Riding Away from Africa and into Spain
Update 81 (February 2025)
Morocco to Barcelona, Spain
My final push back through Morocco was quick. My gas less rear suspension was annoying me and going over old ground is not so cool. See my previous update Côte d’Ivoire to Ghana for more background. Much of the time I used the toll road. There seemed to be no toll for motorbikes in some of the more southern toll stops. Motorbikes were allowed to take a detour around, including dirt tracks as required. I would try to get behind a local motorbike and follow their lead. But Morocco is a fun country to ride so I do not recommend using the toll roads.
I took a couple of days rest in Tangier and then said goodbye to Africa. I had originally thought it would be good to cross into Algier and then Tunisia, rather than crossing back to Spain. But I was ignorant of the regional relations and that Morocco and Tunisia have not had an open border since 1994.
I really didn’t expect to be going back into Europe and the tail end of winter, but oh well. Unfortunately I had given away some warm clothes and wet weather gear, thinking I was done with it. It was still pretty wintry and a big change from Ghana a few weeks previous.
Back past the Rock of Gibraltar.
Entering the Port of Algeciras. Nice colour co-ordination with the sky by Maersk. It’s amazing how they carry such a load.
Reversing into our mooring after the short 1.5 hour journey.
My priority was getting my rear suspension sorted. Malaga had the closest specialist that I had found, so I rode off the ferry and the couple of hours straight to BEB Racing. They were popular, but gave me travellers privileges and kindly squeezed me in. I dropped my luggage off at a nearby hotel, checked in for two nights and then dropped the bike back to them.
The rear shock removed and ready to disassemble.
The scoring on the inside shouldn’t be there. It is a result of me not being kind and getting the shock serviced more regularly (e.g. every 20,000km, not 60,000km when it is broken). They cleaned up any scored metal parts on a lathe and brought them back to near new.
These are the inside parts of my shock absorber. You can start to see why it is a more specialised and expensive part to service and such a service is rare in Africa, where most motorbikes are far more simple. When I first got the bike I had some work done on this part. BEB Racing confirmed that I had some extra shims that had increased the resistance of the shock.
Finished and ready for fitting on the bike. I collected the bike, went back to the hotel, fitted my luggage and then returned to BEB Racing to get the sag checked and adjusted.
Heading inland from Malaga. I kept to my preferred formula of avoiding tourist and busy areas, which typically means riding into the countryside. No shortage of olives around here.
I spent a few days down there in Alcalá del Júcar having a rest and hiding out from the cold and rain. It is so good hanging out in small towns like this and exploring the local life.
A Renault 4. I have a favourite worn out T shirt with a print of one of these. I bought it on this trip through Barichara, Colombia from a local artist – Tottems. I gather it was a popular model in South America in the day. This was the first one I have seen in real life.
Still in Alcalá del Júcar, I took a walk up through the old town to the castle. In fact I used to take a walk up through the town each morning to get some exercise. Most of the houses were being look after, although many seemed more like holiday rentals and were empty currently.
The castle in Alcalá del Júcar was originally built in the 12th century. You can explore inside for a few Euro and there is a great view from the rooftop.
After leaving my Alcalá del Júcar accommodation, I took a short ride further down the gorge for a look.
Further on, I spent a few days in Sant Mateu in Catalonia, again taking a break from the cold and rain. It was a nice town to be in. The locals were very kind to me. I can certainly see the appeal of buying a so called 1 Euro house, but also the pitfalls. Although they seem like they are less in Spain than Italy.
Sant Mateu had some beautiful old streets, but most are very narrow and hard to get natural light to photograph.
Is this olive tree really that old, I don’t think it was grafted?
Looking out to the hills from Ermita de la Mare de Déu dels Àngels de Sant Mateu, a nice walk from the town.
Moving on, this is the nearby town of Morella. The area has prehistoric cave art back to around 5,000BC. The current castle was rebuilt in 1084.
I would ride through mountains and farming areas and then suddenly come upon a compact old village amongst the green – like el Boixar.
Looking across at the village of Herbeset.
I ended up on a forest road that ran between the towns of Fredes to Beceite.
It was a fun road with just one car and a couple of hikers.
The road was pretty good but did deteriorate down near Rio de Formenta. The Valencia region had some tragic flooding in late October 2024. It seems the road has understandably not been repaired since then. I just had to be a little careful. One point was looking particularly tricky but then I realised I could cut around through an adjacent field without doing any harm.
This scene reminded me of my time in Canada.
Coming down from the mountains and joining the sealed road into Beceite. Exploring dirt roads is a good adventure, but it is always a nice feeling when you know you can actually get through and continue forward. The water was so beautifully clear. Crossing these concrete fords can sometimes be a little slippery if there is algae, but no issues here.
The mountains and nearby very attractive little village of Arnes. I enjoyed my time in Spain again. It is so quiet and peaceful after Africa. No blaring horns and people constantly targetting you to extract money. And it just seems to be me and the locals. I am often the only guest in the hotels at the moment.
I was almost at Barcelona where I would catch a ferry across to Italy, rather than ride around the top. The ferry didn’t actually leave until 23:00 so it was a bit of a dilemma about how to time my departure day, especially because it was going to be cold and rainy.
I decided to visit one more country before I caught the ferry the next evening. Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees Ranges, with France to the north and Spain to the south. With zero research I took off with the intention of staying in Andorra and then riding back into Spain and Barcelona in time to board my ferry by 9pm.
Unfortunately, it just got wetter and colder as I rode higher into the country. And I was met with traffic congestion and shopping, ironically surrounded by amazing mountains. The country’s income comes from tourism, centred around ski resorts and duty free shopping. It became all too hard and cold, so I decided to turn around and go back closer to Barcelona and at a lower altitude.
Around dark, I found the wonderful little town of Collbató in the mountains but only about 30 minutes down a motorway to the port. I stayed at Hostal Can Missé which was run by young people, for once. They were kind and enthusiastic and cooked really nice food in their restaurant. The next day it was still raining, so I decided to pay for another night and relax for the day and just checkout at 8pm, then ride to the Barcelona Port and catch my ferry.
The high side of Collbató village looks out at the Montserrat Mountains.
Getting ready to catch the ferry to Civitavecchia, just to the north of Rome. The motorcyclists were a newly started tour group that were heading across to Italy, then Albania and eventually across into Turkey. I got to know a couple of them, they were good company and helped me out a few times.
These were brand new cars waiting to be exported. The cars for our voyage were already onboard. I didn’t pay much attention, but I assume they are Seat models made in Spain.
The journey is about 24 hours by the time you get on and off. It was no pleasure cruise but did the job. The cabins were getting old but were fine. The price was actually very good. I guess it was low season and they were just trying to fill the ship.
Leaving the port.
The ship’s pilot getting off.