Windy times - Portugal and Spain

We are back on track!
From North America we fly to Germany where we visit my parents in the beautiful Black Forest. Then we try a completely different adventure before we continue with the cycling: hitch-hiking through Europe!
I have hitched a lot when I was young and now we thought we give it a try again; will people still take you on a ride when you're 35?
The Michelin Route Planner calculates that a trip by car from the Black Forest to Porto at the west coast of the Iberian penninsula should take roughly 24 hours. If you are driving your own vehicle.
We start hitching at a gas station close to Mulhouse (thank you Gabi!!!) around 10 in the morning. And arrive in Portugal before we can believe it ourselves! Via Lyon and Montpelier, Toulouse, Bayonne and Leon we arrive in Porto even less than 24 hours later. Hitch - Hitch - Hooray! It is still doable :)



We take public transport from Porto to Leiria where the bicycles are parked. I am a little nervous because we had just left the bikes with the next person we could find in Leiria last year in November - we kind of were in a hurry to catch a flight from Lisbon to Chad back then...
Now - five months later - will the bikes still be with Fernando, the friendly motorbike mechanic?
...they are. Thank you sooooo much, Fernando. You were a great help in times of need!
Back in the bicycle seats, we head towards the hilly terrains between Portugal and Spain. The plan is to take a ferry to Morocco from the southern tip of Europe - the hippie and surfer capital Tarifa.
On the way there we pass beautiful landscapes, very hilly but full of oak and cork trees. The cork is used for wine production while fruit of the oak trees are used to feed the famous black iberian pigs that are later turned into some of the best quality Serrano ham.



After crossing into Spain the hills are getting less but then the wind picks up in Andalusia. We start to fight a fierce fight against a strong and everlasting headwind all the way until Tarifa!



But life keeps treating us good with plenty of beutiful weather, lovely sunsets and cinnamon cake - Susan's new addiction.



On the way south, we pass by many a nice town, one particularily nice one being the lovely town of Evola with its narrow alleyways and white and yellow painted houses. And then - we suddenly first smell and later see the ocean again; Tarifa!