Day 4: Matalascañas to Cádiz (196km)

What a day! Today was my official distance record on a zis fundraising tour. It was also the longest distance cycled without turns in my life. Boy, that was boring. To be clear, I do not cycle such distances (only) because I do not value the cultural treasures of Andalusia. There was simply not much to see other than about 100km of agricultural monocultures: Olives, oranges, lemons, pine trees … dozens of miles each.

I started off at sunrise. It was foggy and chilly. I was happy to have my gloves. After passing through the Western city El Rocio, I had to pay the price for my learning from yesterday. Can you see the detour in the map? Solid 50km!

First, I had to go about 80km northeast against a pretty solid headwind. Then I crossed the Rio Guadalquivir and finally realized why I needed to do the extra miles. On a distance of about 50km there was not a single bridge across the river. Wow!

Then I turned south and I had a great tailwind all the way to Jerez a la Frontera. In the 12th century, Moslems had colonized this and other cities in the region. That’s why the name contains “at the border”. Hard to spot today other than in some old places.

Then I found a mechanic for Rosinante. After leas than 10 minutes I was back on the road and the gears were magically working again. There seems to be a unspoken law with mechanics that cyclist who are on the road get instant help and mostly for free! Thank you “El Motoriste”!

Finally, I turned south again and had a quick bite of tapas at a bar before I went off to Cádiz.

Insight of the day: When you have a wave of tailwind – ride it!