Two Austrians and an Englishman walk into a bar

Ian raised a question that others may have been wondering?

Are you looking forward to heading for home or could you manage to stay travelling?

My reply was ‘Therein lies a story, far too big for FB’, maybe even too big for this blog, but I pondered it as I departed my hotel this morning and rode through the vast dry sierras of southern Spain.

I actually enjoyed the solitude of being the ‘lone ranger’, taking my time to stop and take photos at will, of anything that tickled my fancy. 

In the last year I’ve travelled into foreign lands with Ian on two short biking trips, one to Scotland and one to Wales, and I thought about this on today’s ride. I enjoy his company and that of the others who came with us, travelling with a group of mates is fun, you have a laugh, travelling on your own isn’t particularly funny. If laughter is the best medicine then I’m certainly not in any danger of overdosing! Maybe solo travelling is for the more discerning type, or maybe I’m just living in my own little world?

But this morning I wondered if I was actually starting to adapt to being a solo traveller, certainly by taking my time rather than blasting to the next destination.

It was time for morning coffee as I moseyed on into town, ignoring McDo’s, I pulled up outside a traditional local bar cafe. As I pushed open the louvred swing doors the piano player stopped, as did all the conversation whilst everybody stared at me, the barman slammed a small glass on the counter and grabbing a bottle of tea coloured liquid said “What’ll be stranger”? 

Just kidding, there wasn’t a piano player, nor any swing doors, actually and the barman’s grasp of English wasn’t that good either, but the short dark swarthy looking men did give a strange look to the tall thin white alien invading their presence. 

So getting back to reality, a black Triumph Bonneville pulled up behind me just after I stopped, a guy riding with a female pillion, we did the usual bikers acknowledgment and I went into the bar (where the short dark swarthy men were) whilst the bikers sat at a table outside. I ordered coffee, cake and a Fanta and the barman took it to the table where the female pillion passenger was now sitting alone, as the guy had briefly returned to his bike. An easy mistake to make, but we all laughed at it!

After my coffee and cake I wandered over to look at the Bonnie, whilst the black tar I had just consumed was washed down with the Fanta. I noticed it had an Austrian plate on, so before I left I said to them “Sprechen sei Englisch”, which of course they did, resulting in quite a lengthy bit of bantering. Once they learnt I was heading to Cordoba I got the “We’re heading that way” response and, not for the first time on this trip, we agreed to travel together for the hour’s ride. Once in the city we had lunch together before I said my fond farewells to Micheala and Steven and we went our separate ways, the people you meet eh?

So getting back to Ian’s question, the short answer is that I am looking forward to heading home, and at this moment in time I couldn’t stay away travelling. Maybe in the future I could do more than six weeks, only time will tell.