Hola amigos de Sevilla!!!

Arriving in Seville – Monday 9^th May 2016

Route PhotosTrip MapsGarmin
 

“The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” ~ Professor Higgins to Eliza Doolittle in the musical My Fair Lady

Don’t believe Professor Higgins … the rain in Spain is not confined to the plains – it is widespread. For the past week I have been keeping an eye on the forecast for my three days in Seville: 100% probability of rain and thunder storms on Mon, Tues and Wed. Never mind, it will give me a chance to check out the cathedral and other indoor attractions. Hopefully the weather will have improved by Thursday when I commence my ride westward through Andalucía in Spain and then along the Algarve coast of Portugal (see proposed Route Map) before train hopping to Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto.

Flying into Seville from London this afternoon I was contemplating Plan B … catching a bus from the airport to the city rather than riding the 22 Km in the rain. Then the easyJet pilot announced that the worst of the storms had passed and there was now sunshine so, believing him, I stuck to my original plan.  After retrieving my bicycle box from the oversize baggage area, I found a quiet corner just outside the airport and re-assembled the bike (which thankfully had arrived intact) and discretely discarded my cardboard box near a bin when nobody was looking.

Chaining my bicycle to a post I found a toilet inside the airport where I proceeded to change into my riding gear. You can imagine how my heart thumped when somebody started banging loudly on my cubicle door! Could it be the policía? What had I done wrong? To my surprise I heard women’s voices outside. Surely I hadn’t gone into the ladies toilet by mistake! I kept my silence and continued to get dressed then transferred my packing bags from the cabin bag to my two pannier bags. Still the door banging continued and when I eventually emerged I found about six angry women glaring at me for taking too long. I mumbled a meek apology as I hastened towards the door, relieved to notice a row of urinals on my way. Hmm … so either it was a unisex toilet or it was the ladies that had gone into the wrong toilet.

The next drama was that my Garmin navigator took about 5 minutes to lock onto a triangulation of satellites. Finally my route map appeared and I headed off towards Seville. For the first 5 Km I rode on the generous shoulder of the main road, before turning off onto a dirt road that soon became a quagmire as the rain started tumbling down again. Navigating artfully around the puddles and rocks I continued for another 5 Km through barren countryside that was totally deserted except for me, one car, one horse, and one donkey. To my surprise the road was lined with what looked like gum trees and a purple coloured flower that looked like Patterson’s Curse. I could be forgiven for thinking I was back in Australia.

I should never have believed the pilot, although there were intermittent bursts of sunshine in between the rain showers. But at least the rain was not too cold and the hail that belted down briefly didn’t sting too much.

Eventually I reached the outskirts of Seville, my route taking me through some of the less salubrious back streets and lane-ways before picking up an off-road cycle-way at the 15 Km mark that took me right through the city to my humble B&B in the heart of the Old Town. For the last Km or two the wet, roughly cobbled, alleys made riding a challenge, but I am pleased to say I arrived safely at my destination.

My first impressions of Seville are favourable and I can’t wait to explore it further over the next two days. How good it is to be on the road again!