Off on my bike : Quinta do Pomarinho to Huelva

Quarrying.

Well, I seem to have got out of the mountains, instead I ride along main roads, not much traffic and pretty flat.  It isn't terribly exciting, but does feel like I've switched to easy mode - I manage forty miles before lunch.  Then some interesting surroundings, many of the hills here have been stripped of topsoil to reveal a jumbled heap of massive, cuboid boulders, marble and granite which is clearly the bedrock of the local economy (see what I did there?).  The long history of heavy loads of stone moving around the area is attested to by the miles of cobbled road I make my way, uncomfortably, along.  Campsite in the middle of nowhere again, Dutch run for the second night in a row (night before it was German).  This time I have brought many sausages to put on the BBQ, is good.

Giant Timmy - ATTACK!

Just two days left in mainland Europe, but they're both eighty miles or so, ouch.  I ride South through olive groves, starting fairly flat, but as you'd expect things get hillier as I approach the border with Spain.  Really getting hard to climb now, I need a rest, well, soon now.  The final ascent is no fun at all, up to camp at Cortegana which sits on a large hill.  Centre of Iberico ham production it seems, yum, also a very horsey place, seriously there are horses everywhere, people riding up the steep, cobbled streets, around the town square, in little buggies, you name it.  I watch, and order an amount of cod so huge that I don't quite eat it all.

Mazagón.

One more day and I can rest.  It goes by in a bit of a blur, main roads between fields of bright yellow sunflowers, into Andalucia, the air fragrant with citrus and strawberries.  My legs complain at the slightest slope, but I soldier on, the bike continues to work, and eventually I see the sea.  Campsite is some distance beyond Huelva, at the resort town of Mazagón, it's rather pleasant, nice beach, campsite right by it.  I can't complain about the menu del dia at the restaurant, nine euros for three courses and a beer, this includes a very large amount of fish - I manage to eat it all today.

Photos to go with this post can be found here and here.