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France/Spain/Portugal
From Berlin. With bike. Start: October 21th
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Stage 11 - Jumping over the Strait (to Morocco)
From here on my descriptions are lacking somewhat. It's nice to live in the moment, no need to write everything down.
Without a detailed plan and without time pressure, Johanna and me wanted to try hitchhiking the ferry to Morocco. Trucks are allowed to take another "driver" for free, so that was easy, but the bikes were a problem. After two days of trying to communicate with hands and feet (only common language), getting invited by Moroccan truck drivers for food, dumpster diving in Algeciras and camping close to the beach, we decided to accept our fate and bought return tickets for 30 EUR per person.
We arrived at the Tanger Med port on March 23rd at night time, which meant finding a nice camping place soon. It wasn't easy, given the hilly landscape, the crowded north coast of Morocco and the rain that occurred shortly before, but we managed to sleep on a field close to Ksar Sghir. During the night, it rained again and the tent floor & my mattress got wet, so we used the half-sunny weather on the next day to dry our stuff, before continuing along the hilly coastal road to Tanger city.
Stage 12 - Back in Spain and off to Portugal
Future destinations
Portugal
Bilbao
French west coast
Germany(family close to Ksar el Kebir, waterfalls in Akchour, Ahmed in Oued Laou, couchsurfing in Martil and M'Diq, Easter visit in Ceuta)
Roughly 500 km
Stage 12 - Back in Spain
Arrived April 17th?
Coming back from Morocco felt like returning home. Algeciras seemed so familar!
Janina already arrived in South of Spain two days ago. She had a host in Alceidesa named John, who also invited us over. As there was a conflict, we decided to leave on the next day. Johanna to Portual, Janina and me along the coast without clear direction. She didn't have a bike. We first spent two days at the windy beach, then did a mixed walk/cycle trip across the mountains to Barbate. The EuroVelo 8 does not really exist in these regions.
The last night in Chiclana had torrential rain and we didn't have a host. Tent proved to be waterproof! Janina then had to go back to Germany and I wanted to continue to Portugal to meet Johanna again.
135 km walk/cycle with Janina - deepsouth.gpx
Cycling over Sevilla to Portugal
325 km to Portugal
Stage 13 - Portugal
Arrived May 2nd at Jo
Then a long relaxed tour with Johanna along the south coast, along the west coast to Lisboa and to Porto (800 km). Johanna's sister cycled with us for a few days, really nice!
I wanted to reach Germany until July, so we decided to cycle across the country into Spain. Oh so many mountains!
220 km, 3500 hm from Porto to Verin
Stage 14 - Spain and Basque Country
The mountains didn't stop! Well, the Camino de Santiago gave us a nice break between Leon and Burgos. We confused the pilgrims by riding it in the wrong direction 
From Verin to Vitoria-Gasteiz 540 km
Here Johanna and me parted ways, she took a bus to South of Spain and I continued to Germany. But there is another country in the way....
Stage 15 - Racing through France
950 km - first down the Basque mountains, then flat across French countryside
Finished for now!
In Paris I arrived during on noon June 21st and took a bus (that had a bike carrier) to Germany in the evening. That was exactly the right amount of time in the city.
Aftermath
From Braunschweig I cycled 80km in sunny and rainy weather to Harzgerode, where I arrived at night when a thunderstorm was directly over me. That gave quite a motivation to cycle harder up the Harz hills.
Finally replaced my bike chain, it was really saggy!
Some smaller tours followed:
- Finsterwalde to Berlin (120 km)
- Berlin to Wurzen (180 km)
- Wurzen to Neuried (475 km)
= 7825 km