Spain 11/7

Today we had the best train trip - Seville to Cadiz. A couple of stations along a biggish group got on - mothers and children heading for a day at the beach. All noise and excitement and a good deal of jolly talk as they realised they were not all sitting together. Some were in the next carriage. Lots of juggling seats and who will sit on whose knee and so on. The conductor was on hand and took it all in his stride - helping to organise swapping of seats with passengers in our carriage. At the last move a couple of boys came through with the esky, which one of them then sat on in the aisle. They are of course like travelling with the boys when they were younger - the noise and the excitement just don't stop. You begin to feel part of it just sitting nearby - language barriers don't exist. So i will gloss over the children getting restless and the mothers getting a bit short as when they got off the train at the beach none of that counted for anything anymore. Cadiz is the smallest town we have been to and I thank you Rob McConchie for telling me about the train as day trip. The tourist office very helpful and the guided walking tours a great idea. The 'guides' are coloured lines on the footpath colour coded for the various walks a bit like heading for pathology or x-ray in a hospital. We take route 3 which takes us around the defences and therefore the perimeter of older parts. We only take 2 1/2 hours for the recommended 45min walk and so stop for lunch in the appropriately named Barrio de Vino. We pore over the map and join up with the walk that refers to the 'shippers to Indies' past various sites and end up in the Cathedral square. I sit on the steps with quite a few others and make use of the wifi to check my email (on my trusty HTC) phone. Michael has sent me some information that rocks me - Stephen, who owned what I always think of as MY bike shop, has died overseas in a cycling accident. I have been buying bikes from them for about 25 years. I won't be back for the commemorative ride later this month unfortunately and will miss Stephen sorely. I am now sitting in the Cadiz station waiting for our train. We expect to sleep all the way home and then go to a very pleasant local bar for dinner and THE GAME. Vamos Espana. Vale Stephen Hart.