Mid August 2014, I decided that since there was a national fiesta immediately before a weekend a touring trip was in order.  Not much planning would be done as I only decided to go three days before.  After about 10 minutes on Google Maps the decision was made to head north east up the Costa Blanca coastline towards Benicàssim before turning inland and stopping somewhere near Albocàsser for the night.  Where would I stay?  Maybe a nice hotel, or dig out the old tent and give camping a go, what could possibly go wrong.

Have you ever been tempted to take on a challenge, run something, climb something or ride something further, faster or for longer than anyone else.  Costa Blanca resident Gill Moorcroft (formerly Roper) took on such a challenge with another girl Mary Donovan, when they accepted an offer from their local bike dealer, Arthur Francis of Watford, to ride from London to Milan in as short a time as possible.

Written by Eddie & Lorraine Hornblow, forum members of our previous website, who spent three weeks of the summer of 2011 exploring many countries of Europe.  The article is a diary of the trip in their ownwords.

Alcalali to Barcelona (Spain)

Nothing special but a nice ride missing the motorways. Stayed at an Ibis Hotel within walking distance of the cathedral, got a taxi to Las Ramblas. Spent a couple of hour's wandering along Las Ramblas watching the street entertainer's had a bite to eat and back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Sharon and Johan originally posted this in ou forum on our old website, however we thought it worthy of an article with pictures so read on and enjoy.

Sh*t what is this! The thought of landing at a brand new airport in Bratislava was not part of my plan to see the commie east.  Anyway plans had gone ahead since January this year to see what was behind the old Iron Curtain...