Tarragona to Reus – The Last Link In The Spanish Chain

We loafed this morning and got out of bed for a 9.45 am hundred hours start. Another cloudless day, crisp and clear but by the time we emerged it was tee shirt temperature. We made for the station to check the time of trains tomorrow morning, as we expected to return to Tarragona tonight. Unfortunately the timings meant we would have to get up at 5am to be sure to make it to Barcelona in time for our flight to Amsterdam and a transfer to Leeds.

So the new plan was to walk up to Reus, our final destination this trip, and take a train to Barcelona this afternoon. A pity really because Tarragona was a lovely place, unless you were seeking out the poorer quarters, where the ragged people go. Thanks Paul.

And the Roman archeology is fabulous. This is the coliseum, nearly 2,000 years old.

Great place.

What a town! And a great bacon and egg breakfast with coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice on Main Street. We reluctantly departed.

The land is absolutely parched. Just dry riverbeds. This doesn’t augur well for the land that feeds Europe.

We decided to take the quickest, most direct route we could. Motorway walking.

When the hard shoulder disappeared and the area behind the crash barriers was unnavigable we decided to force a temporary gap in the fencing and escape to the other side before any coppers showed up. At times we ended up back on the motorway. At one point two motorways crossed and the only way we could carry on was to scale the fence under a bridge and emerge on a central reservation. But we made very good time. It was a fast alternative.

In the end it got too busy and we sneaked under the fence where there was a slight culvert. In to farmland where the local lads were harvesting parsley and vegetables.

We found a stretch where there were tunnels under the railway and two motorways, all intersecting. Luckily we chose the right tunnel. They can be a bit disorientating when they meander.

After another couple of miles we arrived at the entrance to Reus airport. For me this was the completion of an eight year trek across Spain from south to north. It has taken me 5 sections and 1,300 miles of wandering through mountains and following coastlines. It’s been rather delightful.

With Gary, we’ve covered 480 miles together, from the south of France down to Tarragona and inland, across the Ebro valley, to Zaragoza.

What will you do now? I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’.

Oh! OK.

Last word to Gaz.

We managed to find a restaurant that rang a taxi for us, which took us to the station, where we took a train to Barcelona, where we found a reasonably priced hotel. And the most incredible restaurant at a bargain price (in Barcelona!) which served up the best Asian cuisine either of us had ever etten!

Home to our sweethearts tomorrow.

Night night.