Sunday night near Estepoba on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain… The start of the cycle approaches fast but here’s a quick summary of the last few days…

If you were paying attention back at the start of March (no? You should be ashamed…) you will remember that shortly after arriving in Spain and immediately prior to my month of language learning in Cádiz, I spent a couple of nights with my uncle and his wife in their very comfortable flat about halfway between Marbella and Estepona. Well, a month later and… I’m back! It’s just my uncle this time as my auntie is away in the UK for a few days but we are fending well for ourselves and enjoying the spring sunshine of Spain. After the day spent in Ronda and then San Roque (see previous post), yesterday’s highlights included sailing in the bay on my uncle’s boat; and today involved a walk to the beach and a drink on the harbour side at Puerto Banús. I could learn to love this lifestyle…

But cycling beckons. Reggie (the bike) was taken to Yep Bikes in San Pedro (just down the road from Estepona) yesterday morning with the hope of fetching him later the same day. But it wasn’t to be. There was no rush; there rarely is when it comes to me and the cycling. I’ll be back there tomorrow to pick him up after his pre trip check up. I’m a little concerned that I’ll have to cycle him along the road back to my uncle’s place. Here’s the route:

Obviously I’ll be cycling during the day but that’s about the only road that there is between the bike shop and where my uncle lives. Despite appearances it’s not the motorway, just a busy dual carriageway.

I spent much of this morning sorting through my cycling bits and pieces. Tomorrow all of what you see below needs to be packed into the four panniers and loaded onto the bike in preparation for Tuesday’s cycle to Gibraltar. After a rummage around the rock in Wednesday morning I’ll be Tarifa bound and then on Thursday 9th April I’ll set off north, destination Nordkapp. Much more of that to come…