Jeff: The end of Spain part 1

Seville was here and first thing was first and that was to spend an hour in Movistar sorting out mobile phone issues (sigh). Undeterred we rewarded ourselves to breakfast out (our new favourite hobby) An Acai bowl and a stack of pancakes so large we got looks and comments. Unphased we know how to eat vegan pancakes and we grabbed the bikes to do some exploring. There was this large platform in the centre called the mushrooms due to their fungi like structure. After lapping the whole thing before finding the entrance we were very much dauted by the 15 euro entrance fee to be put on a slightly higher elevation to the one we were on – the mushroom people must have been high when they came up with that pricing scheme. Cathedral was next and yet another entrance fee we shied away from! We did however find a nice little square before the entrance of the Alcazar where we sat an enjoyed an orange. Next we were on the business end of our Seville adventures, a much needed, Monday blues beating spa! The Ancient baths were a mix of different pools from cold (ish) to hot (ish) and everything in-between. There was also a salt bath which revealed any cuts and nicks with searing pain. There was also a steam room so steamy you feared for sitting on Jack Geller’s leg. After what seemed like 5 minutes our 90 minutes was up and we were given cava and chocolates to cushion the blow of our time being up – ironic given the sign at the entrance which read ‘Time does not exist’. We however we not done and when hot endless free showers are on offer (which technically we can have in the van) we take full advantage. This involves a intensive hair conditioning for Cat and a fuzz free face for Rich. Sent back on the streets of Seville in complete Zen we grabbed the bikes and made our way to an ice-cream shop where Vegan Pistachio was promised and well received. Back to the van we went and 10/10 for cycle paths in Seville (Unsurprising given it was the first city in Spain to have a cycle sharing thingy scheme.) After grabbing some food from the supermarket and bike accessories from Decathlon we found a large meadow (ish) area on the outskirts of the city with great views for the night and lots of hilly running in the morning.

After our morning run we had nowt planned and were no rush to be anywhere. We headed to the Donana region which has 2 parks – the national park which is open to the public and the nature park which is strictly for authorised tours only. The nature park has a large array of wildlife (mainly birds) but also lots of Deer, Rabbits, Boar and the ever elusive Lynx! We spent the afternoon walking the national park and saw nothing of interest but a great walk none the less. We decided to find a tour for the next day. We parked up on the nearby beach front along with about 25 other campers – it was a fantastic well known unofficial stop for campers and somewhere you could easily stay for a few days. Lots of paragliders and some nudist (what more do you need). A painful 6.30am alarm woke us as we needed to be in the nearby town for our tour pickup by 8am. We were joined by 2 other brits, a Grandma/Grandson duo called Drouthy and Takisha (His father must have been a fan of the show!) Takisha was about 12 and loved his birds (The flying kind) much to the joy of our guide (Jose) who could spot a Sardinian wobbler a mile away. The tour lasted 5 hours and involved a trip through the woods where we spotted lots of deer. We travelled the Marsh land full of birds from small robins to vultures and eagle owls. We spotted to tiny owls en-route which took some good eye sight to see as they were very well camouflaged. Unfortunately no Lynx this time but they do say its about a 10% chance so the odds were not in our favour. We learnt a lot about the area including that an annual pilgrimage takes place through the park and we also learnt like a lot of Spain they don’t know how to keep a place clean and rubbish free! We spent the afternoon exploring Huelva (Not much to see but an old pier) and not a strawberry in sight despite the area being famous for it strawberry production (as it grows between 90 – 95% of Spain’s strawberries).

We headed on to a town a little closer to Portugal for the night and had a walk around. We found some adorable little cats and kittens, a couple of which were really friendly (however we think from the bites on our legs they had fleas) and stayed to fuss them before finding the towns local Via Verde and supermarket (where we got some vegan magnums as it was hot and humid). Back at the van after dinner the local school band started practice which meant we had an evening of music (and despite it being a little rough to start with it soon got better and was enjoyable to listen to) but we were glad it didn’t go on too late – it was literally 50 yards from the van.

The next morning we did our morning run on the via verde before heading off north into Portugal. The boarder crossing was non-existent but we did at least manage to get a picture of the sign. We carried on north to a town called Tavira which is one of the access points to a great beach. However despite the weather man saying it was going to be bright and sunny all day it isn’t so we have decided to walk around the town, explore the castle, eat vegan Pasteis de nata and do our washing for today and head to the beach tomorrow as again the weather man is saying its going to be sunny!