Friday, October 25th 11:34pm

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!

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1uN7PgYS7PW-a8jzEPzrg_NNaskAhK8f2
An almond liquor Carlos gave us

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1rkDFPndRLU83QbhtG5-9XnYIDK1TOWyDhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1d9hu4_b3TAlQ9lKn-AO_WGUba_Or-vbZhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1-fBvFP9SErwSUdziuus6k2qt8Zwvcx32https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1yCHVGqFfHcqI0iuFfz3ZoM7mxbnBxOGl

The road was car free mostly with a great surface but many hills.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saturday, October 26th Casa Palacio Conde de la Corte

Image
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.  
Read more

October 19 Day 2 in Salamanca Hotel Trypp After a record breaking 11 hours of sound sleep another cameo breakfast appearance called. Love the tomato purée to put on bread among the many other delights . Off to Salamanca we went on our bikes! Our hotel is a bit out of town, across the river. We were intent upon finding a certain bike store to check out and tune up our bikes but found José at Bicycletas Palacio. Perfect! Little hole in the wall repair place and for 24 Euros each he had our bikes adjusted and ready to rock and ride. In the meantime, we strolled the town feeling in sync with the world. Beautiful college town, university founded in 1100,a UNESCO world heritage site and just the right size to experience. Recommended by José we found the Jockey Club a locally patronized restaurant and tried the typical dish of Salamanca, chanfaina. I shall share the ingredients and say no more.

Image
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. 
Read more

Monday, October 28

Image
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 
Read more