Day 126 22nd November
12 miles (Malaga to Benarafe) Average speed 11.7mph Top speed 23mph
Staying at Raul’s house tonight
I woke up at 9am and packed my bags , had brekkie of toasted cheese and tomato sarnies. I checked out of the hostel at 11am just as the 48 hours of rain stopped. It was a good ride along the coast, avoiding the puddles to El Palo where I had a coffee and Pacharan to celebrate 4000 miles.
Pacharan to celebrate 4000 miles
Then found a photo opportunity with benji 400.
4000 miles
The rain then started again but it was only light and I enjoyed the ride to Raul’s. Stopped at Mercadona to get wine and sweets and entrusted my bike to a guy begging, who did a good protection job and I repaid him with a euro. It’s better to exchange a service rather than just begging on the street! Got to Raul’s where it was great to see him and Eva again after 5 weeks. We had a delicious lunch of home made soup, chicken and salad. They left me with tv, laptop and tea and coffee. I decided to move the bike to the back garden for security and took the keys with me. As the front door closed behind me I soon found out that I had the wrong keys and was locked out for the next 3 hours. Doh! Never mind, it meant I got to see more of the town and watch fishermen laying nets while having a beer.
Fishermen laying nets
Raul returned just as I was walking up the road and we went to Torre del Mar for beer and tapas. Real Madrid were playing, but we were chatting so much we were not really watching the game. It was great to be treated as an equal and experience tapas with the locals. It was also much cheaper than Malaga as a tourist. 5 beers and 3 tapas came to just €7.50. We then went to 2 more bars and sampled lots of fish and some morcilla. We chatted about security and lots of interesting social problems as we put the world to rights. We got home and tucked up in bed at 1am. Another great day.