Thursday 24th November 2011 Torrox Spain

We are really pleased to be exploring Spain. Torrox has a backdrop of mountains which turn a lavender colour in the afternoon, which reminds me a lot of the southern Cape area (Stellenbosh and Paarl etc.)

We are having nice sunny weather (21 C) with a pleasant breeze. We visited Nerja (up the coast) and Competa (up the mountains) yesterday. The atmosphere here is very relaxed. Today we went back up the mountains to see Alhama, which is built on the edge of a gorge. The Moorish influence on the architecture is very nice.

There seem to be thousands of beach apartments for sale everywhere along the coast. There are also a lot of apartment complexes which are partially built, but appear to be temporarily abandoned. Some are 90 percent complete, but not a soul to be seen on the premises. I have read that Spain has been very badly affected by the credit crunch. There are signs up on some buildings saying that the prices have been reduced by 50%.

Over the next couple of weeks we are planning to visit Grenada, Gibraltar, Seville and the rest of the Costa del Sol.

Monday 21st November 2011 Torrox, Spain

We have spent nearly three weeks in beautiful Hereford regathering our strength and enjoying the company of Penny and Ron, Ally (Les' Mum), and Justin. Hereford is a delight with lots of places to walk, and lots of pleasant scenery. The Cathedral is amazing.

We spent a day on a visit to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, which was most intriguing. The heaviest stone plinth weighs 45 tons, and one wonders how they managed to hoist it up in perfect alignment onto its supports over 4000 years ago. Stonehenge was (according to research) treated with huge respect for1500 years, and then suddenly abandoned and ignored for the following thousand years. No-one knows for certain why it was built, or how the stones were transported from some 300km away, nor how they were put into place. Very interesting mystery.

We flew into Malaga in Spain yesterday and drove up the coast to the seaside town of Torrox. It's good to be on the Meditteranean shore again after a very long interval.

Tuesday 1st November 2011- Penyclawdd to Hereford 47 km

Route:  Penyclawdd - Llanvihangel Crucorney - Greigfarm - Grosmont Castle - Kentchurch - Kilpeck - Kivernoll - Grafton - Hereford.

Les speedo 5365 km (Europe, England and New Zealand)
Ash speedo 2606 km (Europe and England)

Very slow easy ride to beautiful Hereford.  We stopped off at the 13th century Grosmont Castle, which was interesting.

We will be staying in Hereford, on and off, to spend time with Les's family, until we set off again in the New Year.  We will probably make our way to southern Portugal and cycle north from there.