What are we up to?

Along with how we got here, we wanted to provide a quick update for those who might be wondering why we have stopped moving again…

Essentially, we have been planning our next move and getting some items delivered, while we are still somewhere more familiar. To be honest, getting the gear we want is a still a bit of a struggle as shops often don’t stock the specific stuff and we’ve had variable success with getting stuff delivered to pickup points etc. Our pro-tip on that front so far, is to make sure that anything you have delivered is clearly marked as being delivered for pick up, rather than directly to the named individual. Not doing so has led to stuff being rejected, especially by the post office. Mark items to the post office as ‘Lista de Correos’ and ‘Punto de recogida’, to limit the chances of rejection. In future, we need to get better at forward planning where this is concerned as it has somewhat delayed our onward travel.

That said, Almeria has been a delight. From the moment of arrival, it was clearly different from the costa-del-whatnot towns we had ridden through further up the coast. We got good vibes and have really enjoyed exploring it over the past ten days. As we travel, we have a tiny background process running that’s assessing places from the point of view of us settling somewhere in the future. Almeria has scored really highly in this regard. Things like the diversity of spaces, human-centred (as opposed to car-centred) design, compactness, culture, heritage, cost of living, weather, amazing trees etc. Maybe, as Brits, we’d have to consider leaving to venture north in summer but that just bakes in more cycle touring, right?

Anyway, tomorrow night we catch a ferry to Morocco. From there, we have decided to (at least try to) cycle down to The Gambia, via Western Sahara. As ever, we are happy to ‘fail’, as by all accounts some parts of this are quite challenging but, as it stands, we plan to give it a go. This change of plan is partly what has delayed us. We’ve spent more time getting a few extra spare parts together, fixing some stuff and obtaining some vital antimalarials. Secretly, we’ve possibly also clung on to the more familiar surroundings of Almeria too, as we are both mildly trepidatious about this next phase. Though overwhelmingly, we are really excited to broaden our horizons further. Bring it!