All Charged Up!

Still here in Tarifa A bike ride started our day as we thought we’d try riding sans battery.  The shoulder was wide enough but soon realized that to see the beaches and other sites we’d be better to drive and then park and walk walk.  It turned into a long and busy day and now i’m too tired to write more.  So without knowing that we would be here at all and now spending 4 days, it’s been a eye opening wonder.   Tarifa .  Who knew it even existed?  Same with Zafra.  Even Cacéres .  To have adventure and surprises and still be comfortable and safe = heart happy. ❤️. When we started traveling by bike, we were fully loaded, I.e., bikes, camping, tents, etc.  From there to the credit card type of travel = much lighter!  And the. For the last 7 years the Camino in one form or another has been our passion.  So due to the circumstances of this trip , we are in another transition time.  And that’s ok.  I choose to think of spacious...

We’ve rented this apartment for 4 nights and it feels like home!! Very comfortable clean and though it doesn’t have an ocean view we are close enough to feel the ocean breezes.  We spent today settling in, washing most all of our clothing , going to the grocery store so we can play house for 4 days!   We’ve had some good discoveries on this trip that we had not planned on including Salamanca , Cacéres , Zafra , and now Tarifa. Truthfully we are not missing our bikes and it feels luxurious to stay put in this lovely home and journey out either cycling or walking for the days and have this place to come back to. Maybe we’re transitioning to another form of adventure? Maybe that’s what we’re learning. We are 15 kilometers from Tangier.  But Tarifa, as Rick Steves explains has all that Tangier’s has mi us the begging which I don’t relish experiencing .  The old town is a tangled web of cobbled streets with all kinds of shops and foods.  And we now have Amazon Prime ...

Zafra At the bus station on the way to Merida.  Who knows where we’ll be tonight? Last night in Zafra having salads at the hotel where Carlos works.  Ta da!! And here we are enjoying the sunset over the Costa De Luz.  Tarifa, Andalusia 

And so now we have secured our bus tickets to Merida tomorrow morning to hopefully rent our car. A few photos to try to capture the feeling in the plaza this afternoon as we have mixed emotions upon listening to the news.

Here we are resting and enjoying Zafra on a lazy summer Sunday.  In a while we’ll walk over to the bus station and figure out how to get to Merida tomorrow morning and hopefully pick up a car and continue our journey with the freedom of a car.  Fingers crossed the plan works.   Meanwhile, what’s wrong with being in sunshine in a beautiful town with great food, friendly people, lots of walking options , safe, comfortable hotel and enjoying our time together?   Time out of mind, right? Happy Sunday! 

Here we are still in Zafra powerless, at least in bike terms.  So the plan was to catch a bus at 1pm from Zafra BACK to Merida to rent a car, leaving our luggage at the hote here so we could return with car and pick up bikes and panniers and carry on.  We waited at the bus station until after 2 to no avail, walked back to town to figure out the next option.  Next bus was to leave at 4.  Services on weekends are sketchy in countries that actually close and take time off.  New plan: stay here until Monday, catch a bus and rent a car. The town is lovely. We changed hotels because the first one was booked for Saturday night as are most of them here. So now we are in a spacious room in a castle, Parador style and enjoying it all.  Saturday night and everyone is out with families, kids playing in the plaza, parents sitting outside so we are fine and frankly enjoying the slower pace.  Fingers crossed our plan for the car rental works tomorrow.  

Merida to Zafra 44 miles And this day turned us on our heads or wheels. About 15 miles outside of Zafra, Craig’s eassist quit.  Flat out quit.  So on his own power with the weight of the panniers over 30 pounds plus the weight of the bikes with batteries and motor he prevailed .  I couldn’t have.  I did my best in the first gear but we arrived , yes we did in Zafra.   After checking in we spent over an hour on a chat with Bike Friday to try to figure out how to troubleshoot and fix the problem which was isolated to some wiring somewhere.  Tricky .   Can’t say enough about the help we received from the proprietor, Carlos, of the hotel we’re at - right in the middle of the main square.  Well, this put a glitch in our plans.  But dinner was magnificent and we drank a whole bottle of wine! An almond liquor Carlos gave us The road was car free mostly with a great surface but many hills.

Caceres to Merida 45 miles We left around 10 am, found our way out of town a lot easier than finding our way in after having had a huge lunch of salmorejo and roast chicken .  Up until that time , CC had refrained from shouting to me, “Marilyn, stay over. “ The usual refrain as he thinks I beer to the center line and risk my life.  I have to appreciate his concern.  Anyway, I was trying to digest my food and so my attention was going in a different direction.  And then we were approaching the city, Cacéres , and I was concerned that I would definitely NOT be able to digest, ride, and follow google maps as we navigated the traffic entering the city .  In the past, on other caminos we always have names we call each other when we are annoyed with each other’s behavior.  So of course CC came up with a new one for me which he then promptly forgot but now has remembered.  (Can you tell I’m on glass #2?) Enough of that. The day rolled so well.  The weath...

Oh the weather outside is drizzling and since we are taking the slow and easy road and since Cacéres is a fun place to wander, we are staying another night but changing hotels.  The cost of the hotel we are at is going up to $150.00 per night because there is a huge convention in town and all hotels are booked .  Convention of all EU countries: let’s hope they solve the world’s crises.   The weather looks perfect from tomorrow on.   More as the day unfolds.  For now: My true love ever more Lm We are so happy with our new abode.  We have an apartment to ourselves high up in the old town.  It took some wrong turns to find a way up without climbing stairs.  Now we’re settled and so happy.  We just had lunch at a tapas place with delicious food and wine all for 11 Euros.   And lo and behold we are in the exact place that some of Game of Thrones as filmed in!  It’s not advertised, not overrun; just looking as it always has and the cloud ...

Crossing the river to Salamanca These photos did not come in in order .  Our  rhythm begins.  Charging the batteries, the lights, the phones!   Here’s the rice dish.  chanfaina   and to round out the day, ingredients:  You will probably need to special order the blood and perhaps even the lamb tripe, liver, and trotters from a good butcher, although some Asian markets regularly carry pork blood.  Craig ordered carpaccio of beef for dinner and was not thrilled.   Tomorrow is another day!  Gothic cathedral And the Camino found us once again. 

Villar de Plasencia to Grimaldo - 41 miles Sunshine greeted us in the morning though daybreak does not come until 8:30.  We do not object to late starts.  Everything worked well.  Batteries were charged.  Panniers organized and loaded on bikes.  We had breakfast while talking with the señor of the place.  TV in the background showed the violence happening right now in Barcelona over the separatist situation.   About 10 AM we took off rather exuberant to finally be riding.  Our first stop was to visit the Roman Ruins site and ride a bit on the walking route of the Via De La Plata.  Leaving our pension We are T Stage 1 of the Spanish Euro route that starts in Norway and goes through the British Isles, Belgium , France and Spain. And on we ride, shedding layers as the temperature warms up into the low 60s.  Perfect for riding. Our hostel for the night was recommended by someone who just rode the VDLP.  I found his blog and communicated...