We actually ended up at the Beatriz Apartments first also, and had to phone the Hotel to get directions from the Apartments to the Church/Square with the Hotel opposite. Thanks for the offer of tracks, but our routes seem to be diverging from here on. Dodie has been reading, and rereading, Scott, and the Classens, and your blogs trying to find the routing that will yield least gravel/most pavement and feels she now knows which way we should go. Time will tell, so stay tuned.

Thank you. That is what we tell ourselves daily, if we can remember to do so.

It is amazing to see hillsides carpeted in it. At home it is too wet and it is never happy. Here, in the hot and (usually) dry it just flourishes.

How can one be expected to remember where you were last year. I can’t remember where I was yesterday. I would only worry about you two if nothing looked familiar. You are good!

It's so cool to see Spanish lavender out in the wild. It's pretty short-lived for me.

This day was a tour highlight for me. We had four castles! I’m looking forward to your view of the day.

I am totally allergic to dirt roads. You can be sure any dirt we do is of great quality.

We also stayed at the Beatriz in Serpa, although you didn’t have our trouble locating the hotel vs the apartments.
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/gotagorda/to-serpa-portugal/

Perhaps our map will help you? IDK how many days we are on the same track, but I always publish a map.

Well, that’s too bad. I tried!

I’ve never experimented with this. I’ll have to check it out.

We seem to have selective memory loss. Weird what sticks and what gets lost. But yes, we did remember the sand streets of El Rocio. It is really a place like no other.

I was really startled by this too. I remembered you’d gone north from Faro to Almadovar because I was sorry you weren’t taking the ride up the river like you had this time. But I’d forgotten you went to Mertola and Serpa afterwards.

What really surprised me though is that you biked from Seville to El Rocio to Huelva last year also! Did you remember you’d been in El Rocio before?

Did a web search, and you're probably right. The real question is "How did you know?"

Not likely. Most cholla fruits are not very good.

Goes with the leering old man look.

I TOLD him this was not a good shot and to use just the first one, but would he listen? Nnooooo.