Dedicated to a wonderful Mother Jean Noble 31/5/1929 - 20/8/2007 - may we never take our mothers for granted. - Goodbye Mum

SPAIN PAGE 1 JANUARY 2008.

Few “tribes” have had an impact on the world more so than the Spanish. It's language is spoken in many countries, particularly South America, and increasingly in the USA. Spanish explorers are legendary. The paintings above are from Pablo Picasso This multi-talented artist was born on 25 October 1881 in Málaga, Spain to José Ruiz y Blasco and María Picasso y López. We are currently starting our cycling in his home town. Knowing little about this country, Lee and myself are here to learn... Plus tell “our” story about this land the way we see it... Warts 'n all.

Monday 7^th January 2008. Somewhere in Spain to Malaga southern Spain

Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr. Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 15°C (No Stat's)

Driving through the night with only short “nap's” at the wheel (when it was stopped of course).. We covered 1,300+ Kilometres and arrived in Malaga at 10:45AM... We now had to find accommodation and somewhere to store our bikes, as we had no time to assemble them. Dog tired we had some luck, the first hotel we called in had a room and were willing to provide a storeroom to put our bike parts until we could assemble them.

We then set about the task of finding Europcar and washing/vacuuming the vehicle. We completed this bloody frustrating “duty” with only minutes to spare... The car was returned and an “all clear” issued to us. We are budget travellers with a VERY tiny budget that is being whittled away faster than we want, despite ALL our efforts. So we caught a bus back into the centre of this huge city, rather than the easy option of a taxi. Armed with “tourist maps” from our hotel we walked the one and a half hours from the bus drop off point to our hotel. Seriously exhausted we went to our room and fell into bed - it was about 7.00pm (19hrs). Catchya Later...

Tuesday 8^th January 2008. Malaga southern Spain to Torremolinos
Approx. 19.63k's Average Speed 10.31kph Cycling time 1Hr. 54Min Max speed 38kph Max temp we recorded 17°C (No Stat's)

Waking only briefly for a drink and an “orientating” look at our surroundings we quickly fell asleep again, awaking at 10:45AM. We were then to be given our next “shock”. Our intentions were to stay where we were – go to the tourist centre for free maps etc.. Do some shopping and buy one particular map recommended by another cyclist, Kenneth Fant of Sweden. Kenneth has been emailing us with excellent information based on his own cycling experience in the area.

I went down to reception at 11:30 to pay the extra day..... Sitting in the lounge, waiting were the next occupants of “our” room.. Dam!!! We were told we had 30 minutes to get out... Language difficulties have caused us this problem – nobody's fault (except perhaps ours for not recognising this). We vacated the room in record time then set about the task of assembling our bikes.... We moved all the parts into the street and placed them on our “tarps”.... when guess what? It started to rain!!!

Both of us were still somewhat tired and our bikes needed a bit more than just put back together. As most recumbent cyclists know, re assembly – unless the disassembly was done with plenty of time available – can mean some fine tuning. By about 3PM (15hrs) we finished this task... the Hotel management took pictures and placed them on their web site http://tinyurl.com/2dntyv and we took pictures of them :-)

The hotel manager, “Antonio” tried very hard, but in vain, to find us another 1 star or even two star hotel. He suggested we cycle 10-15 or so k's to Torremolinos, where we were almost certain to find something, as it was “winter” and many hotels had rooms available. BTW for those wondering, there are NO campsites open.

The ride became a nightmare.. Road works COMPLETELY blocked ANY attempt to get there by “back roads”, we took the “freeway”. Ridding on the freeway hard shoulder,

the noise and pollution became unbearable... Once we had crossed a (the) river we knew we could get off ASAP and find a way without this insanity. We spotted a pedestrian overpass and headed straight for it.

Looking at the madness bellow we both felt relieved we were off the thing..

Once over we found (like almost everything here) it went “nowhere” - not finished the other side.... After manhandling the bikes up a steep embankment (you can just see on the left of the above photo) we found a road... In another half hour we were in Torremolinos. With the help of a nice Welsh couple,

we found a hotel willing to take our bikes... Here they are parked in their room :-)

No internet, but dinner and breakfast included... we collapsed into a troubled sleep. The absolute fanatical pace of the last few days taking it's toll.. From the third until the eighth of January, we have travelled over 2,700 kilometres by train, car, bus, bike and foot. We crammed everything except sleep into this adventure and overcame every obstacle. WE are both truly exhausted....
Wednesday 9^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr. Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 16°C (No Stat's)

Remain Torremolinos for three nights to recover and repair.
Thursday 10th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 17°C (No Stat's)
Remain Torremolinos

Friday 11^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 19°C (No Stat's)

Remain Torremolinos
Saturday 12^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 20°C (No Stat's)

Found a campsite open and moved there.... Will remain Torremolinos for bureaucratic reasons... We need to fix a few money problems.

Sunday 13^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 12°C (No Stat's)

Remain Torremolinos. Torrential rain, cool temperatures.

Monday 14^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 18°C (No Stat's)

Remain Torremolinos

Tuesday 15^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. 35.18k's Average Speed 9.15kph Cycling time 3Hr(s) 51Min Max speed 39kph Max temp we recorded 18°C
(Collective Stat's from last few days around Torremolinos)

Remain Torremolinos... We learned from the “long Term” inhabitants of the Caravan park, that stays over a week or more attract a substantial discount. There are NO discounts for tents??? The motorhomes and their powered sites are €10pn ($AUD17:20) and we are €18.90pn ($AUD32.50) – figure that one out – we cannot!

Wednesday 16^th January 2008. Torremolinos
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded 16°C (No Stat's)

Remain Torremolinos...

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