We're in Santiago de Compostela - the third holiest city on earth, apparently. Over a week ago, when I was complaining about the distance from A Coruna to Santiago, Neil turned to me and said, in a loud booming voice (alright, obviously it was Neil so it was neither loud nor booming, but you get the idea): "This is god's final test for you, Angela." Frankly, I thought that was deeply creepy, and told him so. It turned out to be pretty prescient as well, because it was an absolute bitch of a cycle through a mountain range, faced by the added challenge of climbing with a dead iPod battery accompanied by some of the hottest temperatures so far. Anyway, we made it so nyah, nyah god - test passed.
Anyway, this is going to be a very quick up date because we are sitting in a bar using free wi-fi, sipping beer and enjoying the sunshine, and my iBook battery is nearly dead. We've pushed our average up to around 70-80km a day. Flatter days we do over 90km, hillier ones we do around 50-60km. We took a disastrous short-cut a couple of days ago - but I'll leave that for Neil to tell you about as it was his genius idea (suffice it to say, painful lessons have been learned). A Coruna absolutely rocked and was easily my favourite city so far - a port on one side, a beach on the other and a beautiful headland of parks and lighthouse in between. Lots of tiny little bars and great places to eat, people were lovely, and everything you could possibly want is easy to get to. Hopefully when I get more time I'll post something longer.
This is our second night in Santiago and we're heading off again tomorrow. Yet another lesson learned - nothing is open on a Monday. Sightseeing-wise, that is. Still, this is an amazingly beautiful city and I'll put some new pictures up as soon as I've downloaded them off the camera.
We've nearly broken our first thousand kms, and should be in Portugal in the next few days. Camping is going great and the bikes are running well. Injury-wise, nothing *too* serious yet - Neil got heat rash yesterday and I burnt my lip drinking coffee from my travel mug. We have cracked and bought inflatable travel pillows, though. In six months time we'll probably have acquired entire bedroom suites which we'll lash to the back of our bikes with curtains, or something.
I think my battery is on the way out, so I'll post this now - sorry about the lack of interesting pictures, but I'll race over to Flickr now and see if I can get some up before battery death overtakes me...
Monday, April 23, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Ups and downs
Soooooo, it feels like we’ve done quite a lot since my last update. As I write this, we’re sitting in Luanco, which is a peaceful seaside village – the cathedral bell chimes in the background, over the sound of waves gently lapping at the harbour wall beneath us. We’re staying here tonight – in a cheap but nice hotel as the nearest camp ground turned out to be three kms away and Neil needs bike repairs (more below). We’ve had a slightly less fun and more gruelling couple of days, to be honest.
Northern Spain: hilly one day, hillier the next
We’ve been putting in 60-70kms a day and yesterday’s ride from San Vicente to Gijon was really rough. Of 72km, around 71.5km were uphill. We made the schoolboy error of not eating anything before we set off and then couldn’t find anywhere that we could even buy a sandwich and a coffee for about 15-hilly-km, by which time I was starting to feel seriously fatigued. We stopped for too long for lunch, cooled down, and then discovered that the hardest part of the ride was yet to come – cycling through the most serious hills yet. Gijon was okay, but didn’t really have much to recommend it, and this morning on the way out of the city Neil snapped a spoke.
On the upside, since my last entry we have visited Santillana del Mar, which is an amazingly beautiful old village of cobbled stone streets and churches.
Neil with cows, in no way demonstrating the beauty of Santillana del Mar
We passed through Comillas, a village that managed to so far overshoot picturesque as to actually become eerie, with magnificent ocean views, gothic ruins converted into a cemetery, an extraordinarily beautiful university and some delightful churches. I’m glad we didn’t meet the locals because they would no doubt have wanted us to ‘join them’, if you know what I mean.
Gothic ruins, Comillas
We had the most delicious garlic prawns in a tiny little restaurant in Santander, and the village of San Vicente was great – yet another pretty seaside town with a really good campsite and everything a camper could need. The weather in San Vicente was lovely and I think it was the warmest night we’ve spent in a tent so far. We didn’t accidentally cycle up the picos de europas, but we did get to see breathtaking views of them from the tops of the many smaller hills we rode up, which was nice.
The true majesty of these mountains is that we're not riding up the fuckers.
As always, there are more (and probably more interesting) pictures on my Flickr pages, and Neil will be setting up some Flickr pages soon as well. He has also promised to contribute his first blog entry soon...
I cracked and bought a jumper, but Neil bought an extra pair of trousers, so we’re about even. We both bought little sleeping mat thingies, which make camping more comfortable, although Neil is absolutely rubbish to share a tent with – constantly shifting about in his noisy sleeping bag. I’m thinking of drugging him in the evenings – or drugging myself, depending on the drugs available.
There is an extraordinary amount of building going on all along the coast – massive residential developments from the look of them in places all along the Cantabrian coast and now into Asturias. Even tiny little villages have got huge construction projects going on. It seems most likely that these are meant to be holiday homes as the areas don’t seem to have the industry to support a massive influx of full time residents. No indication of who is buying them either – Spanish people or foreign investors. If anyone can shed some light on what’s going on, I’d be very interested to hear about it. Both Bilbao and Santander seemed like very affluent cities, albeit in the parts where tourists roam, with very swanky shops and a very well-heeled class of both local and visitor. These regions seem to be experiencing something of a boom, but I’ve no idea where all the money is coming from – evidently Spain’s economy is much, much stronger than I thought.
Simon news alert: Look what was hanging in the hallway of the pension we stayed at in Gijon. Unfortunately, our landlady spoke not a word of English and understood only the bare minimum of my Spanish, but she seemed really nice. (I think if you click on the picture you will get a bigger image.) The text is all in English, but there is a name and phone number for local contact details so they must be linked up somehow. Very doggy country, but the first galgo we've seen was actually in Gijon - very happy he looked, too.
Introducing new Travel Trivia - fascinating 'facts' and information we have gleaned on our travels, as denoted by the presence of this icon. Here are a few to start you off!
Northern Spain slopes slightly upward from east to west. This may not be visible to the naked eye, however we know it to be an incontrovertible fact because of the ratio of up to down bits we have cycled. The best and most photogenic views in northern Spain are exactly halfway down hills. All villages are at the bottom of hills, which means that you will always have one more uphill climb to get there and the first thing you face in the morning is the climb out.
The best roads are flat roads. Those of you who don’t know the meaning of pain, as defined by cycling 7km uphill in a single stretch, might think that downhill roads are the best, but you are wrong. And have clearly never been to northern Spain. Uphill and downhill exist in a precarious balance, with uphill slightly in the ascendant (no pun intended). Every time you ride downhill, no matter how momentarily wonderful it might seem, there is a larger uphill not far away. EVEN IF YOU HAVE JUST RIDDEN UP A HUGE HILL, riding down a similarly sized hill will only mean that ANOTHER LARGER HILL is looming.
The only English language newspaper available on an up-to-date daily basis in northern Spain is the Daily Telegraph. Two theories have so far been advanced. Neil argues that this indicates something about the kind of English-speaking people most likely to live/travel in the region. I find this explanation entirely too depressing and choose to believe that it is something to do with Telegraph group having the distribution deals tied up for the area. I also find it depressing that it’s the Telegraph – any Spanish people picking up a copy to brush up their English are going to think we’re a bunch of right wing tossers and I certainly don’t want to read the bloody thing with my coffee.
The people of Ribadesella are all liars. When we arrived, we were told by the normally reliable tourist information centre that the only campsite was ‘1km’ from town. This was a lie. It was 3km from town up the longest, steepest hill of the day. There were even signs saying how far it was. When we asked at the campsite how much it was to get a taxi back from town, we were told that it was about €5 and only ‘1.5km’ away. Again this is clearly a lie as there was only one road between the two. We were also nearly run over walking to and from town because the walking path between the two ended about 500m from the bottom of the treacherous hill at the start of a particularly dangerous section of twisty road with no room to walk and steel railings on either side. Do not stay in Ribadesella – it is not very nice, the bars aren’t very good and the people lie.
My favourite Spanish word so far is hamburguesa. Say it out loud, it just sounds so damned cool. Neil had his first one last night (although not from an actual hamburgeuseria, sadly) and said it was delicious.
Northern Spain: hilly one day, hillier the nextOn the upside, since my last entry we have visited Santillana del Mar, which is an amazingly beautiful old village of cobbled stone streets and churches.
Neil with cows, in no way demonstrating the beauty of Santillana del MarGothic ruins, ComillasWe had the most delicious garlic prawns in a tiny little restaurant in Santander, and the village of San Vicente was great – yet another pretty seaside town with a really good campsite and everything a camper could need. The weather in San Vicente was lovely and I think it was the warmest night we’ve spent in a tent so far. We didn’t accidentally cycle up the picos de europas, but we did get to see breathtaking views of them from the tops of the many smaller hills we rode up, which was nice.
The true majesty of these mountains is that we're not riding up the fuckers.As always, there are more (and probably more interesting) pictures on my Flickr pages, and Neil will be setting up some Flickr pages soon as well. He has also promised to contribute his first blog entry soon...
I cracked and bought a jumper, but Neil bought an extra pair of trousers, so we’re about even. We both bought little sleeping mat thingies, which make camping more comfortable, although Neil is absolutely rubbish to share a tent with – constantly shifting about in his noisy sleeping bag. I’m thinking of drugging him in the evenings – or drugging myself, depending on the drugs available.
There is an extraordinary amount of building going on all along the coast – massive residential developments from the look of them in places all along the Cantabrian coast and now into Asturias. Even tiny little villages have got huge construction projects going on. It seems most likely that these are meant to be holiday homes as the areas don’t seem to have the industry to support a massive influx of full time residents. No indication of who is buying them either – Spanish people or foreign investors. If anyone can shed some light on what’s going on, I’d be very interested to hear about it. Both Bilbao and Santander seemed like very affluent cities, albeit in the parts where tourists roam, with very swanky shops and a very well-heeled class of both local and visitor. These regions seem to be experiencing something of a boom, but I’ve no idea where all the money is coming from – evidently Spain’s economy is much, much stronger than I thought.
Simon news alert: Look what was hanging in the hallway of the pension we stayed at in Gijon. Unfortunately, our landlady spoke not a word of English and understood only the bare minimum of my Spanish, but she seemed really nice. (I think if you click on the picture you will get a bigger image.) The text is all in English, but there is a name and phone number for local contact details so they must be linked up somehow. Very doggy country, but the first galgo we've seen was actually in Gijon - very happy he looked, too.
Introducing new Travel Trivia - fascinating 'facts' and information we have gleaned on our travels, as denoted by the presence of this icon. Here are a few to start you off!Northern Spain slopes slightly upward from east to west. This may not be visible to the naked eye, however we know it to be an incontrovertible fact because of the ratio of up to down bits we have cycled. The best and most photogenic views in northern Spain are exactly halfway down hills. All villages are at the bottom of hills, which means that you will always have one more uphill climb to get there and the first thing you face in the morning is the climb out.The best roads are flat roads. Those of you who don’t know the meaning of pain, as defined by cycling 7km uphill in a single stretch, might think that downhill roads are the best, but you are wrong. And have clearly never been to northern Spain. Uphill and downhill exist in a precarious balance, with uphill slightly in the ascendant (no pun intended). Every time you ride downhill, no matter how momentarily wonderful it might seem, there is a larger uphill not far away. EVEN IF YOU HAVE JUST RIDDEN UP A HUGE HILL, riding down a similarly sized hill will only mean that ANOTHER LARGER HILL is looming.The only English language newspaper available on an up-to-date daily basis in northern Spain is the Daily Telegraph. Two theories have so far been advanced. Neil argues that this indicates something about the kind of English-speaking people most likely to live/travel in the region. I find this explanation entirely too depressing and choose to believe that it is something to do with Telegraph group having the distribution deals tied up for the area. I also find it depressing that it’s the Telegraph – any Spanish people picking up a copy to brush up their English are going to think we’re a bunch of right wing tossers and I certainly don’t want to read the bloody thing with my coffee.The people of Ribadesella are all liars. When we arrived, we were told by the normally reliable tourist information centre that the only campsite was ‘1km’ from town. This was a lie. It was 3km from town up the longest, steepest hill of the day. There were even signs saying how far it was. When we asked at the campsite how much it was to get a taxi back from town, we were told that it was about €5 and only ‘1.5km’ away. Again this is clearly a lie as there was only one road between the two. We were also nearly run over walking to and from town because the walking path between the two ended about 500m from the bottom of the treacherous hill at the start of a particularly dangerous section of twisty road with no room to walk and steel railings on either side. Do not stay in Ribadesella – it is not very nice, the bars aren’t very good and the people lie.My favourite Spanish word so far is hamburguesa. Say it out loud, it just sounds so damned cool. Neil had his first one last night (although not from an actual hamburgeuseria, sadly) and said it was delicious.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Feet up in Santander
Easter Monday and we're lazing in bed in a hotel in Santander taking advantage of the free wi-fi. We're using the city to re-stock and recharge - a week of travelling has highlighted some absences in our kit which we will spend today trying to sort out. Some sort of travel blanket, for one. We've currently got nothing to sit on when camping/having lunch, etc, and the ground has been very cold and wet in some places. It's also bloody cold when you are sleeping in sleeping bags on it, so the travel rug could form a handy base layer for our tent floor.
The camping has been good so far - costs us about €12 a night and gives us a (sometimes) hot shower. So far we appear to be the only people stupid enough to be camping as it is a bit early in the season. We've been rained on a little bit, but not too badly, and it will only get warmer from now on anyways. The sites we have been staying at have been filled with the most outrageously elaborate caravans. They have annexes and little sheds with fully plumbed-in kitchens and all sorts - I've lived in shabbier flats than these little mansions on wheels. Ultimately though they are still caravans and therefore rubbish (although when seen through the mist of freezing rain from the door of a two man tent they can look strangely appealing).
Dinner in Santono on our first night camping. Notice complete absence of other tents because this is right on the beach front and it was ridiculously cold. Menu: starter - fresh bread, olives, cheese; main - noodles with olives, bread; dessert - mini oreos, coffee. There are some more Santono pictures on Flickr - just for a change we got lost when we arrived and couldn't find the tourist office, which the pic on Flickr will confirm is the size of a palace and which we had ridden past about five times. With a beach on one side and a small fishing port on the other, I found it a much nicer spot than Laredo. Quieter and with little of note to see but very attractive and welcoming nonetheless. The tourist office recommended we walk through this impressive tunnel bored through a mountain to see the ocean lookout at the other end - which turned out to be a really crap view of the ocean and far less impressive than the tunnel itself. I choose to believe it was formerly a smugglers' tunnel or something because the thought of all that effort expended for that view is a bit depressing. Maybe they should just promote the tunnel as the attraction.
From there it was on to Loredo (not to be confused with Laredo) via Somo. Prime cycling weather - the evil tanning effect begins already (not on Grrr, obviously, who is impervious to sun, deflecting it with suncream and his special white tan-repello skin) - there were hills but only one difficult climb (about 3km) and we broke the 50kph barrier coming down the other side (you have to keep the speed down a bit with the panniers unfortunately).
Bosch factory at Colindres on the road to Somo - see Dad, you could make it a business trip!
Lunch stop on the road to Somo.
Somo was a dump so we ended up staying in Loredo, which was a tiny village next door. We walked into the village to have a beer and watch the football. Locals seemed fascinated by our latest exciting game, Translate the menu!, where we sit there with the dictionary working out what the food is. We're getting better on the food front, although I still struggle with the notion that a 'vegetal' sandwich is quite likely to contain ham or turkey. In fact, everything is quite likely to contain ham in some form or another. I tried some rabas (squid) which is a local speciality which was delicious, and we're building a vocab of food words that should mean we don't starve. We prepare our own food when we're camping anyway, and the local fruit, veg, cheese, bread, olives, etc, are all really cheap and lovely.
Easter bunny failed to materialise, which was a bit disappointing. Lots of Easter going on in Spain but it seems to be focused more on the cross, nails, death and resurrection, vestments and marching aspects than the chocolate bits. Unfortunately.
Easter procession in Santander - note presence of vestments and religious symbols but disappointing absence of chocolate bunnies.
Grrr is currently watching Bob the Builder in Spanish so it is probably time to get up and get moving. We're taking the bikes out without panniers on today which will absolutely rock. They weigh a tonne fully packed and handle so much differently, so I'm really looking forward to riding a normal bike again. We'll stay here again tonight and treat ourselves to a nice dinner of fresh local seafood. I like Santander a lot more than Bilbao - seems more like a proper working city and we're planning to take a little boat ride around the bahia today (it only costs about €5). First of all - hi ho, hi ho, provisioning we go.
The camping has been good so far - costs us about €12 a night and gives us a (sometimes) hot shower. So far we appear to be the only people stupid enough to be camping as it is a bit early in the season. We've been rained on a little bit, but not too badly, and it will only get warmer from now on anyways. The sites we have been staying at have been filled with the most outrageously elaborate caravans. They have annexes and little sheds with fully plumbed-in kitchens and all sorts - I've lived in shabbier flats than these little mansions on wheels. Ultimately though they are still caravans and therefore rubbish (although when seen through the mist of freezing rain from the door of a two man tent they can look strangely appealing).
Dinner in Santono on our first night camping. Notice complete absence of other tents because this is right on the beach front and it was ridiculously cold. Menu: starter - fresh bread, olives, cheese; main - noodles with olives, bread; dessert - mini oreos, coffee. There are some more Santono pictures on Flickr - just for a change we got lost when we arrived and couldn't find the tourist office, which the pic on Flickr will confirm is the size of a palace and which we had ridden past about five times. With a beach on one side and a small fishing port on the other, I found it a much nicer spot than Laredo. Quieter and with little of note to see but very attractive and welcoming nonetheless. The tourist office recommended we walk through this impressive tunnel bored through a mountain to see the ocean lookout at the other end - which turned out to be a really crap view of the ocean and far less impressive than the tunnel itself. I choose to believe it was formerly a smugglers' tunnel or something because the thought of all that effort expended for that view is a bit depressing. Maybe they should just promote the tunnel as the attraction.From there it was on to Loredo (not to be confused with Laredo) via Somo. Prime cycling weather - the evil tanning effect begins already (not on Grrr, obviously, who is impervious to sun, deflecting it with suncream and his special white tan-repello skin) - there were hills but only one difficult climb (about 3km) and we broke the 50kph barrier coming down the other side (you have to keep the speed down a bit with the panniers unfortunately).
Bosch factory at Colindres on the road to Somo - see Dad, you could make it a business trip!Lunch stop on the road to Somo.Easter bunny failed to materialise, which was a bit disappointing. Lots of Easter going on in Spain but it seems to be focused more on the cross, nails, death and resurrection, vestments and marching aspects than the chocolate bits. Unfortunately.
Easter procession in Santander - note presence of vestments and religious symbols but disappointing absence of chocolate bunnies.Grrr is currently watching Bob the Builder in Spanish so it is probably time to get up and get moving. We're taking the bikes out without panniers on today which will absolutely rock. They weigh a tonne fully packed and handle so much differently, so I'm really looking forward to riding a normal bike again. We'll stay here again tonight and treat ourselves to a nice dinner of fresh local seafood. I like Santander a lot more than Bilbao - seems more like a proper working city and we're planning to take a little boat ride around the bahia today (it only costs about €5). First of all - hi ho, hi ho, provisioning we go.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
We're on the way
Okay, so there's been a bit of a gap in blog proceedings. The last week in short: pissed, packed, pissed again, cleaned house, pissed once more, ferry from Portsmouth (raining), arrive Bilbao (raining), lurgie (three days). There are some pictures on my Flickr page from Portsmouth, Bilbao and the Eddie - pictures like this...
...although most of them are more picturesque and contain less (and indeed fewer) pissed people.
Anyway, because I don't have free wireless access *everywhere* I stop (I currently do in this hostel in Laredo) I'll be doing up entries and posting them when I can. So back to yesterday's progress report...
Wednesday 04 April, 2007
First proper day of riding today – Bilbao to Castro Urdiales (C-U), 50km. Admittedly, it would have been slightly shorter had we not got lost riding out of Bilbao and added a few kms, but hey, it was only raining lightly at that point and who could have guessed the horrors ahead.
Spanish people have been amazing so far. As clearly demonstrated by the fact that we can’t even find our way out of a town we rode into *the same way* just three days earlier, we are a bit rubbish at navigation. Fortunately, all we need to do is stand on a corner with our bikes and look bewildered for people to flock to help us. I kid you not, people were pulling their cars off the road to leap to our assistance. This has already happened several times, but star man so far is the stranger in Portugalete who drew us a map to Castro Urdiales, gave us the names of the towns we needed to pass through on the way to ensure we were on the right track and even identified a handy cycle path (bidegorri) that we could follow for 10kms of the journey. He even came running after us to make sure we knew that the cycle paths were always red. What a nice man.
Grrr on the cycle path
The journey itself was less fun. Of the roughly 30kms from Portugalete to C-U, I’d guess that around 25kms were uphill. Up-serious-fucking-hill. Hills so steep we struggled to push our bikes up them. Yes that’s right – we pushed our bikes. We’re not proud, people, if we need to push to get there, we’ll push. One of the few short downhill sections, which should have been a thing of joy, was accompanied by a hail storm that forced us to hole up in a disused bus shelter half way down, and we only missed the rain of frogs through good timing – which we know because there were still frogs on the road when we cycled through that bit.
Still, we’re here now, and though I was freezing cold, soaking wet and sick to death of cycling up hills, I was prepared to hate C-U but it looks very pleasant indeed. We’re snugged away in a pension by the castle, showered and warm (Neil broke the heater, but then fixed the heater, so what could have been an incredibly ugly and violent scene was narrowly avoided), and soon we will hit the town for a couple of cervezas and hopefully a hot meal.
This is how nice Castro Urdiales turned out to be!
Overall, cycle conditions have been absolutely brilliant. There are massive cycle paths running along lots of major roads and all through the centre of cities and towns, and drivers seem to treat you with real caution – giving you a wide berth and waiting patiently behind you on twisty roads rather than trying to squeeze past. Although maybe that’s just us, as we no doubt look like something you'd automatically give a wide berth. Weather is much worse than expected – v cold, rainy (haily!) and windy. We are looking forward desperately to a day of sun which the forecasters seem to keep shifting to the day after tomorrow, every day.
Ready to leave Castro_Urdiales
Don’t know when I’ll post this, but quick admin issue – our onetel addresses are not working, apparently. Neil and I both have yahoo addresses that we will be using from now on – if you don’t have the addresses, could you please stick a comment on the blog, saying who you are, and I’ll email them out to you. I sent an email out this morning to some people but no doubt missed some people off. Also, Graeme could you please email me your snail mail address – one Guggenheim postcard is waiting to wend its way to you but doesn’t know where to go.
Back to today, 05 April
We cycled about 35kms today from C-U to Laredo where we're stopping tonight. Today's ride was much nicer - still hilly but not as bad as yesterday and without unpleasant stuff constantly falling from the sky. A couple of pictures are up on Flickr and I'll try to add more soon. We've actually got some sunshine outside so it's time to head out for a relax on the sea front. Some exciting news just in by email though: my esteemed DTI former colleague Jonathan and I have won a coveted Hilary's Award for outstanding work on the always immensibly readable DTI News. I know some of you may be unfamiliar with this prize, but let me assure you that it is *even better than it sounds*. In may gracious acceptance blog I'd like to say that it was largely down to the hard work of Jonathan (which it was) and that it is truly, TRULY, an honour. So, congratulations Jonathan and me - cervezas all round!
...although most of them are more picturesque and contain less (and indeed fewer) pissed people.Anyway, because I don't have free wireless access *everywhere* I stop (I currently do in this hostel in Laredo) I'll be doing up entries and posting them when I can. So back to yesterday's progress report...
Wednesday 04 April, 2007
First proper day of riding today – Bilbao to Castro Urdiales (C-U), 50km. Admittedly, it would have been slightly shorter had we not got lost riding out of Bilbao and added a few kms, but hey, it was only raining lightly at that point and who could have guessed the horrors ahead.
Spanish people have been amazing so far. As clearly demonstrated by the fact that we can’t even find our way out of a town we rode into *the same way* just three days earlier, we are a bit rubbish at navigation. Fortunately, all we need to do is stand on a corner with our bikes and look bewildered for people to flock to help us. I kid you not, people were pulling their cars off the road to leap to our assistance. This has already happened several times, but star man so far is the stranger in Portugalete who drew us a map to Castro Urdiales, gave us the names of the towns we needed to pass through on the way to ensure we were on the right track and even identified a handy cycle path (bidegorri) that we could follow for 10kms of the journey. He even came running after us to make sure we knew that the cycle paths were always red. What a nice man.
Grrr on the cycle pathThe journey itself was less fun. Of the roughly 30kms from Portugalete to C-U, I’d guess that around 25kms were uphill. Up-serious-fucking-hill. Hills so steep we struggled to push our bikes up them. Yes that’s right – we pushed our bikes. We’re not proud, people, if we need to push to get there, we’ll push. One of the few short downhill sections, which should have been a thing of joy, was accompanied by a hail storm that forced us to hole up in a disused bus shelter half way down, and we only missed the rain of frogs through good timing – which we know because there were still frogs on the road when we cycled through that bit.
Still, we’re here now, and though I was freezing cold, soaking wet and sick to death of cycling up hills, I was prepared to hate C-U but it looks very pleasant indeed. We’re snugged away in a pension by the castle, showered and warm (Neil broke the heater, but then fixed the heater, so what could have been an incredibly ugly and violent scene was narrowly avoided), and soon we will hit the town for a couple of cervezas and hopefully a hot meal.
This is how nice Castro Urdiales turned out to be!Overall, cycle conditions have been absolutely brilliant. There are massive cycle paths running along lots of major roads and all through the centre of cities and towns, and drivers seem to treat you with real caution – giving you a wide berth and waiting patiently behind you on twisty roads rather than trying to squeeze past. Although maybe that’s just us, as we no doubt look like something you'd automatically give a wide berth. Weather is much worse than expected – v cold, rainy (haily!) and windy. We are looking forward desperately to a day of sun which the forecasters seem to keep shifting to the day after tomorrow, every day.
Ready to leave Castro_UrdialesBack to today, 05 April
We cycled about 35kms today from C-U to Laredo where we're stopping tonight. Today's ride was much nicer - still hilly but not as bad as yesterday and without unpleasant stuff constantly falling from the sky. A couple of pictures are up on Flickr and I'll try to add more soon. We've actually got some sunshine outside so it's time to head out for a relax on the sea front. Some exciting news just in by email though: my esteemed DTI former colleague Jonathan and I have won a coveted Hilary's Award for outstanding work on the always immensibly readable DTI News. I know some of you may be unfamiliar with this prize, but let me assure you that it is *even better than it sounds*. In may gracious acceptance blog I'd like to say that it was largely down to the hard work of Jonathan (which it was) and that it is truly, TRULY, an honour. So, congratulations Jonathan and me - cervezas all round!
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