December 2012
My current thinking is to take a fairly direct route to Africa, leaving on 4th July 2014. I'm currently employed on two temporary contracts, both ending at the end of May 2013 and so I'm not really sure what I'll be doing employmentwise during the summer of 2014. My guess, however, is that I'll still be teaching and so will only have the school holidays to complete the trip. Consequently my plan is to use the same route as in 2012 as far as the south coast of the UK. However I'll get the ferry from Portsmouth to Saint Malo in France - the same crossing that I took in 2006. It's a good ferry and crosses the English Channel through the night, giving me the chance to sleep on board and arrive at about 6am. From Saint Malo I'll head down to Bordeaux and then cross the Pyrenees near the coast and on to San Sebastian in Spain. From there I go roughly southwest to Gibraltar and the ferry from Algeciras to Tangiers. At the moment I'm unsure how much time I can spend in Morocco before I'll have to cross back to Spain and cycle up the coast to Malaga and the plane home. If I'm able to leave before 4th July (presumably because I'm out of a job!) then I may not fly back from Malaga but cycle on up to Valencia, get the ferry across to Palma, cycle across Mallorca to our apartment in Alcudia and spend some time there with Karen, my wife, before flying home. The final route will ultimately depend on my employment situation next summer - I'm secretly hoping that I may be out of a job!
August 2013
As I've said in my latest addition to 'The Plan', I've managed to get teaching work that will hopefully allow me to head off at the beginning of June and so have time to cycle back to Mallorca. However, whilst camping in Spain this summer I looked at campsite guides for the first time and it would appear that there aren't that many along my proposed route. So I'm going to have to find some time over the coming weeks to do some research and see if it's feasible or whether I need to change my route.
My current thinking is to take a fairly direct route to Africa, leaving on 4th July 2014. I'm currently employed on two temporary contracts, both ending at the end of May 2013 and so I'm not really sure what I'll be doing employmentwise during the summer of 2014. My guess, however, is that I'll still be teaching and so will only have the school holidays to complete the trip. Consequently my plan is to use the same route as in 2012 as far as the south coast of the UK. However I'll get the ferry from Portsmouth to Saint Malo in France - the same crossing that I took in 2006. It's a good ferry and crosses the English Channel through the night, giving me the chance to sleep on board and arrive at about 6am. From Saint Malo I'll head down to Bordeaux and then cross the Pyrenees near the coast and on to San Sebastian in Spain. From there I go roughly southwest to Gibraltar and the ferry from Algeciras to Tangiers. At the moment I'm unsure how much time I can spend in Morocco before I'll have to cross back to Spain and cycle up the coast to Malaga and the plane home. If I'm able to leave before 4th July (presumably because I'm out of a job!) then I may not fly back from Malaga but cycle on up to Valencia, get the ferry across to Palma, cycle across Mallorca to our apartment in Alcudia and spend some time there with Karen, my wife, before flying home. The final route will ultimately depend on my employment situation next summer - I'm secretly hoping that I may be out of a job!
August 2013
As I've said in my latest addition to 'The Plan', I've managed to get teaching work that will hopefully allow me to head off at the beginning of June and so have time to cycle back to Mallorca. However, whilst camping in Spain this summer I looked at campsite guides for the first time and it would appear that there aren't that many along my proposed route. So I'm going to have to find some time over the coming weeks to do some research and see if it's feasible or whether I need to change my route.
March 2014
I've decided to play safe and change my route. It would appear that there are campsites across central Spain but some of them are a long way apart - fine if you're in a car but not so good on a bike. Also, Spain has upgraded many of it's main routes to motorways but has not bothered to keep an alternative road for non-car users. Consequently my new route will be similar to the one I used in 2006 - Dumfries - Portsmouth - Saint Malo - Bordeaux - Narbonne - Barcelona. However I'll then carry on down the coast (probably a bit inland where possible) to Gibraltar and then the ferry to Tangier. I'll then cross back to Spain, cycle up the coast to Valencia, take the ferry to Palma and then cycle across Mallorca to our apartment in Alcudia.