Day 8: tipping my toe in Spain

The plan was to take the morning train to the Spanish border and try put a foot on Spanish territory, just for the sake of making a clear finish point.

However, i learned at the crossroads of the station that the train schedule on Sunday was just 30 min different than weekdays. The train leaves in front of me. And the next one is scheduled over 2 hours .

No worries, the sun is still shining and the people are all asleep at 8 o clock on this peaceful morning. And i take off to cycle to the Spanish border , 24 km from the camp site.

I follow the signposting of the Atlantic coast route through kilometers of orange trees. More senior people are taking me over on their electric bikes.

Vila Real de Santo Antonio

The first coffee of the day is for the last Portugese village on this coastline. The river Guadiana forms a natural border with the neighbour country.

I took the ferry to the other side for lunch in Spain, before I return bu train to Faro. The boat is full of Dutch, Belgian and English people. All of them are much older than me. They have a lot of interest in my bike and my story, so the 15 min transfer I am busy with explaining.

Ayamonte

Besides the time and language difference are the differences small at the other side of the river.

The timetables on both sides of the river are not confusing for new visitors. Besides the fact that you cross a time zone, you also seems to land on sliding time scales in Spain. In Portugal the departure times in Spain were listed as 15 min past an hour. In Spain they write the departure time as round hours, with a small note that a delay of 15 min is possible. just another view on time concepts.

After the shirt visit in Spain, i return to Faro by train. Where I booked a small and cheap hotel besides the airport.

The challenge for the next 24 h, find a box to transfer my bike to the Netherlands.

In the airport there is an equipped bicycle mounting and dismantling place. And according to some websites you could find here bike boxes which just arrived with other people. However today the stock is 0.

I made already contact with some bike stores in Faro past week, and it seems they have all a box for me. However , i only will be sure when i have one. Tomorrow will bring the answer.