TRANSPORT STAGES ARE AMONG my least favourite ways of spending time on a bike, although skimming the E3 motorway behind the Costa du Sol’s grimy beaches on the way to Algeciras and the ferry to Africa is not too bad. You get a choice here between the tollway and a somewhat slower motorway, and we were using the more expensive option because we didn’t want to miss the ferry. My rental F 750 GS was happy enough at 130km/h.
Inevitably, toll collection points cause problems for motorcycle tours. In this case I was the (first) sufferer as the machine stubbornly refused to accept my credit card. There had been no problem a couple of days before, but now that there was a chance to hold everyone up – yee ha! I finally gave up and moved to the next gate, which was fine.
Getting a motorcycle onto a ferry in Spain and Portugal is like playing three-dimensional PacMan in the terminal. You go in, say, that direction, then do a 90 degree turn, go a little further, do another 90 degree turn, ride on again and lose sight of the bike in front of you among the towering containers. Someone with a whistle and a near-terminal (sorry) case of apoplexy emerges from between
