18.10.2022 Last stretch: from Benicàssim to our home in Los Montesinos

 

This is the backyard of the Intur Hotel, with pool and everything.

Last night at the Intur Hotel, I sat in the backyard and just enjoyed a beer, and later on a coffee Americano. In Spain, when you order a beer, in most cases you get some munchies on the side.

The large beer and the large coffee were 4,10 € together. That's what I like in Spain: enjoying life is actually affordable, you don't need big bucks for it, like in France or, even worse, in Switzerland.

I had a terrible night, as non of my family members responded on my good night message. Knowing that Susanne is probably quite sick with Corona, I worried what happened, if I should try to get a flight back sooner than scheduled and so on. In my head, the full drama evolved. That had an immediate effect on my health. Over the whole trip my blood pressure was fine, actually pretty

low, which is good. Arriving in Spain, it even dropped further.  Then, with the message of Corona, of stress at home, of the Internet not working, of Susanne perhaps not making it to her statistics exam and so on, the blood pressure shot up to 142 to 94, pulse 83. 

But then, suddenly, everything was OK, no problem, just the normal stress at home. Why worry? - Fine. It took me half a day to calm down again. The two coffee at the Intur didn't help, although they were excellent! I had an amazing breakfast, one of the most extended buffets I have ever seen.

The bread was fresh and still warm, the grated tomato very tasty, together with fine olive oil.

I skipped all the sweet stuff, but it was very popular with the French guests.

The fresh melon and pineapple was so sweet, just to good to have only once.

All sorts of milk.

And cheese and ham and salami.

More sweet stuff ...

... and REALLY sweet stuff, like cake.

The restaurant had the size of an opera house.

Most of the guests where retired folks, I was one of the younger ones. Most of the people were from France, some of Spain, no Germans.

There was a meat dish in sauce, sausages, tortilla (potato and egg), scrambled egg, champignons ...

... fried eggs (my favorite, grilled tomato, crips bacon ...

I shared that with Bernd and Brigitte, our friends living in Doña Pepa, close by to Los Montesinos, and Bernd replied: "Well, get started, we are waiting for you. So, loaded with a couple of very tasty coffee that made my heart beat like a steam engine, I hit the road. The landscape is beautiful in most parts. Close to larger cities like Valencia or Alicante, the traffic was pretty dense, though, I mean, really dense. 

I had to be 100% present, due to lane-switching trucks mainly, but also car drivers coming as close as 5 meters on my tail. I hate that. Anyway, as Bernd was waiting, I drove the whole distance of about 300 km in one go, without a stop. At the end, my butt hurt a bit, but I made it as promised, 12:00 sharp I arrived at B&Bs house.

It was really warm, and I wanted to get out of my heavy biker gear. I put the key into the lock of our front door ... and it didn't open. I went over to our neighbours Mark and Isabelle, they had a spare key. Didn't work either. Shit, not what I needed right now. So close, and yet not home again. Roger, our neighbour from Luxembourg said that I might pay something like 800€ for getting the door opened.  Mark gave me the address of a locksmith. That guy came right away, and, thanks to the Universe, he managed to open the door. 80 bucks cash. That was reasonable, for an immediate service, sort of emergency. Meanwhile I was wet sweating, but I was in our house, not just at the house, and that was the most important thing.

After a little sleep I drove to the supermarket to get some basic supplies, like fresh tomatoes, some beer, some ham and cheese and bread and olives and capers, and some chips. Back home, I just put everything into the fridge and went to my bedroom. Rest. Yes. Ahhh.

My adventure trip Garding - Los Montesinos came to an end for now. 1777,7 km, 26 degrees Celsius. Next stop: Marrakesh.

Silence. 

Rest.

Happiness.