Spain - Conil la Frontera to Ayamonte

Day 20 - Thursday 16 May, Conil la Frontera to Ayamonte

Thursday dawned clear and bright if somewhat breezey and we were up for breakfast as soon as the hotel restaurant opened at 8.30am - we seemed to be the only guests. We had about 200 miles to get to Ayamonte, where Badger's in-laws have a holiday place so we decided to have a motorway day - Cadiz for elevenses, lunch in Seville and Supper in Ayamonte. My neck and arm were still pretty sore even after the rest day, so the first stop was a farmacia for some more Ibuprofen tablets and gel. We then headed off onto the motorway for a brisk spin up to Cadiz.

The temperature started to soar as the morning progressed and we were soon glad of the fairly stiff breeze to keep cool. The approach to Cadiz is quite dramatic there's a huge long narrow causeway that leads into Cadiz, which is situated on the southern side of a huge bay. Cadiz felt like a huge moderm town, but Badger had reconnoitered the route into the historic section the previous day. We stopped to take some photos of the place including a huge tree with massive trunk and branches, which is near the University.

Part of the Historic Quarter of Cadiz

An Amazing Tree

A Tiny Part of the Harbour at Cadiz

We got back on the bikes to search for a cafe for elevenses but before we had found somewhere with convenient parking for the bikes we found ourselves in the ultra-modern port district. Cadiz has a seriously big port and - like most big ports - has an equally confusing road system, we quickly gave up on the idea of stopping and just tried to find our way out - this resulted in about 20 minutes of going round in circles before we found our way to the motorway for Seville. We had to ride for about another 30 miles before we came to a service station where we filled up the bikes and stopped for a coffee. The motorway had started out reasonably empty, but as we neared Seville it started to fill up with traffic. About 20 miles before Seville there was a sign for a Pay Station so we attempted to get off the motorway at that point. This was a bad move - we had to pay to get off - then found that the easist way in was by the motorway and had to pay to get back on - DOH!

We were soon in Seville following the signs for the city centre. Badger asked a local biker for directions to the main station and he kindly lead all the way there. We were soon right in the centre of town on the South Bank of the Guadalquivir. Rather than mucking about we parked the bikes up and went for lunch at the local kebab shop, which was both cheap and delicious and much lighter than the kebabs you find in the UK. It was a real flying visit - lunch, a few snapshots and then head off for Ayamonte, but what we saw of the place it felt like a very young an vibrant place - definitely worth a proper visit.

Kebabs for Lunch

A Plaza

A Carriage Ride

Municipal Bike Hire

A Moorish Building

The Guadalquivir

Suitably refreshed after lunch we followed the road along the river looking for a place to cross and exit the City. Ayamonte is more or less due West of Seville on the A49 motorway, but Badger had plotted a much more circuitous route that took in a northerly loop that involved much more mountaineous terrain, however we really needed some local knowledge so we stopped at the first place we could find outside Seville. This turned out to be a bar in a sleepy little place called Castileja de Guzman. Badger found an English-speaking off-duty policeman, who strongly advised us against our proposed route, so Badger plotted out a much flatter route that roughly followed the motorway a few miles to the north.

This turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon's ride. We were now riding across a very fertile, rich plain quite often passing horses in the surrounding fields. The roads were mostly empty so we were able to make good time only slowing down for the many small towns we quickly passed through. I was out in front and shortly before we rejoined the motorway near Huelva, Badger suddenly stopped. I went back to see what the matter was. Badger had been listening to music on his iPhone, which was in his tank bag, when he went over a bump and the iPhone went flying. We split up to look for the missing phone, which Badger managed to find before another vehicle ran it over. Amazingly it was still working despite the screen being badly scratched. Reunited with his iPhone we continued on our way, we filled up at a nearby garage then got onto the motorway for the last few miles into Ayamento.

We pulled into Ayamento at about 5 o'clock and followed the signs to the tourist office. Ayamento is right on the border with Portugal and is a long narrow seaside town, which was built long before cars came into existence. The main street is a decent size, but many of the side streets are narrow cobbled alleys and the tourist office is in one of these. Badger had pulled his Triumph into about the only space near the tourist office and I was blocking access to a busy side street, so I went to find a better parking spot - unfortunately there wasn't one and as the street was one-way I ended doing about a 2 mile circuit of the town to get back to the tourist office. The only place to park was on the pavement, which was quite narrow and had a fairly high kerb and I got the front wheel onto the pavement, but didn't have enough momentum to get the back wheel on. I got my left leg down but the bike was at a bad angle, I didn't have the strength to keep it up and dropped it and went tumbling into the street with a loud crash. Badger and the Tourist Office staff came running out and helped me up, Badger and I got the bike up - fortunately the only thing that was hurt was my dignity, and the bike got a few more scratches.

Badger got us fixed up at a local hotel, so we rode round. They didn't have any parking nut let us park in front of the hotel entrance. This involved mounting another kerb and a ramp, but I was very careful how I did this and Badger gave me a hand to park the bike safely. The hotel was rather nice and reasonably priced so we got separate rooms, unloaded the bikes, got showered and changed ready for the evening. We had adjacent rooms overlooking a small park and Badger claimed he could see a Zebra from his room. As we walked into town to meet up with in-laws it turned out that the park was a zoo and Badger had seen a Zebra. We walked into the town centre to meet up with Badger's sister-in-law Jane and her husband Mark and a couple of their friends - Jane and Johnny.

Badger in Ayamonte

Apes at the Zoo

A Memorial in Ayamonte

We met up with everyone at a restaurant in the main square in town. It was rather nice to have some different company for a change. Mark and Jane had chosen an excellent place for supper and the wine and beer flowed quite freely. My memory of the latter part of the evening is very hazy, I am ashamed to admit that I rather overdid it on the booze, particularly the local spirits and needed some assistance from Badger to get back to the hotel and was very relieved to crawl into bed and instantly fall asleep.

Day Summary

Day -	20
Miles Covered in Day	200 approx.
Miles Covered in Trip	3130 approx.