What a difference a day makes.....

October 31st - Wednesday. We had great couple of days with our friends Mike & Julia who wined and dined us right royaly. It is a pleasure to put on clean clothes - although I normally wash stuff out each evening my clothes have not seen the inside of a washing machine for over 3 weeks - people in the restaurants are no longer moving to tables further away. We left on Monday morning with frost on the ground - I pleaded for a stay of execution but they said enough is enough, get on the road and remember our old school motto 'Quit ye like men be strong'. We were strong and rode over 70km down to Valence on the Garonne and Canal du Midi. It was a hilly ride but the weather was good and Valence was a good town and we awoke on Tuesday to a haloween market with couldrons belching smoke and witches all over the place. We had a late start as we were gathering info on the canal route.  It appears that we will be able to get to the coast by following a canal all the way.
The tow paths are tarmac and it is FLAT!!We have made good progress and after an overnight in Montech we are in a small hotel in the centre of Toulouse.
Haloween tonight and the fire thowers were in the central square and I was attacked by some sort of goul.
The canal is a working canal but quiet at this time of year. I thought we may have been able to do a burn off of a cyclist or two but no such luck - too old and slow - we have only 4 more days of cycling before we get to Mike & Jenny's place on the coast - let's hope there are some old folk out so that we can overtake another cyclists so far it is just 1 in 1000km!!

Looks windy tomorrow but should be behind.

Resting in Gascony

Sunday 28th October in Castra-Verduzan - about 20k south of Condom. We had headed up the coast to keep away from the main roads but this also meant that we were well away from the centres of population and consequetly somewhere to stay so we headed for Mount de Marsan which looked big on the map. It was a great ride still on flat roads and in good weather. The town was great with small cafès around a square and river and bronze naked statues of women all over the place. we were a bit concerned about accommodation the following day so went into the Tourismo and asked for help. The guy in there was great - we discussed where we were trying to get to and he thought Gabarret would be a good bet for a hotel - after 15 mins on the phpne he finally located a place and directed us out of town on another cycle path.

On Thursday we set off along another great cycle path - fully paved for nearly 20k. We met a Frencfh couple who advised us to take the road for the last 30k as the cycle rou
te was rough. They were great fun -  she speaking good English and he kept interjecting telling her what to tell us although not understanding a word of English and thus not following the conversation at all. We arrived in Gabarret at the hotel at about 4pm  only to find that it did not open for another 2 hours - it was raining nd I thought ba...... as there was nowhere to shelter. Then a smiling face appeared at the door and we were in. What a great plCe - such friendly folk and fantastic food. The man of the house did the greeting and serving and he made me laugh. No English and spoke realy slowly smiling all the time nd acted just like Bazil Fawlty when trying to impress the 'Hotel Inspector' sort of bowing and rubbing his hands together.
Then Friday it was to here  in pouring rain and on terrain getting ever hillier. We are now staying with Julia and Mike in a fantastic old French farmhouse being fed and watered with local stuff and some smooth , velvety red wine.Not only that they have a great washing machine.Mike and I were at school together and I think the last time we saw each other was about 1990. Since then he and Julia have had many adventures not the least of which was sailing around the world in their yacht taking 3 years. I have just seen a video of Mike from 1963 when he was a fresh faced new chum at HMS Conway  -
my how that brought back memories.

We set off tomorrow on the last leg of the trip to the coast - it will probable take us about a week.

Flat in France Yipee!!

Tuesday 23 - Castets France. We arrived in Bayonne yesterday after a not very pleasant ride from San Sebastian. Busy roads and very poorly signed in Spain. We met an old boy cycling - another one of these 'don't I do well for 68' - if I ever say that you can shoot me! well he is unhappy with Lance and the drugs , thinks all the old champions were at it except the French but thinks Cavandish is fantastic - I mentioned Wiggins and he said who ? can't have an Englishman winning the tour.

Today was a great ride - a 55k cycle route all the way from Bayonne to Leon Flat - yep flat and smooth all the way. We wanted to stay in Léon but it was shut (as it was when I cycled through a few years ago) so on to Castets and a great little hotel with a very friendly owner.
The coast here is just one long surf beach with rollers crashing on to the shore.

On any of my trips one of the highlights is actually overtaking another cyclist. Today after nearly 600km on the road it happened. Gilly and I were having a short rest when onto our cycle route came a couple pushing their bikes but once on the cycleway the started pedalling - this was my chance. I must mention at this stage that age does not matter nor the state of the bikes - a burn off is a burn off - we took both hom and her!!


Bikes are going well - Gilly has a very slow puncture in her back tyre which needs a bit of air each morning and will give them a bit of tlc in a few days time.  We are heading for Condom and will be stayong with an old school pal - we have about 150k to go so will be there for the weekend.

total so far612.3k

Sheltering in San Sebastian ...

October 21 - Sunday. We are stormbound yet again but now we are in San Sebastian. Fitting possibly that on Trafalgar Day we are in the City that Wellington took the surender of the French after the campaign alongside the Spanish to rid the Iberian Peninsula of the Frenchies. However as much as I have looked I can see no mention of Sean Bean or Major Sharp without whom this campaign would have been won!

We left Bilbao by coach having wrapped our bikes in plastic for the journey through the mountains to San Sebastian. Despite our worries the journey was fine and the bikes survived the experience. We left in rain and it got heavier all day. Once in San-S we looked for a hotel and we are still here. It has rained incessantly and yesterday mooching around the 'old quarter' we were soaked. On the tourist bus around the city - you have to do something in the rain - we met an Ozzy lady who had just walked the Comiño in 39 days and, quite rightly she was very pleased with herself. She confirmed the numbers - there was about 300 people who started with her and for the first couple of days was not sure if she would find a bed for the night and ended up booking accommodation in advance.

This city has a great feel to it - some great beaches, and a vibrant old quarter. They are very patriotic  the Basques, bands and rebel songs in the square and today at lunch time everyone was dancing to basque music by the bandstand while it was tipping it down, dressed appropriately in their plastic macs and umbrellas. However it should not forgotten that these people have been fighting for their independance for some time but as can be sen on the picture of Gilly that for some the independance issue is not far below the surface.
The forecast is for good weather tomorrow nd the lady in the Tourismo assures us that the road is flat to Bayonne. So 20k to the French border and then another 40 to Bayonne - snails and frog legs for supper tomorrow - I can't wait.
I will be a little sad to leave Spain - I enjoy there café culture and family orientated lifestyle but will not miss the smokey cigarret culture (although I m not sure the French are any better) I m looking forward to some flatter cycling and certainly some better weather. So it is adios to Spain and bonjour to the French.

Bilbao in the rain ..

Friday 19th October. We arrived in Bilbao yesterday afternoon afternon soaking wet after tackling a couple of the steepest hills so far. It rained all day. The traffic coming into Bilbao became very heavy and the dormitory suburbs around the city stretch many miles. Everybody we have met has been very helpful none more than the lady from whom we asked directions at the top for the hill outside Castro-u.. Their were many roads off the rounderbout 2 of which went onto  the motorway so were no good for us. 1 was where we had come from and there were 3 other choices none of which had a town name Sign I could locate on the map.  She lived in the village that one of the roads was signed to butwas insistant that this was not the road for us - she tried her hardest to get us to cycle on the motorway. After about 5 minutes of following her andmuch pointing Gilly said something in Spanish and so she stopped talking to me nd said ah! so you speak Spanish. We eventually went our separate ways she no doubt thinking what plonkers we were and us thinking that she if she moved she may depriver her village of the resident idiot. Actually I am being harsh on her as she tried to be very helpful.
So  Bilbao it is - in the rain - we are staying 2 nights to rest and check out the city.
Tomorrow we have booked ourselves on a bus to San Sebastion - our route from Bilboa does not look good and takes us through the mountains. We were hunting down plastic last night as we have to wrap the bikes up etc..

We are struggling a bit with the eateries as here nothing seems to open for food before 2100 - too late for a couple of hungry cyclists - however we found a place that opened at 2030 and had a great meal.
We are expecting an inch of rain today so it is a good job we are not cycling - not sure if sightseeing in the rain is any better!
Just got back from sightseeing, the rain stopped this morning so had a good mooch around. An interesting city with an old quarter and many shops.
There seem to be quite a few beggars on the streets whether more than any UK city I don't know.
Our average speed over the last few days has been less than 10kph - that's actually cycling and with stops it has been way down on that-it's all them there steep hills.
I am guessing that we will be in France by Monday and cycling on the plains, hurrah.

Distance so far 477km.

Even the flat bits are hilly.....

Wednesday 17 October - Castro-Urdiales about 30k west of Bilbao.

Hilly or what - we have had some whoppers and steep too! I do not think we have been on a flat bit of road for days. We  cruised into Santander following the N634. we have followed this road for many miles. Our European taxes have been spent on building a new motorwayright across northern Spain - a great project with towering viaducts which literaly go for miles across vast rias. This takes most of the traffic off the old road (N634) leaving it for us cyclists - the price for no traffic is long hils with switchbacks up and down the rias.
After an interesting conversation with a waiter in Santander we eventually found the ferry which crosses Santander harbour and saved us about 30k.
Next stop was Sa toña  one horse town with out a hotel. We ended up in Pensions. The owner spoke almost continupusly and I did not understand a single world I am sure he was taking the p..s but the rooms were clean. We then got it all wrong for supper but ended up we think with some sort of eel covered in cheese.  The road ended here  which was not clear on the map but we found a ferry which drpped us on the beach the otherside of the estary next morning

Today we headed towards Bilbao but with an ever strengthening wind and a series of very steep long hills we stopped  about 30k short in Castro. Gilly nearly had another crash - the wind was gusting very stongly and swirling and we were crawling up hill with a deep monsoon ditch beside the road - she just stopped her self going over the edge. This is an interesting town with a harbour beaches and an old Cathedral on the coast.

Our quads and thighs are twice the size they were but all is going well. we have sent our camping gear home as all the campsites are closed.

Distance today 34k at an average speed of 9kph. Total dist 444.46k.

Stormbound

Sunday 14th October - stornbound in Comillas.

The day dawned well and the forecast of impending bad weather looked  to have been over emphasized. We set off in good spirits with great views of the mountains but before we had reached the sumit of the first hill (took us about 30 mins) the weather was changing. We pressed on to Comillas - about 14k looking for some breakfast - everywhere looked shut so we stopped in a very upmarket bus shelter and flashed up the jetboil.  I could see a petrol station a couple of hundred metres up the road so suggested that Gilly pop down there to pick up some food and the tea would be brewed by the time she got back. She had been gone less than 30 seconds when the heavens opened and the wind hit. I had to move my bike a little so that the saddle would not get too wet and sat there relaxed supping my coffee. Gilly was some time - it appeared that there was no shelter at the gas station, it had no food and the wind was so strong that Gilly could hardly cycle back. She eventually appeared like a drowned rat. We thought it best to call it a day. we had to walk back into town as the wind was too strong and gusty to cycle and we went into the first hotel we could find - a4* and v. nice.
Comillas has some history with great old town and a Gaudi House - yes some of you uneducater may ask what is so special about a Gaudi house - well I spent 5€ to go round one and I am still asking hat question.
The rythm of life is different over here because we are so far west and we are an hour ahead of UK it does not get light until 0845 and gets dark around 1945. The restaurants do not open until near 200 and even though the weather is not so hot the locals still have a siest from about 1300 to 1700.

All the campsites are shut and we don't fancy sharing the beach verges with the surf bums so tomorrow we are packing up all our camping stuff and sending it home. It was when I was overtaken by yet another jogger that I thought why am I dragging all this weight up these hills. Then a German cyclist swept past without a word on the next hill with a half laden bike that I knew if I do not shed some weight I will not overtake anybody on this trip. Dist today 16.29k total  327.6

The Rain in Spain.....

Saturday 13th October. Holed up in a great hotel in San Vincente de la Barquera. A couple of days ago we left Ribadesella in the rain - wet! wet! wet! Wet I can cope with but wet and up hill means sweat!
 sweat! sweat! then down
hill - yep  you got it cold! cold! cold! an
uncomfortable day alround. We called it a day in the early
 aft
ernoom in Llanes, a historical
town - lots of od walls and stuff but a bustling town and a good stop ove
r.
We are in the heart of sidre country and
every one drinks it. The waiter pours it into your glass from as high as possible -you drink the 2 inches of gaseous liquid straight away and tip the last bit away. In most sidre bars there is a chanel running round the bar for the dregs - best shoes not recommended.

We ate in the hotel restaurant - it looked great overlooking a beach (we probably had over 100 places to choose from) - we hhad the waiter from Fawlty Towers - not Manuel - he was good. When I finished my starter he cleared my place a.d brought both our main courses and left Gilly's on the table to get cold.Again when I had finished he cleard my place and lent righy across Gilly  to get her starter plate knocking the food whi h was halfway to her mouth flying. He said nothing and then whem Gilly wanted a sweet- well I've never zeen something slambed down so hard in a restaurant.
No tip for him.

Expecting more rain and big wind domorrow - probably 2 days to Santander.

w

Hills or what...

We are recovering in Ribadesalla - maybe 110km west of Santander with the Picos de Europa towering to the south. We left Gijòn full of optimism for a great days cycle. Then the Rias (fijord) started up, down and quite fiercely - time to tap in our reserves of PMA, I am sure that half the battle on these v. steep gradients is mental particularly after the first couple of kilometers and there is still no sign of the summit. the Rias were relentless - our hope of maybe 40 or 50 km in a day were severely dashed. We decided to call it a day in Villaviciosa after just 30km. At the top of the last climb before the descent onto town we had a choice of routes - thedirect route straight down or a longer route via a lighthouse and then follow the estuary inland. There wad a fellow about my age clearing the gutter and drains beside the road , I stopped to ask him if the coastal route was hilly - what fiasco - with my pigeon Spanish and his none English we were getting everything wrong - the great thing was there was lots of smiling - once it was clear that neither of us knew what the other was talking about
he started talking to Gilly. As we are following the Camño route everybody thinks we are pilgrims, this guy included. He said he owned a hotel with special rates for pilgrims a.d gave us a scrappy bit of paper with an out of focus pic and waved us on our way - on the main route.

Would you go out of your way to look for a hotel owned by a drain cleaner? Well we arrived in town and cycled into the main square sat down for a coffee and there were 2 hotels in the square and we were debating which one to go for and Gilly ucked this bit of paper from her bag and yes, there was the hotel. Just as we walked to the entrance there was Fernando the drain cleaner to greet us like long lost friends. The hotel - it was fntastic - oldy wordly, great rooms and the special pilgrims raye of €30 includind breakfast.
Today, Thurday 11, dawned rainy as expected. It looked an improving picture and we were told by a German pilgrim that we would not need our waterproofs - she wsd almost right but she did not forcaste the afternoon thunderstorm.
We bad farewell to a Canuk couple who have done some serious stuff all over the world and were walking the Camiño for the second time. Today more Rias but less steep and tomorrow looks much flatter.
Ribadesella looks a great place - beach and fishing town - the waiter laughed (in spanish as he spoke no English) when I spilt my soup all over the table - it was probably the glass of vino tinto I had on an empty stomach.

Dist today 41.64 total so far 238.78

Let loose in Asturias

We left at first light and arrived in Ribadeo just before 2pm. It was raining 'let mestay another day' - no they said in unison. 'Take me further I said - 'get out you whimp' - look at the wind I pleaded - toughen up said Paul. So I was deposited in the back streets of Ribedeo with about 120km to cycle to meet Gilly in Avilés.
After 2 hours I thought enough is enough and sort shelter in an hotel in Navia - 30 km was all I achieved over fairly flat ground. Paul assured me it would be flat.

t

On Sunday of I set expecting similar terrain but boy did I get a shock - up, down and in and out of the fijord like coast line. The bike was going well but by3 pm in 28°C my body was fagging. I had done 50km with 50 to go - I gave up and booked into a Pilgrims Hostal - the takes me along the 'English' or northern Camiño to Santiago. It was clean - about€10 for the night. I met a spanish guy  cycling the Comiño and he filled me with horror with tales of massive hills for me tommorrow. Early start I decided. At supper that night I met my 1st 'prat' of the trip and he was English. Married to a French lady he spoke to me in pigeon english all night whereas his spouse spoke great English. They were walking the Camiño for the 4th time - why, I thought, but had moved over from the main route because it was too crowded and  some people were walking it who were not real pilgrims! Well what is the world coming to - not real pilgrims! I had seen on theTV A week or so back that over 54,000 pilgrims had arrived in Santiago this season.
I was on the road in the dark - I wanted atleast 15k under my belt before sunup. Itwas a had day. Huge detours around the bottom of the valleys but knowing the 'light of my life' was waiting at the end just kept me going.
Gilly had a good crossing to Santander and we met up as planned in Avilés. Whata dump - big industrial city. Our hotel was about on par with my pilgrims hostal but not quite so clean.
Gilly though she would get away with light panniers but I soon off loaded half a tent, some spare maps first aid kit etc - it was obviously not enough as on the first hill I was eating her dust.
Tonight we are in Gijón - if anyone can pronounce it properly I will buy them a pint - in a 4* hotel. First impessions were not good but on the way out there was a great beach, some interesting bars and the sun was shining.
Distance today 33km total 169.

The Adventure Starts

To my daughter Katherine (& of course Phil her husband) a daughter Olivia Grace borne 4th October 8lbs 8oz - mother, daughter & husband doing well.
Tomorrow morning at first light (6th October - Gilly's birthday) Paul and Maggie are giving me a lift to the north coast to Ribadeo. I start cycling east and have about 100km to pedal to Avilés. On Monday Gilly arrives in Santander and drives west for about 200km and we meet hopefully in Avilés.
My technical attributes do not quite stretch to map making so pics will have to do.
To those who thought I was caught in the floods in SE Spain I can reassure you that Galicia is still in the NW and I am at least 1500km away from drowning! I have been near Tomiño close to Portugal and the Atlantic.
The long range weather looks good but I am expecting rain next Wdnesday.

My next update will be when I can find a wifi conection.