcala de Los Gazules, that wound its way along mountainsides and up and over ridges whilst mostly shaded by cork oaks. Quite simply fabulous, if you are ever this way do take it. All the following photos were taken along its route. 


At the lunch stop on this road, at the top of a hill of course, Nigel and I decided on a tea stop later too, as the day was going to be a bit longer and tougher than expected. Little did we know how long or how tough at that time. 
Alcala, as with most Andalucian villages was at the top of a vicious hill just to ensure we kept pedalling hard. 
After Alcala the road and terrain changed, as we ran on the old A road alongside a motorway. Although, as these photos show we went up and down, as the motorway went over viaducts and through tunnels and had a much easier time. Actually it was quite good fun having a whole road to ourselves, though bizarrely on occasion it did have some very old cycle lanes painted red from when it was in proper use. Most sections were fine although the road was falling apart in patches leading to huge cracks in the Tarmac.

This was the hottest segment of the whole tour, as the temperature reached 100f. 

I had to show you these two unusual sights – a rock with a hole and some Colchique, Autumn Crocus.

After our extra tea stop, came our road from hell, which of course put us way behind schedule and the boys thinking that they would not get to Nicks parents for the evening. They did not, so spent the night in a hotel in Tarifa before flying back on Saturday.

Having finally found the beloved Tarmac and conscious of the time, we were keen to get to Tarifa in daylight,  so with ten miles to go, from somewhere we found the afterburners and in peloton at 20 mph, got to Tarifa just as the sun sank below the waves, with Nigel and Monica, as ever waiting patiently for our arrival. 
Mission accomplished – it shows that someone ordinary can do something extraordinary, if you just put your mind to it.

Have I got another big trip in my mind? Honestly no, and not just because it’s not fair on the family. I’ve done it now, but of course there are still plenty of shorter trips to be done, but I do need to get in some serious brownie points first!

I must say an especial thank you to Nigel and Monica without whom this trip would not have been possible. Nigel in particular has been like a man possessed and aside from riding my bike, planning and discussing the route and eating his food everyday, I really have done very little.

I must also thank Chris and Nick who joined me for the extraordinary trip across Spain, providing company and laughs during some fantastic days cycling, my brother Peter for helping me across Denmark and of course, my wife, Caroline, for letting me pursue such a madcap idea in the first place. The final thank you is to those thousands of cars, vans and trucks that all missed me as they went passed.

Thank you too for reading, sponsoring and commenting on the blog. During those tough bad weather days that support was really felt.

Bye for now.