We love the coast

To see details of this section:

https://strava.app.link/Ec7528103Gb

We had a lovely tour of the community run reserve. It is 50 hectares and gets about 4000 visitors a year. 

We were guided round three waterfalls and told all about the plants we passed. We got to swim in the last waterfall plunge pool. Keep you eyes on Rachel's Instagram for a photo of that.

As well as sporting the most magnificent moustache,  our guide Crispin was a man of few words. That was perfect for us as we are tourists of little Spanish. 

We safely managed to use the showers which combined an electric element in the head with the water supply. It would never be approved in the UK but in Mexico the wires are joined with electrical tape!

Sadly said goodbye to our wonderful cabin and started off towards Soteapan. This  was only 30km or so away and so we hoped for an easy day and plenty of time at the waterfall there. 

We were expecting about half the route to be on dirt and so got quite a shock when we suddenly found ourselves on tarmac. We checked our route and realised that it went off up a tiny farm track. For some reason that neither of us can work out we decided to go along the farm track rather than changing our route to follow the tarmac.

It was a tiny track that quickly became too rocky to ride. Again, for reasons we are still unsure of, we convinced ourselves it would get better and carried on rather than turning back to the tarmac.

In summary, we ended up pushing for 15km along a very rough road that went into about 7 or 8 river valleys that were a trial to get down and up.

About 4 hours later we finally emerged onto tarmac again and realised we would have to do some quick riding to to reach the falls before dark. So much for an easy day.

We got there as the light was fading and asked if we could camp. The answer was 'no'. We were distraught. Antonio, who had said 'no' left to go home and his colleague came over and told us we could camp if we wanted and it would be fine. Phew!

The falls are stunning. They tumble over basalt columns that have been undercut meaning the lower part is free falling water. 

Next day was to Coatzacoalcos. Not much to say about the riding other than it was through lush green vegetation and we had a great lunch stop. When we asked for a selfie with the women who ran the stall one of them took her apron off and combed her hair before agreeing to the picture. 

We stayed in a decaying/derelict building owned by a host. Right in the middle of town and very quirky despite the crumbling masonry and basic amenities.

We shared the building with Daniel, a Mexican cycle tourist who is traveling with his dog Mix. 

We had a ride along the harbour wall before starting our day. (It should show up on Strava if you zoom in closely). Our plan had been to hightail it along the 180 to cover some distance but when we saw a ferry across the river to Allende on the other side that would save us riding inland to the nearest bridge we quickly changed our minds.

The ferry is reminiscent of the one on Windermere but without any safety barriers and with lots more cars squeezed on. It cost 2 pesos (about 10p) for the crossing.

After we got off we were waiting for the traffic to clear and were spotted by Osvaldo who interviewed us for the local online news site. If that link does not work for you then this is a screen shot (translated) of the page: 

Over second breakfast we realised we could hug the coast for a longer route that would keep us away from the busy 180. Plans changed, we were on our way.

We rode some super quiet roads and had some great wildlife spotting.

On the climbs we were noticing a creak and realised the lockring holding the belt sprocket onto our cranks was loose. Grr.

We made it to Agua Dulce (what a great name) where we found the workshop owned by Juan Antonio. He lent me tools, made a specific tool from a bit of steel bar with the help of his bench grinder and didn't seem the least bit phased by the crazy gringo with a peculiar bike. I was in his workshop for over an hour. At the end he refused to accept payment. The good news is that the creak had stopped.

The lost time meant we were looking for somewhere to camp other than where we had planned. We rode down to a beach, asked if we could camp and were greeted to a resounding 'yes' from the family that run the palapas and food stall. I don't think they get many people asking to camp because when we asked the price they just shrugged and said 'give us wherever you want'.

This was our view as we ate dinner. Not a bad ending to a very interesting day.

Google photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/p8J9ERd7iN2bGiZy9

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