END OF SUMMER - week 5 : from April 1 to April 8.

Hello all of you !
Those of you who think that Andalucia stands for all-day sun and scorching heat I have to disappoint. Maybe the comparison holds for the rest of the year but not during the two weeks I’m crossing the region. The endless summer of the Spanish costas is a far away memory, but don’t they say that every cloud has a silver lining ?

After the warm welcome by the De Smedt family it’s time to pay a visit to popular Torremolinos and Nerja, situated on a cliff nearby sandy bays. The exhausting trip to Ronda – built on a heavy limestone rock and situated above a very steep cleft, I won’t easily forget. It took me more than 7 hours in very poor weather to get my bike, my complete household and of course myself to the top of it.

It’s the Easter holiday which means that now and then I meet some Belgian tourists. But I also get to know Douglas, an English adventurer in his fifties who teaches me how to cook. Do you know, for instance, how you make the best cheese sauce ? You take a bit of spread cheese, add some water and let it melt slowly. Who said that cooking was difficult?

Entering a new village is always funny: local people start talking to me and I get involved into a one way conversation in which my only line is "si, si" Most of the time I haven’t the slightest idea what they are talking about!
Last week I asked the way to a villager and he invited me in to meet his wife. She offered me the best macaroni I’ve tasted for ages and provided me with extra supplies, specially made for ‘ciclistas’ she said. But this is about the only word I understood in the whole conversation.

In Seville, the capital of Andalucia lying on the banks of the Guadalquivir river I’m taking a break. Due to the persistent rain, I put my bike aside for two days. Lots of time to go playing tourist as today no washing will be done : no sunshine, no washing on the line !
For those of you who, on a visit to Sevilla are looking for a camping site, I have a very useful hint : Search the sky for a landing plane, and in the extension of the runway ……… yes, there it is ………… the camping site ! Good night!