Another breakfast in the hotel and I was out the door around 10:00 a.m. In my usual fashion, I set off somewhat randomly, allowing my Wahoo to figure out in which direction I'm going and then figure out in which direction I'm supposed to go: the narrow streets of Sevilla are a maze and the high buildings make it difficult to get some orientation from the sun. Unfortunately, as I have found, my Wahoo is not particularly adept at rerouting. So I must have set off in the wrong direction and then followed Wahoo's suggestions: down past the cathedral and onto a cyclepath that allowed me to cover a couple of kilometres quite quickly on the way out of town. I saw a beautiful building, and wondered if it was the palace that I hadn't yet seen yet so I pulled off to one side to get a photograph. Then I recognised some of the surrounding – I was at the back of the cathedral, the same cathedral I'd passed a couple of minutes after leaving the hotel! I'd gone around in a big circle. Oh well, it was all good!

Leaving the city was drawn out, and involved some climbing through what seemed to be poorer areas of the city. Small narrow row houses on steep streets, some occupants sitting on front steps in the mid-morning. Finally. At one point, shabby houses on one side and a brief section of open country on the other, where horses were grazing by olive groves.

But then soon back into urban territory, houses on both sides. I stopped at an Aldi and bought a litre of milk, a litre of juice and some carrots. The milk went down very nicely.

In places, cyclepaths protected me from the traffic but it was hardly inspiring.

Finally, I reached open country, on roads with narrow shoulders and steady traffic. Signs for a centre of innovation took me off the road; I had seen the derelict building and was looking for somewhere private away from the passing traffic to have a pee. This centre of innovation, off the road a hundred metres, appeared to have had a short life. It offered a degree of privacy.

Back on the road, feeling more comfortable, I continued. Then, a screech from my rear brake sounded like I'd worn through the pads again. That seems to be happening quite quickly on the rear. It was not the most ideal place for a repair but it was where I was and I didn't have much choice.

I flipped the bike over and took the wheel off. To my surprise, the outer ring of the brake disc rotor remained in the brake caliper. The inner part of the rotor was still attached to the wheel. This was a new one for me.

What to do? I clearly needed a new disc rotor. I didn't feel like riding back into Sevilla. So I continued west towards Portugal with just a front brake, and checked for cycle shops ahead.

Not much for a while but eventually I found one in Bollullos Par del Condada. When I consulted Google for a route there, I was taken on to quieter, more peaceful roads. No traffic really, narrow country roads, sunflowers and green fields. Some up and down but when isn't there?

I went to into bike shop and showed them the remains of my rotor, and they offered me a fairly standard replacement that I could have installed myself. But I asked whether they had time to do the installation and the mechanic got right to it. That proved to be a good call. He noticed that the caliper was somehow bent so that the rotor was not parallel to the brake pads, causing the pads to wear unevenly. That had been the cause of the caliper wearing through the rotor itself. I had thought was metal fatigue in the rotor but apparently not. The mechanic got his grinder out and made some adjustments so that the caliper would sit in the correct orientation. And also replaced the rotor with the same model I had wrecked.

A little look at the front and that too had some problems, due mainly to my ignoring them since installation. Six or seven thousand kilometres ago? I should be taking them apart and lubingevery thousand kilometers. Apparently. He had to drill out the screw that held the brake pads in place.

I was in the bike shop or a couple of hours while he worked away. A little pricey but hadn't anticipated all this work. Never mind, now I have tuned brakes – and should be good for the rest of the trip. The bike shop was only 7 km from my original destination for the day but there was a cheaper hotel in the same town only a kilometre away and it was getting late...

A short day was planned. I'd just make up the final 38 km to Lepé that I hadn't managed the day before. That was the plan...

First, I rode up to the Dia supermarket. The sign said that it was open from nine in the morning until nine in the evening, six days a week. I had allowed for the possibility of it being clased on Saturday afternoon, but that didn't seem to be a problem. I rode away, without any purchases; I didn't need to carry it all day if I could restock in the afternoon.

It was an easy morning, having the roads pretty much to myself.

A dedicated cycle path brought me into Gibraléon. I shared it with some dog walkers, and older (though not older than me) male mountain bikers. The trail was well-used. The trail continued, even advertising Eurovelo 1 at the bottome of a few kilometer markers.

Some cactus, growing along the side of the trail, reminded me of Mexico

Snails are making their home in these plants, reminiscent of Scottish thorns.

Speeding downhill, I must have missed a turning somewhere. Given that I was travelling between two banks of vegetation at the time, the turn cannot have been very prominent. I had no idea I had missed anything until I notice a notification on my Wahoo head unit, indicating an about turn. But I was still on a dedicated, and very nice, cycle path so I continued; they would join up again soon. I still had my doubts about the turn I should have taken – maybe it had overgrown, or had been discontinued?

I did, eventually, check my position on my mapping app. I was going to far south for my originally planned path. And my Wahoo was no longer updating my distance to go to Lepé. As though I was so far off route that it had given up?

All this, despite having tried to update the gpx file with a new one, calculated from my current location to Lepé. A phone reboot seemed to resolve the issue.

I had come too far south, and was now directed back north. The distance to Lepé was more than I wanted it to be. I had mistakenly added about 18 km to my 'easy, short' day!

I was directed into a recreational area where a couple of small family groups appeared to be picknicking. It was a lovely location, with nice trees. And gravel, interspersed with unwelcome stretches of soft, sandy double track that threatenend to toss me to the ground. But the track only threatened and I managed without too much harm to my ego. Wider tyres would have been helpful.

Then a steep incline to pavement alongside a canal. Vey varied riding today. And fun, if not quite the day I had anticipated.

But I arrived, more tired than I had expected, where I had planned. Later and longer but never mind... A day full of surprises.

A bit of road and then I found the way down to a rail trail. Some sandy sections, requiring effort and concentration.

Into Ayamonté on a bike trail that leads directly to the ferry.

There is a bridge between Spain and Portugal. But not for cyclists. We get to take a little ferry, which is much better!

It's a short crossing, ten to fifteen minutes. About €5 for the bike and for me. Mainly pedestrians on the small ferry but also a couple of cars.

And then, without fanfare, I was in Portugal. And sad to be leaving Spain. It feels like I'm making my way home now – even if I still have four weeks to get to the other ferry, the one from Santander to Portsmouth.

I stopped at a café for lunch. Portugues tripe stew, which was excellent. And anchovies in vinegar. Which were even better. Then, time to ride on and head to Tavira, a dorm and sleep.