After a very relaxing night at our home in Liria, we parents get up early.

Today we’re up at 6 am, as we are covering much less distance today. Our kids will sleep late until around 10 am and then have a Spanish breakfast at one of the local Churrerias before leaving towards San Juan on their own.

TW560’s battery is still at 30°C – outside temperatures at 6 am are around 21°C. This is the perfect temperature for traveling in a TWIKE! We’re both looking forward to this last leg of the trip – for me it will be the second time I’ve traveled to southern Spain by TWIKE and I’m sure it will not be the last. (And there is so much more to see by TWIKE!)

Let’s go!

6 am - ready to leave!
6 am – ready to leave!

 
Driving towards Valencia – we will be crossing through the town to get to the sea – we are treated to the same glorious pre-dawn show of colours.

Very nice pre-dawn hues of blue and pink
Very nice pre-dawn hues of blue and pink

 
And hey, with a co-pilot, there are pictures of me, too! 🙂

Early morning colors
Early morning colors

 
As yesterday, eventually, we get hungry and get some pastries and coffee to start the day.

Time for a croissant and some coffee
Time for a croissant and some coffee

 
We enter Valencia – which is absolutely worth a visit – and have to fight our way through the morning traffic.

As always, weaving in and out of traffic is easy and fun with a TWIKE. Many surprised morning commuters smile at us and give us their thumbs-up.

Morning traffic in Valencia
Morning traffic in Valencia

 

As we finally leave the city, we’re going to continue to stick to the coast as much as possible. Today’s diet of roads looks just like yesterday’s: Flat – hills – flat again, with some minor detours for some POI’s.

The hills are coming closer!
The hills are coming closer!

 
As always, without some prior planning and analysis of the roads, we would never have found the ones we are currently driving on – like this gem of a single-lane road:

In the shadow and single lane - perfect!
In the shadow and single lane – perfect!

 
Temperatures are rising and the canopy goes back on earlier than yesterday. At least at the sea, we are treated to a nice breeze.

I never get tired of this view from my TWIKE
I never get tired of this view from my TWIKE

 
Most of the time, however, if there isn’t a very small single lane road available, we’re stuck driving from village to village, from roundabout to roundabout and always on the lookout for backbreaking speed-bumps we might have missed. (Going over them at normal speed really hurts both us and TW560!)

Endless traffic, roundabouts and speed bumps
Endless traffic, roundabouts and speed bumps

 
Shortly before Denia, there is a very hilly part of our trip that really surprised us, as we climbed to 300m in no time on very windy and steep roads. Given the heat I was very much looking out not to overheat the motor or electronics!

It is as steep as it seems!
It is as steep as it seems!

 
The weird thing was that we both felt as if we were somewhere much more alpine than just a mere few kilometres away from the sea!

They seem so alpine and the roads there are super-windy
They seem so alpine and the roads there are super-windy

 
One of today’s POI’s is the lighthouse above Adunas bay. Getting there involved driving along a ridge high above the sea and a forest before suddenly opening up into this incredible 300° view of the sea and the bay.

TWIKEing bliss II
TWIKEing bliss II

 
We park our TWIKE in the shade and get out – there is a viewpoint just a few hundred metres down a rocky path. This detour was well worth the time!

Strategic parking spot for TW560
Strategic parking spot for TW560

 
…and we get another iconic picture with TW560!

Another iconic pic with TW560
Another iconic pic with TW560

 
Getting back to the road towards Adunas sees us driving back along the frankly incredible windy road above the sea – see for yourself. I keep repeating myself, but I’ll never get used to this kind of view from my TWIKE (which is a good thing as I’m planning to drive along many a coast in the future! 🙂 )

TWIKEing bliss along the coast
TWIKEing bliss along the coast

 
Adunas bay greets us with a very nice small town and perfect beaches – our route for today, unsurprisingly, takes us just there!

Descending down to Adunas bay
Descending down to Adunas bay

 
Adunas bay
Adunas bay

 
As always TWIKE 560 fits in just fine!

 

Getting away from traffic
Getting away from traffic

 
Denia & Calpe rock are nice to look at but during summer are completely overrun by non-Spanish tourists.

This is also true for infamous Benidorm which is just like Las Vegas: created just for the visitors, complete with it’s own cultural (UK-) microcosm – definitely not Spain and definitely not a place I would like to spend my vacation.

San Juan, although close to Alicante, is one of the last places on the Costa Blanca where signs at shops are not in English (…or Russian, for that matter) and people expect you to be able to speak Spanish. No pub food or drinking excesses. Restaurants open at 9 pm and dinner is usually at 10 pm or later. Spain as it should be.

Denia and Calpe rock
Denia and Calpe rock

 
We’re getting close to our final destination for today!

San Juan in the background - nearly there
San Juan in the background – nearly there

 
Just within 100 km vegetation has changed markedly. Suddenly everything is brown, there is no grass and everything is just dry and arid. Temperatures soar to 39°C and are forecast to hit 40°C today.

Very hot and dry
Very hot and dry

 
Arriving in San Juan
Arriving in San Juan

 
Suddenly, as last time, things go really quickly – We enter via El Campello and drive along the 7 km-long beach all the way to our place which is right on the far end of the beach and allows us to take in the sights and check if all the restaurants and places we know are still there.

Last few metres until we arrive
Last few metres until we arrive

 
All looks good – our favourite places are still there!

The last corner before we get to our destination
The last corner before we get to our destination

 
And with this, without much fanfare, we arrive at our apartment – our trip is over! (The picture taken is the exact same one like the one I took when I arrived with JC at the exact same point during TDE2012, 7(!) years ago)

We made it!
We made it!

 
Our kids come to open the gate. They’ve already done all the shopping necessary and we’re basically ready to go to beach 🙂

Distance for today
Distance for today

 
Now comes the interesting part – how much energy did I consume?

Consumption for today 2
Consumption for today 2

 

Consumption for today
Consumption for today

 
TDE2019 Stats:
day 1: _180.5 km / _9729 Wh / 53.9 Wh/km / 00.00 CHF
day 2: _417.5 km / 14669 Wh / 35.1 Wh/km / 00.00 CHF
day 3: _393.5 km / 13528 Wh / 34.4 Wh/km / 00.00 CHF
day 4: _383.2 km / 14019 Wh / 36.6 Wh/km / 00.00 CHF
day 5: _411.9 km / 15873 Wh / 38.5 Wh/km / 00.00 CHF
day 6: _237.1 km / _8168 Wh / 36.3 Wh/km / 02.64 CHF
Total: 2023.7 km / 75986 Wh / 37.5 Wh/km / 02.64 CHF

~76 kWh - very proud
~76 kWh – very proud

 
After all this distance, I’m glad to be able to park TW560 and give it and myself a break for 9 days. My drive back to Switzerland will be another major trip – but that’s for another entry 🙂

TW560s parking spot for the next 2 weeks
TW560s parking spot for the next 2 weeks

 
Thank you for following this blog and as always – reach out if you want to know anything!

TDE2019 - Day 6 GPS track
TDE2019 – Day 6 GPS track

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