We are back in Huelva. We liked it the first time around, and love it the second. Keith didn’t remember much of the pedestrian zone we spent time in today, but that probably reflects his general dislike of shopping more than anything.
We started the day with an expensive but sumptuous breakfast. As Keith said, it was spread out over about an acre. We sat overlooking the water in the crazy resort and watched the fishers. Luxurious as our accommodation was, we both prefer the sort of hotel we had in Cadiz. Matalascañas is all resorts and holiday homes. It was developed in 1961 in the middle of the park. How they talked the powers that be into that baffles me. Money probably. The town is a perfect rectangle in the park. They tried to expand according to Wikipedia and that wasn’t allowed to go through. Many of the hotels are the ON group. We had never heard of them but they are all gigantic properties. We certainly were very comfortable. And for 87 Euro no less.
At least I got to see flamingos. There is an elevator to the beach which is a wonderful thing for anyone with disabilities.
We headed out on the waterfront walkway. They certainly did that part right. The waterfront is all public. It was easy breezy highway riding from the start. We were aware of a rougher track on the left side of the highway, but choose to stay on the low traffic highway with the smooth shoulder.
Then the most amazing part of the day. I spotted a walkway over the dune to the ocean. It was pretty impressive. We decided to cross the highway and ride up for the views. That is how we met Ted and Terry. We couldn’t believe it when we realized there were two touring cyclists just ahead of us on the walkway. Ted and Terri are from San Diego and so language wasn’t an issue. We had a great deal in common, a love of cycling and the outdoors being at the top of the list. They are doing the beach ride tomorrow so we were able to tell them about that. They are following a mountain bike route, brave souls!
Terri and I chatting away. What are the chances we would see two touring cyclists at this point? We have hardly seen any all trip.
Shortly after this Keith suggested we give the bike trail a try. I shot him ‘the look’ and told him to go right ahead. I was sticking with the lovely smooth shoulder. I cruised along and finally stopped and waited for the CN for much longer than I would have expected. He finally arrived and told me he preferred the shoulder as well. It was clearly faster too. I was enjoying the sheer joy of riding a bike and feeling the kilometres click away.
Very shortly after that though, the bike route was paved and we jumped on it. We rolled into Mazagon and stopped for lunch. Mazagon was a beautiful community, at least the part we saw. Lovely homes, beaches, boats and views.
We love boats, so to sit in the shade and admire them while we had lunch was a treat.
Right after lunch Komoot routed us onto a road where we would love to know the rest of the story. Not a car anywhere, beautiful road, rusting bolts where the streetlights should be. A subdivision that never happened? We will never know. Then we were lured into what we thought might be a Grampie trap, but it turned out to be a Tom and Terri route.
Car free and all, but why is it here? At this point the streetlights existed, but then there were just rusty bolts.
The short off road section led us back to the highway. Today was such an interesting ride. The park, the lovely community. And then we rode through a huge port. The buildings were massive, the ships were massive, and the big surprise to me was that we were allowed to ride through it.
Huge buildings and a fascinating place. At one point we were crunching through something at the side of the road, then went by a huge building where truck after truck was dumping corn. I looked down, and sure enough, that is what we were riding through.
We arrived at the bridge into Huelva and saw what we thought was the bike/pedestrian lane. It was right next to the train tracks and it seemed odd but safe enough. Off we went. It is a long bridge and when we got to the other end there was no way through. We had to ride back to the other side of the bridge. The narrow bike track was on the side of the road. Not intended for touring cyclists either. It had light standards we could barely squeeze by with our panniers every 10 metres or so. We were no sooner on the right path when a train came over the bridge. It was terrifying where we were! The noise was impressive. If it had happened one minute earlier when we were right beside the tracks I can’t imagine. We both started laugh. We dodged that bullet quite nicely.
Which would you choose? If you chose the right, that is the wrong answer.
The ride into the city from this end was outstanding. Just gorgeous and so pleasant. We were really impressed with the public infrastructure and the number of people enjoying it.
We had a beautiful bike lane all the way into the city.
We checked in, cleaned up and headed out for a good explore. We had a lovely dinner, Italian tonight, and it has simply been a great day. Back to Portugal tomorrow.
We really like it here. Not touristy, but beautiful buildings everywhere you look.
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles) Total: 1,375 km (854 miles)
Rate this entry's writing
Heart
8
Comment on this entry
Comment
1
David MathersYou just never know when you head out for the day what you will experience. Isn’t cycle touring grand! Well done 👍 Reply to this comment 2 years ago
