I rather left the last post hanging, with us having arrived in Victoria sans luggage.

Al's brother picked us up a the airport and delivered us to my cousin's home, where we'd arranged to stay in her vacant basement suite on our return.  We'd needed to provide a quarantine plan as part of the return-to-Canada requirements and had left our car and other belongings there while we were away.  Good thing, as that meant we had clean clothes and other necessities (my cousin and her husband had even provided a few groceries).  I should add that I always, after the first time my bag didn't make a connection, carry a change of clothes in my carry-on on an outbound flight.

Our bags were delivered there just over 24 hours after we arrived ourselves.  We suspect that they were held for customs inspection in Vancouver.  One advantage of the Thule RoundTrip Pro XT cases is that they open easily for inspection and the contents can be seen without an. inspector needing to take everything out and then repack.

We spent the following week laying low, going out for walks every day and letting our bodies adjust to the time change.  My cousin's home in the Gordon Head area of Victoria is fairly close to where Al's family lived when he was a teenager so he knew all the public beach access points.

While we were away, we had received notice that the deficiency walkthrough for our new home might be scheduled in December so we were keen to be back in the Vancouver area as soon as possible.  We found a furnished basement suite, sadly in a very car-dependent neighbourhood but only 10 minutes' drive from our future home (or even a 10-minute ride since it's all downhill).  We moved in yesterday and now the tour is really a wrap.

Some random thoughts on Andalucia:

• The people we met were very kind (Al's word).  I can't think of a single unpleasant encounter, except perhaps a couple of drivers (and we all know people change when they get into their metal boxes).
• Drivers were, for the most part, courteous.  Being passed closely was a rare thing but it did happen.
• The minor highways were for the most part, excellent cycling.  The Vias Verdes, however, were variable, to say the least.
• We found the cuisine very repetitive, though perhaps that's because we didn't speak the language.  It seemed almost every restaurant offered their version of the same few dishes.
• It would have been nice to try different wines or beers but the menus we were handed (or those linked by the ubiquitous QR codes on tables) never included a wine or beer list.  We could order a glass of wine or a beer, but didn't have the language to ask what might be available.
• The vast majority of vehicles, or so it seemed, were smelly diesels.  I noticed exactly one hybrid car during the five weeks.   This is in strong contrast to Vancouver/Victoria, where a large and growing proportion of vehicles on the road are hybrid or fully electric.
• Although we saw a number of wind turbines, we saw very few solar panels.  This seemed odd to us, because Andalusia has so much sun, even in the winter.  Why not harness that energy?  Almost every barn we saw in Germany in 2015 was covered in solar panels.
• So much single-use plastic!  I'm not sure how much was due to Covid, but things like butter and jam always came in little, hard-to-open, sealed plastic tubs.  Most hotels provided plastic cups in the room, in sealed plastic bags.  Soap and shampoo too, again in sealed plastic packets that were impossible to open with wet fingers.  I guess we see these things differently than we did before, but coming from a place where many single-use plastic items are banned, it seems so wasteful.

And finally, I followed Scott's tutorial to create the multi-route map below.  The routes are based on our actual rides...

TTFN!