Itinerary Changes

Our original plans have changed a bit with the meeting of my parents and the decision not to go through the Alps........because uhm, ah, hmm.. we heard that Canadians aren´t allowed to cycle through them, because we´re too sexy and would cause to many highway accidents. Yeah that´s right, that´s what they said. I know, I know, I was surprised too, but what could we do?

Anyway our new plans are as follows:

Approximate Dates

June 6 Ferry from Morroco to Geneva, Italy

June 28 Ferry from Bari, Italy to Athens, Greece

July 5 - July 21 Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt

July 22 - August 8 Ethiopia

August 9 - August 24 Malawi

From here we continue our original route starting with Chengdu, China August 28. (refer to Itinerary 2006)

#6 Spain

Spain has been great....for the most part. We have had a few problems with the language barrier. It seems that every province we go through there is a different dialect and unfortunately Julia´s Spanish isn´t as strong as her French, but just enough to get us by. We also weren´t expecting so many mountains, it seems that everywhere we turn there is another mountain pass. With these difficulties it has cost us alot of time, so we ended up taking a train a few hundred kilometers to meet my parents closer to our next destination. Taking the train was an interesting experience, since we ended up in the wrong cabin and kicked-off a couple hundred kilometers from our next point. Fortunately the train station had pity on us and allowed us to sleep on the floor until our actual train departure at 6:30am. Another incident in the train station was, in the washroom, when I was using a urinal the guy beside me (approx. 80yrs. old) took great interest in my "package". He leaned right over and was probably no further than a few inches when he started talking in hushed tones about my goods. I had no idea what he was saying. Creeped out, i quickly zipped up and got out of there before he tried to pursue his interests any further. Other than that, a few guys have been hitting on julia with smooching gestures and the occasional Hey Baby!!....at least that´s what it sounds like.

At just over 2500kms, on our cycling computer, we´re in a town called Ronda which is 1.5 days cycle to Gibralter, where we catch the ferry to Morroco. Tonight we meet my parents and will spend a few days off our bikes and enjoy the comforts of driving around in their rental car. I´m excited about our first African country and the cheaper costs. Europe has been expensive, even though we´re doing most of our own cooking and camping-out as much as possible.

Georgina, Marc, and Balthezar

When we were just outside of the village Soux, France, deciding which would be the best way to go, out of nowhere, came a woman, speaking perfect English, asking us if we wanted to come back with her to her 15th century rennovated farmhouse for a drink. We accepted, and soon after discovered that her name was Georgina, met her husband, Marc, and 1 year old son, Balthezar, as well as her parents who were visiting from England. Their house was amazing, and it was great to be able to speak in English if for only a brief period. Here is a picture of me with their family outside of their home, and one of Steve and I in front of their even older barn. We can't exactly remember how old their house and barn are, but they're OLD!

France Continued

Well here we are, after 17 days in France we have finally made it to the Spanish border. We are in a town called Biarritz and will be in Spain by the end of the day. The rest of France was great! The Loire Valley was amazing with beautiful chateax`s in almost every town. Our daily diet has consisted of at least one loaf of fresh bread with plenty of cheese, sausage and the occasional bott..I mean glass of wine. The weather has been great with only a couple of days overcast. We´re really looking forward to Spain, except we hear the Pyrenees(sp.??) mountain range is going to be tough. Since leaving Scotland´s Highlands, our terrain has been fairly easy with only a few hills to climb through the Loire Valley.