Day 12 – EU – Spain [Cartaya to Moguer]

17/12/19

42.2km

  From Cartaya (Spain) to Moguer (Spain)

Europe

Beautiful sunny day, bright blue sky and rural trails of Spain!

What a difference it made to set out running under a bright blue sky for a change. I left Cartaya and elected to run on the “Camino Rural” instead of the roadside. I had no particular expectations, but the respite it provided, from the tarmac and the traffic noise was invaluable. I found myself running completely on my own, on some sandy/earthy trails, amongst a forest of pine trees. Very inspirational and so quieting.

After a few ups and downs in the forest, I ran by a canal for a while before hitting the road to go towards Huelva. Huelva is a major city on the Gulf of Cadiz, at the confluent of the Odiel and the Rio Tinto river. The name “Rio Tinto” evoked to me the highest tower in Perth, Australia, where I did most of my training runs for this journey… and today I saw the source of it! So to reach Huelva, I had to cross a bridge, and I owe it to a very kind group of cyclists that I did not end up on the Highway! There was a smaller bridge dedicated to runners and cyclists and it’s lucky I made it safely there.

Crossing Huelva was a few kilometers affair and the sights were worth the trouble. It’s always more trouble to run in a city. Especially with BoB: going up and down the sidewalks, fitting between parked cars and other pedestrians. It’s also a distraction from the long stretches of lonely roads, so I am not complaining! I passed by the cathedral of Huelva, which was stunning under the late morning light.

I reached Moguer a little later than I would usually reach my destination. And this is because there is a 1 hour time difference between Portugal and Spain. In Portugal I would leave at sunrise, 7:30am and reach my final destination by 13:00. Here in Spain sunup is 8:30am and therefore I am unlikely to make it to my destination before 14:00. Which is fine, as Spanish tend to eat quite late, I’ll still be on time for Tapas!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: