Day 94: Cabra (Arrival)

There was a bike ride planned for today. However, due to lack of sleep last night brought about by an invasion of mosquitoes, Plan B was invoked: Drive to new location and take a rest day!

Over the past couple of weeks I have picked up the occasional insect bite: probably received when stopped to take a photo or ascending too slowly on a climb! Obviously there has been the resultant itchiness, but nothing on the scale that I'm currently experiencing.

I was bitten/stung by something on Cominito Del Ray day, which I assumed happened on the walk. Now I'm not so sure, because I was the starter, main course and dessert for a horde of mosquitoes last night. The strange thing is that there appeared to be none in my location the previous two nights. Perhaps they were merely bidding their time with a view to lulling me into a false sense of security. If so, it worked!

Unlike the Valencia mosquito warfare where they attacked singularly, last night they tag-teamed it. This leads me to believe that either they'd consciously made a group decision to adopt this alternate tactic or they were a different species of mosquito and, as such, it was in their DNA to attack collectively.

I did manage to assassinate some, but clearly not all or, before they'd feasted on me. Today I have a multitude of very itchy swellings (much more swelly than the Valencia bites, which appears to concord with a different species at play last night!). The collection of bites is located on most body parts. I am having to muster every watt of will power not to scratch them and yet the size of the swellings are still increasing!!

So I've moved on from the campsite and now reside in Cabra (by the way, Cabra is Spanish for goat). In effect I have started my return journey to the UK. The distance travelled was only 66 miles of the approximate 1,294 miles to Calais (according to Google Maps). So I've conquered about 5% of the distance!

The reason for stopping in Cabra is that it is adjacent to another Via Verde. This time, Via Verde del Aciete. Aciete because the old railway line was predominantly used to transport olives/olive oil.

Some good news, for the first time, "topping up" of my Spanish mobile appears to have finally happened without any issues or wasted time. Shame it is the last time on this trip!

• Distance driven: 66 Miles
• Distance cycled: 0
• Weather: It's definitely getting warmer .... perhaps it is good that I've begun my journey north!
• Location: Google Maps