For those of you who have been following us on our tour in Portugal and Spain, you know not everything turned out as planned. 

The first loop, part of which we rode with Susan, consisted of 14 cycling days. Janos' bike problems cut that short by two days for him, and I cycled on with the Andersons on a new route, omitting our return to Portugal to the car.  A real bummer for Janos because he wasn't able to solve his bike problems for the rest of the trip. We were also sorry to miss the ride back to Portugal. I had been looking forward to it. Neverthelss, a catastrophe was averted with the generous help from Rachael and Scott in retrieving the car. The new plan was that Janos would accompany the Andersons and me by car.

The second loop of nine rides was originally planned to start and end in Mérida. But since Janos would be traveling along by car, we saw no reason to loop back to Mérida. We canceled our bookings and would continue home once we reached Plasencia. However, I got sick in Mérida and that was the end of our tour.  I had ridden a total of 14 days and Janos 12. 

The drive to and back consumed 10 days. Obviously that was a lot of time and effort invested for 14 days of cycling (for Janos 12). None of this could have been foreseen. Nor could we have predicted that we would have many cold days. Spring in Iberia was in some ways a misnomer.

Conclusions

What made it worthwhile anyway: 

We were able to again spend time with Susan, Rachael and Scott. Our crises and difficulties had the effect of strengthening our friendship. We would have had a much more difficult time without their selfless moral and practical support. They were indeed friends in need.

The days when things were still going smoothly gave us wonderful glimpses into the beauty of spring in Alentejo and Extremadura, truly overwhelming. I wouldn't want to have missed the experience.

Knowing what we do now, we woudn't have embarked on the undertaking. We certainly had qualms before we left and were often on the verge of calling the whole thing off. However, if we had been cautious due to age (83 and 85) and health issues, we would probably have regretted eternally that we didn't give it a try. 

Lessons learned

I have to again think of the baciyelmo metaphor. As with Don Quijote's barbers basin/helmet, the so called baciyelmo, our trip was a merge of dreams and reality. We dreamed we could still do it, last year in France and Itlay had worked out perfectly. However, on this trip we learned to take the reality of our limitations more seriously. We had some bad luck, but were also very vulnerable so far from home. This experience enforced my feeling of thankfulness for our strong and well-functioning healthcare system in Germany. 

We have decided this was to be our last trip involving several days of travel by car. Not that we intend to scrap bicycle touring, there is still plenty that is within reach. But we need shorter stints by car and the safety net of dependable healthcare if needed.  

So that was it, folks, and many thanks for following our good days as well as our days of our trials and tribulations.