April 30, 2014

At last, today is the day we catch the ferry. We have to leave the hotel before 12 noon but don’t need to be at the ferry terminal until about 7.30pm, so we think we’ll ride the bikes along a cycle track we spotted which heads out alongside the estuary and towards a lighthouse on the point.  Busy main roads in Spain always have a white line marking off a hard shoulder at the side of the road, about a metre wide, which is effectively a cycle track and on the smaller quieter roads there is not enough traffic to need a cycle track.  However, in the cities various attempts are made to create cycle tracks, which, in our experience, usually end abruptly in the middle of nowhere.  This particular cycle track is no exception – it just ends at a set of steps – the alternative being to push the bikes along the sandy beach.  We decide not to get ourselves and the bikes covered in sand at this stage.  Before we turn back we chat to a fellow cycle tourist who was also trying to fill time before catching the ferry.

The day seems to drag by as we wait, but we’re not the only ones.  We spend most of the afternoon watching the various motor homes and camper vans gathering near the port, mostly with GB number plates, and we get asked about our trip by lots of different people.  After what feels like forever, we two, together with about a hundred motor bikes, get the wave to ride up the ramp and get aboard.  Hurray!