Category: Cuba

My last week in Cuba, waiting out the time between finishing my End to End and my flight home, had the feeling of marking time. The bike wasn’t really involved, which explained my limited enthusiasm. I walked everywhere, mostly between cheap bars and tourist lobster restaurants. Several of my intended big-ticket attractions (Capitol [pic], Motor…

With the End to End done, but two weeks left before my flight home, it all felt like being at school after final exams but before the end of term. From Fri 24 Apr to Tue 28 Apr I explored Viñales, a tourist town surrounded by spectacular lush scenery of mogotes, sugarloaf hills (pic). I…

The final day – of the End to End part of my Cuban trip, anyway. I set out in the dark from my miserable little hutch in San Juan and rolled cautiously through the black predawn. There were three cafes open in the town, and several people about. So at the first I had a…

The penultimate End to End day, so I was keen to get on with it. I was out before sun-up, my bike twinklingy under-illuminated by three-euro mini-LED lights, picked up from an Albert Heijn in Amsterdam historically, and recently rediscovered in my tool bag. It was quite special to be sliding silently through the quiet…

After two lovely and memorable days, today was a rather routine, even dee you double-ell. I’m near the End of the End to End, and I want to finish things and get on with the rest of my life, assuming there is one. My lovely casa in Soroa supplied a stylish fruit-based breakfast (pic), sculpted…

A very short riding day, as planned – in fact I spent more time having breakfast than I did cycling. My fabulous little casa did me proud, serving up lots of fresh local mango juice (the surplus of which I diverted into my water bottles), omelette, bread, local honey and local coffee. Then, a local…

An easy day in prospect – a holiday, almost – but first I had to escape my horrible accommodation. This involved retrieving my bike from the cluttered downstairs reception area. In the dark. This was also the living space of the hosts, who were snoring on a makeshift bed. The battered old wooden door to…

Knowing that I’d be in Havana later on, to sit out the spare days between the end of my trip and my flight home, I decided to bypass the capital today and head on to the Comedy Capital of Cuba, San Antonio de los Baños. (I was told by various locals that you’re not allowed…

I felt like a posh, rich westerner at my business-hotel breakfast, tortilla, bacon, eggs, fresh fruit, proper coffee and all (pic). Then I saw myself in the mirror, and felt like a scruffy cycle tourist again. Another sunny morning, another tailwind. I headed on the coast road along a ridge: at last, scenery that didn’t…

Yet another day of easy, fast, pleasant cycling, though the main roads are getting noticeably busier now we’re nearing Havana, with the traffic all going much faster than me (pic). There were the usual refreshment stops en route, notably at the untouristed Jovellanos, where I pushed round for half an hour enjoying the obscure-small-town vibe….