Mari and Dave

• every town has some old folks that will glare at you with faces that look like they have been sucking lemons;
• six well equipped touring cyclists passing through a small country town caused many to stare;

  
  

• Rob, our superstar navigator, somehow managed to have us to ride uphill to enter a town and uphill to leave it. Ok figure that one out! .

  
  

• car and scooter drivers are incredibly tolerant and considerate to cyclists. We would get honks of encouragement and honks of warning.

  
  

• In every town we would see a stray dog confidently walking along the sidewalk with an air of importance. We could never figure out where the dogs were going.
• The town of Tarifa had the highest number of “petable” dogs.
• The birds (pigeons and sparrows) are quite aggressive when you sit on the patio. They would swoop in quite close to your head and then boldly walk right under the table between your feet.
• The Sierra Nevada’s are big mountains.

  
  

• Stopping for lunch at a small town cafe, you will see the “help” run out to the grocery store right after you placed your order. The food was always good.
• This part of Spain is known for it’s Serrano Ham yet we never saw a single pig farm in our travels. Where do they hide them?
• Each hotel has a rating on it’s front door. The one and two stars hotels were quite good.

  
  

• Watching the morning migration of the older folk walking down the street in front of our hotel in Lanjaron on their way to the “healing waters” baths. They all carried an almost empty plastic grocery bag.
• Most stores shut down in the afternoon, around 2pm. Some of them opening again at 5pm or 6pm or 8pm. In some cases they would reopen whenever they felt like it.
• Roman ruins everywhere but hard to find as modern buildings surround the ruins.
• Lots of people fully kitted out on mountain bikes. Curious to find out more about the mountain bike trails.
• Discovered a new ride food: fresh ginger cake slathered with butter and topped with two thin squares of chocolate. And it tasted sooooo good as we were walking our bikes up a steep, loose gravel road through the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves.
• 
  
• 
  
• Only lizards, goats and crazy cyclists travel through the high road passes of the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves.
• 
  
  
• In one day, you can cycle in three different countries: Great Britain (Gibraltar) to Spain to Morocco (Tanger).
• The ferries between Spain and Tanger are never on time.
  

  
  

• Gibraltar was like a “frozen in time” piece of Britain with the most fascinating mix of accents.
  

  
  

• Thank goodness the medina (old town) in Tanger was built on the side of hill so when we were disoriented we were able to find our own way out. Just head down the hill.
  

Our fellow travelers on this adventure also have posted some blogs entries.  Have a look at: Rob’s and Jennie and Rich’s websites.