Day 5 - Almerimar to Torre Del Mar

I woke up early in Almerimar and didn't dare open the curtains to look outside for a weather check. Instead I went over to the washer dryer in the utility room to check on my clothes which I had left in there on a dry cycle before I collapsed into bed.  They were all bone dry which was great but the inner soles of my cycling shoes had perished in the heat. The last thing I did last night was to use the hair dryer to dry my shoes by holding the button on for as long as I could before it blew up whilst inserting the end deep into each shoe.  I thought it would be a good idea to remove the inner soles and add these to the dryer load.  Big mistake !! The heat must have melted them.

I added what was left of them back into the shoes and when I put my foot in I hoped it would still do the job it was made for.  I had lost the ability to give a damn anymore so what will be will be.

Breakfast was just some water Adam the manager gave me the night before. I plucked up the courage to open the curtains and take a look outside. It was cloudy but dry.  It was so eerie out there as in the near dark just as the first hints of morning light edged into view all I could see was a huge hotel complex with a hundred dark lonely balconies of unoccupied apartments across from mine looking down onto a deserted pool and children's playground area.  You could hear a pin drop. Luckily I could not hear a rain drop.....

OK. One look at the bike told me that it was now going to become a battle of keeping this going more than the motivation to keep the driver going. It was in a really bad state. It creaked and grinded in pain from the battering it had had the last few days. Yesterday was horrendous with the constant sandy rain penetrating every part of him and I had no idea how it would make it through without major issues. I had 3 days to go !!

I got dressed, left the hand me downs in the room and headed off to see what Day 5 would have in store. I rode the bike all the way down the corridor and took the lift down to the deserted reception where I just left my key card on the counter and headed out into the early morning light.

Today from memory was going to be a coastal hugging day and the elevation profile was a classic saw tooth. This means it was up and down all day and probably contained lots of drops down to beach areas and resorts and then climbs back up to the coastal road in-between. 

There were still plenty of puddles on the roads and when outside away from the hotel grounds I parked up on the side of the road and sprayed the chain, cassette and crankset with almost the entire can of Grasso I'd bought the day before.

The streets were very quiet and the weather was calm and not raining so I felt blessed. The issue I had however was I was hungry and you should never cycle on an empty stomach, especially when doing 80-100 miles. So about 7 miles into the day I stopped at a cafe in Balerma for my fill. Two coffees and 2 large chocolate muffins please.... The cafe was full at 8 a.m. mostly of old men chatting and laughing. I usually had company in these cafes with workers taking breaks and people shooting in for a quick coffee to go but the atmosphere was different this morning and then I realised it was Saturday.

I also realised that this morning would be the last chance for me to get an early start with some light before 8 a.m. as tonight the clocks went forward an hour in Spain just the same as back home in the UK.

A couple of miles further west I rejoined the N-340. I grew to love this road.

I later learned from a fellow local cyclist that I met and chatted to later that day that the best coastal stretch of the entire southern coast of Spain was between Adra and Malaga. This road was called the N-340 and it is Spain's version of Australia's Gold Coast Highway or California's Route One.  About 6 miles further I went through the small town of Adra and joined the Spanish Gold Coast Route Uno and settled in for one of the best days cycling I will probably ever do.

To top it all and to complete the re-charge of my positive mental attitudeometer back up to 100% I suddenly felt warmth on my back and sweat for the first time that week. I stopped and turned around to see a bright white light trying and almost achieving its way out from behind the clouds.  The sun was trying to come out in southern Spain for the first time in 6 days. Two layers were shed instantly and I carried on along the N-340 with a huge smile on my face and I felt for the first time since arriving in Spain that I was now on a cycling adventure rather than an endurance challenge.

That looks like an actual blue sky !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the most beautiful sight I had seen all week.  The last 5 days had been like a black and white movie and it felt like I had just landed in Oz and the colour had been switched on at last.....

Follow the yellow brick road....

Welcome to the Costa Tropical, goodbye Costa de Almeria. I had no idea there were so many of them even though I had gone past signs saying Costa this and Costa that all along the route from Girona.

Now you would have thought that this happy cyclist with a renewed outlook and positivity would have been happy to just cycle along this beautiful road and get to his destination but for whatever reasons I made a really bad decision a few miles further which could have been disasterous. I put it down to just being tired. The focus on rain and the weather had kind of taken my focus away from what this trip was doing to my body.  I was really tired, achy and saddle sores would no doubt become an issue now that the rain was not there to lubricate and relieve the pain. To cut a very long story short and I must now apologise upfront for this as I am not proud of what I did next.....

I left the N-340 and hopped onto the A-7 motorway to get a few fast miles done to speed up the day.

The hard shoulder was clean, well tarmacked and felt fast.  I flew along enjoying the 20-22 mph speeds and headed west towards Motril. Two miles later I heard the neee nawww of sirens behind me and turned my head to see the flashing blue lights of a Spanish Police patrol car coming up fast behind me and 2 policemen inside motioning for me to stop and pull over.

I stopped and got off my bike and humbly apologised to the policemen now walking towards me. He just said you must vacate this road, you cannot ride on here. I said I am so sorry, yes of course.  Cheekily, I asked if I could please carry on until the next exit and was met with an absolute NO WAY. They watched for traffic as I hopped over and lifted my bike over the central barriers and quickly made my way to the opposite hard shoulder to go back the way I came to the next exit. He came over and I honestly thought he was going to issue the ticket and take the photo and make what was starting to be a great day into a self imposed disaster but he actually thanked me for being so compliant and made sure I was OK and knew where to get off from here. He even put up his hand in the air and we shook fists.  It turned out to be a really cool moment and I thought at that second.....  I can't wait to put this on the blog.  I fought back the thought of asking him for a selfie, said another "Lo siento, Muchos muchos Gracias", turned got on my bike and went back down the hard shoulder to rejoin the perfectly nice and perfectly fast road called the N-340.

The next 10-12 miles were absolutely stunning. A coastal hugging, undulating, quiet, gorgeous and legal road.  Why on earth would I want to be on a motorway.  Looking back now I must have been mad.

The road along this part of the N-340 was stunning and I made my way through one of about 6-7 tunnels that helped to make the journey even more interesting and different. 

Calahonda...

Much more relaxed now and with the clouds thinning out I could actually now see into the distance and noticed the massive mountain range of the Sierra Nevada mountains to my right. 

The polytunnels were still very much present on each and every bit of flat land in this area.

I am so glad now that I changed the route 2 days before I headed out here as I would now be battling my way through those clouds in the mountains and no doubt the rain too. Day 5 in my original plan was high up there through Granada and would have been a leg sapping 8,000 feet of climbing at around 4,000 feet above sea level.  The N-340 was now my favourite road and I was so glad to make your acquaintance my friend. 

I was now just over half way for today and coming past the town of Motril.

Strava data      https://www.strava.com/activities/6885989891

Salobrena....  nice hilltop town coming up on the left.

Time for another stop for food, drinks and Grasso for Henry....

Another tunnel....

Note:  I removed my snood due to the heat !!!!!

This Harley Davidson bikers café was the unofficial eastern entrance to the Costa Del Sol. This would be the twelfth and final Costa of my trip...  Costa del Sol is also known as the Costa Del Golf and starts here just outside Nerja and ends at the most southern point in mainland continental Europe La Tarifa.  

Is it actually possible now that I will get there and complete this challenge !!!!!!  For the first time in 5 days I started to believe I actually would.

Gorgeous coastline.  I spotted dozens of campervans dotted along the roadsides from here on..  I don't blame them.

I noticed alot more people out on the road today cycling this road too and I joined a few along the way and said hello to the ones coming the other way heading east. At one point I joined behind a fast group who overtook me and I managed to get a bit of a draft along the way which was nice. Everybody else had full leg coverings and I felt a bit underdressed for the party with my shorts on. The other cyclists did some double takes when they noticed I was obviously a long distance tourer doing the coastal path on a time trial bike with my bags all loaded onboard and having a huge rain cape wrapped around my waist. 

I arrived at my target for the day, the Apartamentos Las Yucas well ahead of schedule at around 4:30 p.m. 

Stats for today.... 89 miles.  2680 calories burned.  4300 feet climbed.  19 degrees C at it's highest level  But more importantly than anything I did not feel a single drop of rain all day !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The apartment was again a self catering place with a full kitchen including a large fridge, washer/dryer and a self check in. This meant I did not meet a human and could not get any help or local advice but the mood I was in nothing could worry me or get me down.  I showered, changed into my flip flops and my civilian clothes and shot back out to get some shopping and check out the food options for tonight.  Using my google maps I quickly found the nearest supermarket....  Carrefour 2 streets away and there were lots of restaurants in the area too so this was going to be a piece of cake.  My stomach started to make those noises that meant it needed filling and get a move on....  CAKE !!!!!

I bought some water, crisps, bananas, orange juice, croissants and a can of iced coffee for breakfast and took them back to the room. Next was to get food...  Unfortunately it looks like google maps had not updated all those businesses that were not open anymore which possibly closed due to the pandemic or whatever reason so the search was a bit harder than I first thought.  I followed the crowds who were all out for their Saturday night partying.  Right on the beach front I found a bar which thankfully served food and I settled in for yet another chicken burger and chips and coke meal. Dessert was a massive piece of carrot cake which was lovely and gone in 3 bites.....

When I got back to the apartment I was looking forward to a video chat home as our son Callum was home from London as it was Mothers Day tomorrow. I was so looking forward to this and as I was about to start sorting my clothes and bike out ready for the morning I heard my phone ring.  When I looked at it I was surprised to see it was the Arlo app (Our front door doorbell camera)  I clicked on Answer and I could see Callum at the front door on the screen.  I pressed Unmute on the app and shouted his name.  " Hiya mate,  it's dad, I am in Spain. How are you,  do you want to come in   HAHAHA...."     He was in shock and could not believe what he was hearing....   I could then see Debby come out to the front door too and we were in hysterics laughing at the unscheduled one way video call.  We signed off and I said I would whatsapp video call them in 30 minutes time.

Time to sort out the clothes situation. There was absolutely no way I could work out the controls on the washer/dryer and I did not have any soap anyway so I gave up and went for Plan B which meant turning the Heater up to 32 degrees C and putting my clothes out on the drying rack under the flow of air from the fan in the corner of the bedroom. Unfortunately the air con/heater was near the ceiling so I had to get 2 chairs out and balance the clothes rack on them so they were 6-7 foot high off the ground and closer to the heat source.  Job done. 

Quotes for the day.....

"Today was a good day."    Me (today)

“The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.” — Ann Strong, US author


“Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There’s something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym.” — Bill Nye, US scientist


“If you do something right the first time, then it’s not hard enough.” — Danny MacAskill, Scottish trials legend


“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realise fishing is stupid and boring.” — Desmond Tutu, South African cleric


I am raising funds for Cancer Research UK in memory of so many people it has affected but mainly for my mum who died 30 years ago. Love you mum XXXXXXXX

This link takes you straight to the cancer research page to donate, it is safe and every penny goes straight into their bank account.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/el-fondo

Thank you so much, stay tuned for Day 6