Monday, March 31st, 2003  Sevilla – Jerez de la Frontera 115 km.

Anyone wanting to leave Sevilla in westerly direction should cross the river before leaving town, otherwise you have to go all the way to Dos Hermanas, and that is a very busy road. There are a few bridges but they are prohibited for cyclists. I went via Los Palacios y villafranca into the delta area of the Guadalquivir which by now is a mighty river. The roads are straight as ramrods kilometre after kilometre. With tailwind one reaches a considerable speed. The problem today was the road surface. It wasn’t the size of the potholes that bothered me, but rather the depth. If you don’t watch out every second, you’ll have a damaged front tire for certain. I reached Trebujena at 14: 00 – time for lunch. I saw a group of workers go into a restaurant and figured there would be good home cooking. I ordered the menu “ el Dia” – a bowl of soup with beans and chickpeas in a sharp tomato sauce, with other ingredients, which was all edible by spoon. (First I had a mixed salad, then finished off with coffee). From here on it got more hilly (rolling hills as the English would say). The first vineyards made it apparent that Jerez was not far away. I’ll try the results in the form of a glass of sherry. After dinner at the “Centro de Cuidad” I wanted to take in a flamenco show. The first performance was at 22:30. Now I felt the affects of 115 km, partly with headwind, so instead of a live show, I only dreamed of one.

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