Day 139
Farewell to The Rock
We were ready to get back on our bikes after our time off in Gibraltar, but before we left The Rock we had one more challenge to do, ride the road around its base. The height of the buildings and the sun meant my Garmin was playing up and hard too see, but it was just one road, so should be simple right? Well I managed to lead us into a dead end into some big industrial building. No one seemed the least bit bothered by our presence, even happily directing us to a lift to get out!
Back on the road, the high rises and the majority of the traffic disappeared and we could enjoy the views of Africa and Spain. We were treated to a few tunnels, then we came to Europa Point, the University was here, a lighthouse and the southernmost Mosque in continental Europe. Opened in 1997, the building was a gift of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. It faces south towards the Straits of Gibraltar and Morocco. We didn’t linger as we had the longest tunnel on the island to ride through. Constructed in 1960, it was named the Keightley Way after the governor of Gibraltar at that time. At just less than half a kilometre in length it was our longest tunnel to date, as it is now only a one way system we had plenty of space to enjoy it.
Then we were ready to return to Spain, just one little matter of a plane due to depart. The road connecting The Rock to Spain is also the airport runway, owned by the Ministry of Defence for the use of the RAF, but also used by civilian airlines. Tom and I loved waiting at the red light to see the Easy Jet plane depart. I don’t think the locals were quite as excited.
Finally, back in Spain we headed up into the hills on a fabulous newly surfaced cycle path which eventually, after a particular steep hill, just ended! Fortunately, there was a wire and wood gate that popped us out onto a roundabout on the A7. This is the coastal road that links all the seafront resorts along the coast. It is also the EV8, our designated cycle route. For the first time in Spain, we were on a very busy road, no wide hard shoulder to ride on, no option but to ride it as there appears to be no other road. In other parts of Spain cycles are not allowed on many ‘A’ roads and clearly most of the traffic felt we shouldn’t be on this one. We diverted off at any point we could, but this then meant the challenge of getting a space in the traffic to get back on. Suffice to say we hated every minute. It is clear that cyclists were simply not considered at all in the design stage and to rectify this now would be a monumental task. We spent Friday evening at a campsite, chatting with a lovely couple, Mandy and Mo, who were touring in their camper van. Over a breakfast of toast that Mandy kindly made us, we mentally prepared ourselves to return to the A7. Mandy even suggested they could give us a lift. We declined this kind offer, hoping that the road would be quieter on a Saturday morning. It wasn’t. We utilised every chance to leave it, from slip roads to boardwalk along the beach, even riding along a tiny strip of concrete behind the crash barrier at one point. Finally, Feungirola came into view. Within minutes we were off the A7 and riding on a cycle path. We are having a few nights with our friends Pam and David, who we had last seen in Anglesey. No mistakes this time over our meeting place. Time to drink, eat, chat and relax!
