Of saying goodbye, rain, wind & andalusian sun

After eight days of riding I reached El Viso del Alcor near Seville where I am staying with Coral, a friend of mine. A welcome refuge and time to repose from the first 500 plus kms. I still need some getting used to the heavy bike so a day or two off will do some good.

But lets beginn with the farewell in Madrid: After a last hearty and (for me) very emotional breakfast with a lot of friends, Nacho and Guillermo as well as avid cyclists Alicia & Alvaro (who also run the fantastic website dedicated to bicycle-touring www.rodadas.net/), took to give me company during the first kilometers on the "anillo verde ciclista" that surrounds Madrid.

A welcome help as I had absolutely NO clue about the right way out of Madrid.

The next days passed by quite fast, heading south I hit the quietest roads I could figure out on my map, had coffee in small villages, bought fruit and vegetables in tiny shops owned by old grandmas or friendly marrocans that willingly gave me tips for exploring Morroco.

Thanks to caravandrivers and sheppards, I set up my tent each night savely in quite spectacular surroundings, near to roman ruins, besides a medieval castle, in the Cijara national reserve park or simply in a wood nearby.

I also had the first minor problems with the equipment, e.g. a stove that would not light, a flagpole that snapped (repaired by now) and there was also the large cable including lock that for sure found a new owner by now because I left it at some fountain in a castillian village and did not notice until 30 kms and several hours later. I REALLY wasn´t in the mood to cycle back and look for it.

Weatherwise, I had "un poco de todo" these first days. In Extremadura I had cold nights, one day of slight but steady rain (which I withstood thanks to my raingear and a dose of music from my MP3 player), the next day should bring dry weather but a fierce wind that changed from side- to headwind at will and crossing into Andalucia the sun decided to shine brightly and the temperatures rose to over 20 degrees Celsius. Time for sunglasses, shorts and sunburnt face....

All in all, I would say I had a great start and am happy that I chose to cycle across Spain in this time of the year. So far I loved the countryside and enjoyed the great scenery of the Sierras in Extremadura and Andalucia (although, I suffered with the climbs and ups and downs with the laden bike).

Well, El Viso is a memorable stop-over because of the fact that I gave my first TV interview on (and about) this trip, for the local TV chanel Canal 12. I was quite surprised when they offered to interview me but have to admit I was really nervous during the whole affair. The program will be aired this friday (sorry, in El Viso only) and you will be able to see it someday soon on Youtube.

On Wednesday I´ll head for Carmona and then south towards the cycleroute "Via Verde de la Sierra" that runs from Coripe to Olvera, my destination being Ronda where I might spend some days.