November 4, 2013
Gibraltar
After enjoying probably our best breakfast of the trip, we pushed our bikes up the steep road from the inn and started off for Gibraltar. Our goal was to arrive early and leave the afternoon free for an afternoon exploring the great rock so we biked straight through and arrived at our hotel in La Linea, checked in, and were on our way to the border before noon. The most interesting sight of the morning was at the coast in La Linea: a continuous ribbon of wall art/graffiti that was about a quarter mile long, covering the entire length of the fence of a huge petrochemical refinery.
Gibraltar is not an easy place to cycle in, but we were glad we were entering by bike - the queue of cars backed up behind the customs gate was immense and slow moving. Fortunately there is a separate queue for bicycles, as well as one for pedestrians and another for motorbikes. The bicycle queue was well used - bicycle is a common means of transportation for the Spanish workforce to access the city - but fast moving, so it only took a few minutes before we were through and on to what is the oddest border crossing I've ever experienced: a cycle across the runway of the Gibraltar airport, which parallels the border and covers nearly the full width of the isthmus. We had seen a small commercial jet take off a bit earlier; it would have been interesting to see what protects the steady stream of crossers when that occurs.
The city of Gibraltar is a bit of a zoo - very busy and complex streets packed with fast moving cars, buses, scooters and bikes. It was a bit unnerving to navigate after almost a month of cycling through the ultra quiet country roads of Portugal and southern Spain. We weren't here to see the city though, but the rock itself with its nature preserve, views, and the famously feisty apes of Gibraltar (actually, macaques).
Gibraltar is not an easy city to cycle through, but the rock is darn near impossible. The access roads had very little traffic (we were here at a quiet time of year; if there had been much traffic it would have been even harder) because the gradients are incredible. It seemed like we were either straining up 25 percent grades or tightly gripping our brakes on the way down for half the afternoon. For us though it was well worth it - the views down to the bay, along the face of the rock, and across the narrow straits to Africa were thrilling; and the spectacle of the freely ranging macaques was amusing, charming, and at times startling. Seeing Gibraltar was Rachael's dream, not mine; but once we were here I was unreservedly excited by it. It was truly great.
We crossed the border again not long before sunset, and were again glad to be on bikes as we watched virtually every car be pulled to the side for a thorough inspection while we were just waved through. After returning to the hotel (my camera battery died on the Rock, and I had foolishly forgotten to bring the backup today), we hurried back out again for a walk along the promenade, enjoying wind surfers taking advantage of a blasting west wind and taking in the most spectacular sunset I can recall.
Elevation log: 3000' today, 60,100' total.
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Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 1,081 miles (1,740 km)
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