TDE2019 – Day 9: Barcelona, frustration, ferry

My last day in Spain has come. I have to get to Barcelona early, as I need to get a full charge to be able to get to Seb’s on one charge. Seb is a long-time friend and reader of this blog who lives in lower Valais. There are only a few commercial charging options in Barcelona and I have a selection of charging cards and apps to choose from. Given my experience with commercial charging in a southern European country earlier this year, I’m expecting the worst. At 5 AM I load my stuff into the TWIKE which is […]

TDE2019 – Day 8: Hills, Hills & bye-bye sea

After not having slept well due to excessive noise levels outside of the hotel, I get up early and look out of my room to check if TW560 is still there. Two things to report … Good news: it’s still there. Bad news: something else TW560-related appeared overnight: a huge new oil leak. I really need to tend to this ASAP!   After getting into TW560, I see that it must either have rained overnight or the humidity was extremely high – there was a lot of sand on my windscreen. Let’s fix that by driving to the next petrol […]

TDE2019 – Day 7: Are you handicapped, Sir? …& WIND!

We get up at 5 am and pack both car and TWIKE. My family is heading to Sète in southern France as they liked the pictures and description I gave them and wanted to experience the place for themselves. I will drive to Valencia today. Instead of taking the same road back along the coast, I’ve decided to take an inland route via Xixona which will take me across a mountain range and some very hilly stretches of – hopefully – quiet back roads.   Without any big fanfare, we set off. The trip back will take me 5 days […]

TDE2019 – Drive-free time, random thoughts & pics

This entry is a compilation of some thoughts, stuff TW560 or I experienced and some pics of my stay in southern Spain this year. First, in Switzerland in 2019 there is already a massive market penetration rate of electric cars, especially Tesla’s, but also many other brands. When driving the 20km to my office, I usually can see at least a dozen, if not more electric cars on the way. In Spain during my 17 days here, I’ve seen a total of 2 electric cars: A Tesla 90D from the Netherlands and one Zoe from a public health sector office. […]