Cologne to Denia, the Long Way

There is a perfectly good three-hour flight from Cologne to Alicante. I rode instead.

The flight costs less than the fuel and lands you ninety minutes from Denia with your spine intact. That would be the easy way, if Denia were the goal. It isn’t. The real target is the Algarve. Denia is the safety net: a milestone in the middle, where I could call the whole thing off without calling it a failure. I’d never done a tour like this. Planning an exit felt responsible. Out of character, but responsible.

The rule was simple: reach the Mediterranean by the fastest road that doesn’t charge tolls, then dawdle down the coast. I like the sea. I like mountains rather less, at least from the saddle.

It went roughly like this. I left Cologne around noon, having repacked the luggage five times, which was nerves disguised as cardio. Trier, Luxembourg and Metz on day one. Then Route Nationale all the way to the Rhône, with a phone that overheated seventy kilometres short of the bed. Rain bought me a work morning, after which I looked at the map, thought “I want to see the sea”, and went to Argelès-sur-Mer. Over the border at Le Perthus to Wonder House, a coliving near Girona I’d been curious about. A booking in the mountains, cancelled halfway there, because I didn’t want the mountains. And finally the climb up to Co-Co Coliving in Denia, which the directions forgot to mention.

Six stages. No tolls. One question answered: yes, the rest of the plan is worth it.