Day 12: Orihuela to Calpe (127km)

Fundraising Tour 2019 1 Minute

Today was a good day. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky the entire day and my left ankle was much better.

My wife had sent me Reiki and other energy stuff and I had rubbed a lot of school medicine creams onto it. Together it helped – much to my relief.

Today, I took it a bit easier. Less pressure on the pedals and a higher cadence. Also, I had more breaks.

What was interesting was that the landscape and the style of the cities changed since yesterday. Orihuela was already really nice with an old cathedral and not touristic nor boring at all like many other places before. Later today, this became even better with Elche and Alicante.

Oh, did I mention headwind? It was wild again, but somehow I have gotten used to it meanwhile.

My first stop was the very nice University town Elche. A very characteristic feature is a deep canyon running right through the middle of the town with high bridges across it. The bottom of the canyon is cultivated and their are plastered sidewalks running next to a creek. Very beautiful.

The next stop was Alicante where I had lunch. The seafront with the enormous beach and the yacht harbor was absolutely spectacular. The wind was so strong that I had sand between my teeth.

From there I continued Northeast, passing smaller towns from really nice to absolutely ugly.

After a short but hefty climb I reached the small town Calpe. I have picked a great hotel again. It’s called “Rocinante” which is a variation of the name of my bike “Rosinante”. The place is simple, inexpensive but just great.

Insight of the day: it is always a good thing to not give up hope!

For donations: http://www.betterplace.org/p67064

Published by Karsten Drath

About 30 years ago, two zis scholarships helped me to broaden my horizon, expand my understanding of what is possible, and develop more self-confidence. zis is a non-profit organization that has been awarding scholarships for study trips to young people between the ages of 16 and 20 for more than 60 years. Today, the word we use for tenacity and grit is resilience - and I've made it my profession, to help managers around the world to develop more of this inner power. In retrospect, the experiences I've had on these trips to Scotland and Iceland have been priceless for my development. After having had a childhood with some challenges, I learned that I could cycle 1,700km on my own and get wet every day without despairing. I have learned that I was able to get along with only 300 € for 4 weeks and still had a good time. I have learned what it's like to be threatened with deportation and how to get an interview with the President from such a crisis. I have understood that limitations are primarily constructs in our heads, and I want to make these insights available to as many adolescents as possible.

Published

2 thoughts on “Day 12: Orihuela to Calpe (127km)”

  1. Lieber Karsten,
    was für eine tolle Tour, denn ich sehe ja nur blauen Himmel und Wasser und schöne Strände nach trocken-karger Landschaft. Von “headwind” keine Spur für uns Zuschauer zu spüren ;-))
    Gut, dass es deinem Knöchel besser geht, wir schicken alle guten Wünsche weiterhin!
    Name von Rad und Hotel ist sehr nett… woher kommt der Name?
    Und gibt es eigentlich einen Grund, warum manche Fotos kopfüber sind? Doch der “headwind”?! ;-))

    Alles Gute weiterhin, wir radeln in Gedanken mit…
    Nina & Torge

    Reply

    1. Liebe Nina,
      Rosinante ist in Cervantes „Don Quichote“ das treue, wenn auch ältliche Pferd des Ritters. Das mit den Fotos weiß ich auch nicht. Kannst Du Beispiele benennen?
      Herzliche Grüße Karsten

      Reply

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