The Prancing, dancing and Flamenco - Horses ??

Saturday 19th up early, had breakfast and pre-booked our next accommodation The Hostile Fenix (no that’s not a spellining mistake, but that is) in Jerez de la Fonterra, not far from cadiz. Actually it wasn’t hostile at all, in fact the guy on reception was very very helpful. I think the real issue revolved around the hot water or should I say lack of it; it’s always nice to shower and freshen up when you arrive somewhere new and in this instance we were a little cold and slightly damp after our journey from Seville, having no hot water after we’d booked in, was not popular. We had met with some heavy rain on the way but it didn’t last too long and the wind helped to dry us, we covered the 110 km in about 1.5 hrs. In most cases we endeavour to avail ourselves of the scenic route and try to avoid the motorways because it’s much more fun and the scenery can, at times, be quite breathtaking. The problem with the motorways (besides some of them being toll), everything flashes by and you can’t really stop to take a look, so, when we do use them I have to rely on the beady eye and a commentary from D I Cronin perched on the rear of the bike.

Jerez de la Fontera is famous for it’s horses and has a famous equine school – The Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, sadly though, we were disappointed to find the school was closed for visits at this time of the year. However we did manage to smell them as we walked past – We thought we hummed, but I can tell you them horses were definitely competing - lol We didn’t spend too long weeping about it because it’s also famous for Flamenco and its wines and we soon managed to locate some life and entertainment at a local tapas bar where we ate some of the local food (which was very tasty) and slugged a glass of vinho or three along with it. Unfortunately there was no local flamenco to accompany it so Ann got up on the tables and danced to the tune I screamed out on the guitar!! I’m afraid there’s not alot more to be said about our walk around J de la F, we took a couple of photos and that’s about it. But now that I come to think of it there was something quite significant about the place, it’s the first town we’ve visited since our tour began that we didn’t get to see the inside of a church, we tried but without success – how strange and highly unusual!

Anyway we managed to get a hot shower the next morning, it turns out the electric fuse was switched off. We breakfasted and got our kit loaded onto our trusty steed who was waiting patiently outside for us, a turn of the key and she roared into action – the onboard computer gave us full clearance to take off and that’s exactly what we did. Our destination this morning Sunday 20th was Cadiz the oldest European City with more than three millenniums of history.

The sun was shining the sky was blue and the temperature, a delightful 20 degrees - bring it on. The journey was relatively short probably no more than 40 km; Before we knew it we were in Cadiz. It’s a long narrow strip of land a bit like the shape of your arm with your hand extended out and thumb pointing up. I can’t be sure whether it’s an island or a peninsular but there seems to be water all around and it’s accessed over a bridge. Our first port of call was the T I who were once again extremely helpful and assisted us in finding suitable accommodation (though I do have to say I did turn on the old ‘Tony Cronin Charm’ to get the girl to ring around for me).

That said we found our hotel in the old and historic area of the City, The Hotel de francia y Paris (sounds very grand), was situated in a plaza and a bit of a mission to find on the bike. It was surrounded by ancient and historic buildings in fact we were next door to a beautiful Church, where we attended the evening mass. Just as a point of interest, when we were on the bike trying to find the hotel we were hailed down by the ole Bill, well blow me down if this time The ArchBishop stepped right out infront of us with his Mitre and Staff in hand with the Bishop in tow leading a procession that included a wonderful array of military and naval personnel dressed in their historic uniforms with an old marching band at the rear. It was a sight to see and one unfortunately we couldn’t capture on camera, we were royally greeted into Cadiz!!

After our shower and change into civvies, we hit the streets, out on a walking sightseeing tour that eventually took us to the sea front. It was absolutely glorious the sun was blazing, in fact Ann had removed 3 layers of clothing and was at last enjoying some warmth from the sun( probably a new temp record 22 degrees). We stopped off at a packed local bar and through our exquisite multi lingual skills – (speaking loud and the usual hand sign language), we managed with reasonable success to get some grub (one good, one not so good) and a drink of beer. Being in Cadiz on the Sunday was a real joy, it seemed like every man and his wife was out with their children and families, eating, drinking and socialising it was like a festival , I genuinely believe it is their way of life, and the ‘Family’ is paramount – long may it last!!!! We carried on walking and thoroughly enjoyed ‘People watching’ taking in the scenes all around us, it can be very therapeutic, we even encountered a crocodile basking in the sunshine, whatever next.......

We had a very satisfying day and even managed to get to speak to our kids, that was a real treat, all three of them were back at home and we spent an hour sat outside our hotel in the square in Cadiz catching up and laughing while they they told us they were shivering at home (and before you say it Keith, about me being mean with the heating, I’m speaking metaphorically). We finished the evening with a nightcap at a bar close by, and then retired to bed looking forward to a good night’s sleep in a comfortable warm bed.

Love to everyone back home

The easy Riders xxxx

Ps Sorry Simon, but the whereabouts of them Katherine wheels will remain a secret, they’re only for very special people or very special occasions....... xxx (These are for Emma)