Algeciras to Gibraltar - 25 miles

The EuroVelo 8 route bypasses Algeciras so today I headed back to join it, a short cycle ride across the city and then through easy countryside, before then leaving it again later in the day to head south into Gibraltar. 

Back on the EuroVelo 8 it was not long before I began thinking about how I am looking forward to a time when my day has no climbing. This morning was not one of mountains but it was a morning that required effort: up a hill - admittedly giving great views of Gibraltar in the distance - down a hill; up a hill, the chain again getting tangled in the gears but at least not taking an hour to resolve this time, down a hill; along a valley then up a hill and over into the next valley. It was a mix of quiet road and track, peaceful and surrounded by flourishing green countryside and the multitude of wild flowers that seem to have blossomed during my time in Spain.

The latter part of the morning saw me crossing the mash up of motorway and road, chemical works and oil refinery that sit in the flat plain north of Gibraltar and which we saw yesterday from the bus. It may not have been attractive but it was a simple journey with a single cycle path taking me through the area and to the coast and then on to the border. For the second time in two days I left Spain and entered Gibraltar.

I had only two main aims for the day: to have a decent British beer and to cycle the perimeter of the 'rock'. The first was partially successful in that I had beers, the name of which I recognised from home, although they were not ones I particularly enjoyed. The second was more successful and more interesting. Cycling down the coast as best I could - sometimes Gibraltar's ship yards and marine industry got in the way - I moved from the Atlantic to the southern tip of Gibraltar and on to the Mediterranean. There were road tunnels carved through the rock, plenty of evidence of Gibraltar's military past and the ingenuity exercised to make it a fortress. There was evidence too of modern ingenuity in the building of new housing complexes in seemingly inaccessible places. The southern tip of the peninsula - Europa Point - had a play park and sports stadium which seemed incongruous for such a location. There was also, strangely, a mosque. But an old gun battery, the lighthouse and information boards on Gibraltar's history were there too - who knew Gibraltar has the highest density of Neolithic remains anywhere in the world?

I returned to the town by the eastern - Mediterranean - edge of the rock. Here there is little in the way of flat ground so it is far less built up than the Atlantic side. A visit to see the police station where Lee stayed while here, a far grander building than I had envisaged, and then it was to another pub for a hearty dinner of steak and ale pie.

Police Station