We got up, ate overpriced brioche and headed along the cycle path to St. Moritz to find a supermarket. I went inside whilst Dave braved the chill morning to look after the bikes. It was a stressful experience! All of the fruit and veg was a ridiculous price. You can get 8 strawberries for €8. You can get a small bag of salad for €5. After much deliberating, I decided to go for a little iceberg lettuce for €1.20, which seemed a comparative bargain. So if we can’t eat fruit and veg, maybe we can have cheese? Or maybe not… the cheese here is priced per 100g. Usually in the region of €3-6 per 100g. So I spent a loooong time in the supermarket but think I did okay in the end and we would live to fight another day.

Into St. Moritz

The next task for the day was to get Dave a pair of hiking trousers. This is because I left his hiking trousers behind in the hostel in Milan when I was packing up and he was sorting his bike out. So the lost items tally is now: one of Dave’s cycling gloves, another one of Dave’s cycling gloves (half of a new pair), Dave’s buff, and Dave’s hiking trousers. The gloves aren’t getting replaced any more and he’s using my spare buff, but the trousers need replacing – it’s getting chilly in the mountains and shorts just aren’t doing the trick!

So we pedalled our way very slowly into the centre of St. Moritz, up a crazy incline. After one unsuccessful shop, the second one we went to featured a pair of €300 trousers that fortunately didn’t fit properly. But they did have a bargain bin of Hestra skiing gloves… “Hey Dave, look, these will come in useful when we do a ski season this winter!” Dave was initially less than impressed “For God’s sake, stop getting distracted!… Oooh, they are pretty nice aren’t they… And better than half price…”. So now Dave has a lovely cosy pair of Hestra mittens.

Hopefully too big to lose!

Thankfully the third shop sported a selection of 40% off hiking trousers and Dave found a pair that was long enough, hurrah!  At the checkout we talked to the lady on the counter about the area.  Apparently all the shops are having a hard time because it’s too expensive for tourists to come here (no shit) and some places are having to close down due to lack of business! Then she gave us a recommendation for a cycle route to Zernez and sent us away with a map and instructions to visit the two most beautiful villages on the way.

Finally, we were ready to get riding for the day! But wait, my back tyre is a bit squashy. Pump, pump, pump. Oh, and now it’s time for lunch. Dammit. So we got onto the cycle path and rode along it to a lake-side picnic bench to stop for lunch. What a great recommendation!

We were pretty tired from the monster climb yesterday and glad to be doing just 40 km down river today to Zernez. And with the cycle path, we were off the road all the way! Glorious.

We rode past farms, lakes, the river, through forests and villages. We got lost a few times where the cycle path appeared to be blocked off by electric fencing, but after a diversion and some back-tracking, learned that it’s not shut – you’re supposed to just go through the fence.

We stopped by a little airport to watch gliders being launched into the sky by a winch. They were all lined up on the runway and they’d bring one forward, attach the winch and reel it in, tugging the glider into the air in an almost vertical climb. It was spectacular to watch but I’m not sure I’d want to be inside!

A glider being launched

We also stopped in the two recommended villages, which were beautiful. One was famous for its painted buildings and they both had pointed church spires.

Painted town

Each building has its own designs

Crossing a lovely stone bridge

By the time we’d done all our stops, it was getting well into the afternoon and we still had 20 km to cover! We got out of the villages and back onto the gravelly cycle path, which wound up and down through the forest on the side of the mountain.  My back tyre was feeling squashy again and we stopped at the bottom of a steep hill to pump it back up.  Must be a slow puncture.

It was a lovely trail, but we did a lot more up and down and a lot more winding around than we would have on the road. We were both glad to be on it but I was also glad when we finally got a view of Zernez far below us and there were no more uphills between us and it!

Our gravel track in the forest (can we stop going uphill now please?)

At around 4:30pm, with a total of 2000 km under our belts, we pulled into camp.  I tried to call our designated contact at the Swiss National Park to let him know we’d arrived, but he didn’t answer, so I dropped an email to Ruedi the co-ordinator and said that we’d try again in the morning.

When we got back to the tent after showers, Ruedi was there to meet us! What a nice surprise. He introduced himself and told us a bit about the park. Then he invited us to go with two of his researchers tomorrow to help them fix a solar panel that wasn’t getting enough power. Would we like to go? We don’t need to be asked twice!

Once again, we lucked out with our timings and everything was going smoothly. Ruedi is so helpful and efficient, I think he will keep us busy whilst we’re here. We can already tell how proud he is of the park and of his team. And he loves living in this place, going mountain biking and mountaineering. Dave said, “What a cool guy, I don’t know whether to be jealous or in awe. He’s like an Action Man with brains!”

So we went to bed happy, ready for our first day in the park tomorrow.

– Anna

We had planned to get from Lake Como to Zernez in two days, but when we encountered the crazy gradients yesterday and cut our ride short, we realised we would need three. Today we decided we would go to St. Moritz, only a 35 km ride, but over 1000 m of climbing!

When we were sitting having breakfast a Swiss lady who we met last night came over. When we told her what we were doing she puffed her cheeks out and said “it’s even hard in the car!”, while doing a hand gesture of a twisty uphill snake. We were sure we would be fine though, we’d just had a delicious yoghurt and melon breakfast after all. We set off and were greeted by enticing views of the mountains. We found that the road was indeed like a twisty uphill snake.

Towards the mountains

Cool rock over the road

We puffed along for about an hour before stopping for some left-over pasta outside a post office. Anna then broke the news that we’d travelled six kilometres! Ah well, only another 29 km to go! Better get on with it!

We continued grinding up the hill, admiring the views, and cursing the motorcyclists that kept whizzing past us, often too close and always too loud for comfort.

So many bikers – these were considerate ones!

We stopped after another 6 km for a snack. While we were eating, my bike fell over in the road after some more traffic had gone speeding past. I was not best pleased. When we started riding again I went off ahead of Anna and tried to work my frustration out on the next set of switchbacks. When I got to the top though I was still frustrated but now I was too hot as well. When Anna caught up we sat and chatted for a while and, feeling better, headed onwards.

Don’t leave the bike there Dave!

Soon enough the valley we were in basically came to a dead end. We looked at the sheer wall in front of us. Is that the road?? Yep, there it was, switch-backing up this insanely steep gradient for a total vertical gain of 250 m.

Er, are we going up that wall?

We started to work our way up. There were temporary traffic lights at the bottom, which gave us a periodic reprieve from the motorcyclists. It was really hard work, and as we gained altitude it started raining, although I think most of it turned to steam as soon as it hit us!

Chugging up the hill

Forty minutes and four sore knees later we were at the top, taking selfies as a record of our achievement. Yay for us!

On top of the world (not literally)

Haha bikers, you can’t get us now!

View from the top

We rolled on a bit further and had our last food stop round the back of a massive hotel that faced a lovely blue-green lake. Our view was of the car-park but we were out of the rain so we didn’t care!

Car park lunch

We set out again along the shore of the lake, rejoicing in the flatness of the road. We whizzed along (compared to earlier anyway), and within another hour or so we pulled up at our campsite just outside San Moritz. This one costs almost 30 francs per night – we’re really going to have to re-think our budget here! On the plus side the campsite is lovely, the showers are really good and there is a nice little cafe serving tasty (also expensive) hot choccies.

Tomorrow we will DEFINITELY get to Zernez!

– Dave

Today we were heading for Switzerland! We rode around the rest of busy Lake Como, having to pull over occasionally to let traffic past. Then when we were waiting at a level crossing, we noticed a small side road full of cyclists… I checked the map and sure enough, it looked good!

We set off on the paved road and enjoyed 1.5km of peace, ahhh. Where we rejoined the main road, the cycle path carried on. But cycle paths are unpredictable (of surface, elevation and direction!), so we took the road. After about 100m we decided that we should try the bike path! It was quite busy and there was absolutely no shoulder, so the traffic was squeezing past pretty quickly. And a truck tooted us off the road at one point!

We ended up staying on the bike path almost all day in the end. It was lovely to be off the road and the scenery was great, but as predicted, it was quite unpredictable. We did a fair bit of extra distance and definitely lots of extra elevation gain.

We wound our way through little villages in the big wide valley, not gaining much height at first. After 20km, we stopped for first lunch by a big lake and after another 20km, second lunch in a cathedral. At the end of the first lunch stop, an argument was brewing… but resolved by the end of second lunch for a pleasant afternoon.

Lovely flat cycle path in the valley

First lunch by the lake

Second lunch in a cathedral

Then we turned off into a narrower valley and started the real climb. Straight away we were doing a crazy gradient on the cycle path. Huffing and puffing our way up, enjoying the views and the lovely weather. “At this rate, we’ll have climbed our 1000m for the day in no time!”, says Dave cheerily. But after a while, we went downhill for a bit, crossed the main road, and started going back up again! I can’t say I was particularly impressed. But it was still pretty and we had the whole path to ourselves, so there wasn’t too much to complain about.

Straight uphill, but very scenic

On one particularly steep section, Dave said that the speed we were doing was as slow as he could go before falling off (5 km/h). Then we rounded a corner with me in front and I heard a thud behind me. The gradient had increased, I’d slowed down to 4 km/h and Dave had fallen into the fence! Oops!

Riding the switchbacks

After another grueling ascent, our lovely paved cycle path turned into a mountain biking trail and we went downhill trying to avoid the biggest rocks and dips. Losing another hard-earned 100m elevation was not what I wanted at that stage in the day and I was a bit grouchy. But then the path improved again and we were going along the roadside towards the Swiss border.

At a dam below the border

We crossed into Switzerland on the main road through the empty customs area, and the signs for the cycle path were no more. So up we headed along the road. It was crazily steep and we were inside a half-tunnel, freaking out that we were going to get killed. There wasn’t much traffic but whenever it appeared, it seemed to come from both directions at once!

We made it 3km to the next village and decided to call it a day. We found the shop, stocked up on strategic items (some stuff is outrageously expensive, so I guess it’s pasta pesto for dinner again) and went to the campsite.

The campsite is great, one of the best we’ve had so far. We’ve made use of all the facilities we’ve been missing, including picnic tables (with epic views) and washer and dryer for just £1. There’s a nice looking tavern over the road, we might treat ourselves to a pricey beer!

– Anna

We hit the road this morning interested to see Lake Como. We got straight into a climb along a busy road that wound its way through surburbia until we crested a hill and went through a short tunnel. As we came out the other side we got our first view of the lake. It was in between two houses but still looked pretty impressive!

First glimpse

We started a long twisty descent through a couple of small villages and we found ourselves on the edge of the lake. There wasn’t much time to enjoy it as the traffic continued to be very busy! Eventually we found a spot to stop, and took a few minutes to enjoy the view, as well as be confused by the school of large Koi carp that were mooching around just under our ledge.

Just chilling by Lake Como

WHY ARE YOU HERE??

We rode on, battling the busy traffic and trying not to be distracted by the lake for the rest of the morning and half the afternoon. Things improved where we hit a series of tunnels and were able to take the old roads by the lake while all the nasty cars took the new tunnels. Result. We had lunch in a brilliant little park that had working toilets (with toilet paper would you believe), as well as a water fountain and shady benches. Paradise!

As we got towards the north end of the lake, the traffic quietened down a bit and we were able to enjoy the views. They were great, there was always a new angle to check out, or something happening on the water to stop and watch.

Time to enjoy the view

Misty

Not a bike though is it?

Anna getting some peace and quiet

We had our pick of campsites for once, and we pulled into one in the early evening when we felt like we’d had enough. We were sickened one again by the new phenomenon we’ve experienced in France and Italy of having to pay for showers separately, but we managed to get over it and go for a delicious dinner of gnocchi and pesto down by the lake.

Aaah, time to kick back and relax!

After dinner we headed to bed to try and get some sleep, but the German couple in the caravan next to ours have other ideas and have all their mates round for a loud card game and drinking session. The church bell next to the campsite also rings every 15 minutes for some reason, so hopefully our earplugs are good!

– Dave

I slept in whilst Dave diligently got up at 6am and started planning what to do about his bike.  So after breakfast, he set off to a nearby mechanic armed with a notebook full of useful Italian phrases!  And I sat down to catch up on some things at the hostel.

It was really nice actually, I got to do some writing and catch up with my school friend Michelle, who’s just had a baby!  Can hardly believe it!

When Dave returned, he told me that they hadn’t really been able to fix the problem, but it was working okay for now.  So that meant we could set off.  We loaded up and went in search of lunch.  We got some paninis then headed back to the ice-cream shop we’d been to yesterday – so good!  We sat outside the shop watching the crazy drivers at the junction.  During the 10 minutes we were there, at least five cars parked on the junction and several others reversed or turned around in the middle of the crossing.  Bloody pandemonium!  Oh, and a guy was stood on the top of a rickety step ladder loading the roof of his van in the road.  And pogo-ing the ladder along every now and again to reach further over.

Finally at about 4pm, we were ready to go.  The roads were busy and we set off slowly amongst the traffic.  Approaching a roundabout, the car in front of me didn’t set off when I expected and it was too late for me to stop properly – I didn’t get my right foot unclipped from the pedal in time and toppled over helplessly.  Doh!  Luckily I landed in an empty bus stop!  I bruised my hand stopping the fall but otherwise only wounded pride.

Back on the road, out of Milan and onto the horrible busy road to Como.  It really was awful.  The ‘scenery’ consisted of shop fronts, apartment blocks, traffic lights, building sites and roads.  We had to stop every two minutes for a red light.  And the traffic was crazy!  Sometimes it was so busy that we had to crawl along the side of the stationary line of traffic.  Or worst, wait in it.  Ugh.

This is what most of the ride looked like

So there we go, we did 41km of miserable road.  But when we got to the end, we could see the mountains on the horizon!

Oh look – mountains!

We stopped at a roadside campsite and went about the miserable business of sorting ourselves out for the evening.  It was almost dark by the time we were cooking dinner and we were both in a terrible mood.  When you’re not enjoying the trip, you start to wonder what the hell you’re doing it all for.

Late to bed, but at least with no fixed agenda for the morning.

– Anna

When we came out of our tent this morning the chap in the bungalow across from us came over with two big biscuit-cake things for breakfast. Which was nice! We surreptitiously squirrelled them away for later and went to have brekkie with Gerard and Jean-Marie. Jean-Marie gave me a coffee and Anna a tea, and we had a nice morning chat.

We headed off to the station to buy our tickets a little ahead of the French guys, as Gerard had got theirs earlier in the morning. Anna queued while I guarded the bikes. There was a little boy of about 3 years old running around by himself in the station wearing pink flip-flops. I think he was one of the refugee’s kids. We played a game where he hid behind an advertising board and peeked out, and I was scared stiff every time I caught him looked at me. This went on for about 20 minutes, but I thought it was better than the other game he liked, which was hurling a plastic kinder egg across the station, and hitting me in the legs. No parents appeared during this time, and no other adults seemed interested. We were in the middle of a game of stamping on the ground and making a loud noise when Anna finished at the desk. She came over and opened up the bar bag with the biscuits in the from this morning. The little guy saw them and was suddenly very interested, so we unwrapped one and handed it over before heading off, leaving him happily munching away. He looked pretty well fed and awake so I guess he’s adept at charming tourists into feeding him! I hope things work out for him!

We had some time before the train so we went to get some food and check out the town. We found a great market full of fruit and veg, cheese, meat and bread. All we could want! There was one stand which was dedicated to dried fruit. Anna was very happy!

Great market!

After that we went to the seafront and observed it cynically. The sun loungers are out on the beaches, with each bar having its own little fenced off bit of beach. The coastline would be absolutely beautiful, but it’s really over-developed, the same as we saw from the train in France. It’s a shame they didn’t know when to stop! God, we’re so stuck up these days!

Anna in between shaking her head at the beach

We headed back to the station and found our platform. We were waiting to get on the train when another touring cyclist turned up. He’s a professional cycling guide, and he’s been on a short trip to check out a route that he will be riding with clients in September. Sounds like a great job! It turned out we were at the wrong end of the train so we rushed down to the other end to find Gerard and Jean-Marie were already there and getting their stuff onboard. Five touring bikes and luggage seemed a tall order but the guard’s van coped admirably!

It was a couple of hours to our change in Genova so we all spread out and relaxed, playing cards, reading or chatting. When we got to Genova we checked the boards and found our connection was at platform 18. One the way there however, the boards seemed to say it had changed to platform 20. So we lugged the bikes and bags up the stairs to platform 20 and waited. There were some nice flowers growing up the walls.

Genova station flowers

Hm, the board isn’t showing our train yet…..I glanced over at the board on platform 18 to see – yep, 13.44 to Milan. Argh! We had to get the bikes back down the stairs, across to platform 18 and back up the stairs! We managed it in time and stood there sweating, waiting to see which end of the train the bike van would be at. It turned out by the way, that platform 20 received a train FROM Milan at 13.44, and a train departed TO Milan from platform 18 and 13.44. Anyway when the train pulled in we all ran down to the correct end and got our stuff on before the conductor had a fit, and we could relax for another 2 hours!

When we got into Milan we went into the massive concourse, said goodbye to Gerard and Jean-Marie, and……where’s Anna? Nowhere to be seen. Oh dear. Cue 10 minutes of barging around the station looking for her (she doesn’t keep her phone switched on). Eventually she phoned me, and we had a mutually angry reunion by the ticket inspectors. Apparently she thought I’d finished chatting to the French guys so she just walked off. She thinks it’s my fault for not paying attention to where she’s going, whereas I’m sure it’s her fault for walking off without saying anything.

Grumpily reunited we went out of the station looking back at the ridiculously elaborate building, complete with giant rearing horse statues above the door for a quick piccie.

Milan station. Understated elegance.

On the bikes and – oh dear. My bike doesn’t seem to freewheel any more. We attempted to inspect it in the shade of a large building but were shooed away to the other side of the street by a security guard. Friendly! Taking the back wheel off I found that the cassette wouldn’t turn freely any more. While I was getting all mucky Anna was finding us a bike shop which was only a kilometre away, so we walked over there. They didn’t speak English but they managed to get the guy from the furniture shop over the road to translate. Long story short, the options were to wait 10 days for a replacement Shimano component, or get it back tomorrow afternoon with a non-Shimano but compatible part. The quick option was €130, there was no price on the 10 day option other than “expensive”. I thought a quick call the Greg at Enigma Cycles (who built my bike) was in order and he confirmed that the options on the table were not good. Option one sounded like nonsense and option two was a rip-off and would invalidate the warranty. So instead we retired to “Hostel California” a few km up the road to consider our options.

Things looked a it brighter after a shower, and we went out for some food. We walked a little way and found a pizza place, where we got two massive portions of pizza and a couple of beers for €18. So after that we went for amazing ice-cream as well (when in Rome). We wanted to find a launderette, so we asked the girl in the ice-cream shop.She didn’t know, so immediately went and collared someone on the street to ask them. That someone turned out to be Macarena from Chile, who is in Milan to support her mother-in-law at the Milan Expo 2015. The mother-in-law owns and runs “Rancho Doña Maria”, a shining light in traditional Chilean cuisine, and they are both cooking and representing Chile at the Expo. Pretty cool! She obviously didn’t know where the nearest launderette was, but instead she took us to her hotel and charmed the concierge into letting us use the guest’s washer and dryer. So we sat for 1.5 hours while our clothes got cleaned listening to Macarena tell us about her home, the Expo and her time in Milan, accompanied by an extremely comprehensive series of photographs. Anna and I were both knackered after a long day and it was amazing to just sit and listen to Macarena talking with very little input required!

After we said goodbye we wandered home with our fresh-smelling laundry, and went to bed. After an email exchange with Greg at Enigma I decided I will take my bike to a different shop tomorrow to try and get something sorted out there. Here’s hoping!

– Dave

We had planned to get the train from Perpignan to Milan in one day, but it seemed like it was going to be a long ride, so perhaps an overnight stop just across the Italian border was in order…

At 6:30am the alarm went off and we packed up in record time (yesss, 30 minutes!) to get to the station with time for breakfast before the train.  There were quite a few bikes waiting to get on, but luckily the train catered to our needs!

Horray for French trains

The journey would take us along the coast to Marseille, then Nice, then across the border to Ventimiglia in Italy.  It was a beautiful journey – we even went over the sea for a bit!  Nothing but water all around, the train tracks built on an artificial bank.

Land ahoy

When we changed at Marseille, we had some time to spare and went outside to take a breather from the journey and the noisy station.  The town looked pretty nice in the centre, but apparently has lots of problems with crime in the outskirts.

Ten minutes in Marseille

The next train also had quite a few cyclists getting on but we all managed to squeeze in!  The other five cyclists were also touring.  We got chatting to a Chillean-French guy who was doing a holiday trip.  Then when he got off, we spoke to two Frenchmen travelling together.  They had a bit of English between them and we attempted some horrendous French.  We were all going to Milan, so were temporary travel buddies.  They were then heading to Venice to ride east along the coast through Croatia!

When we changed trains in Nice, we spent ages on the platform waiting for the delayed train, which then tried to leave whilst Dave and I were loading our bikes.  We had to hold the doors open to get in and the two French guys got left on the platform!  Oh, and there was nowhere for the bikes to go, so they were wobbling around in the corridor annoying the other passengers.

Stressful loading in Nice

But it was a short journey and we ate and chatted then got off in Ventimiglia.  The two French guys were also there!  They got a later train and we somehow arrived at the same time.

None of us wanted to go any further that day.  The station at Ventimiglia didn’t give the best impression of the town.  The ticket queue was out the door, so we tried the automated ticket machine.  The first thing it said when we pressed ‘English’ was “Beware of pickpockets”.  Then we noticed a whole hallway in the station full of people sleeping on cardboard boxes.  And armed police everywhere.  We decided to head for the campsite.

The traffic in town was very… um… Italian!  Dave was a bit stressed out doing directions for the four of us.  We were all over the road, bikes and baggage, with mopeds zooming around and lots of rush hour traffic.  Not the best.

We got to a big roundabout and I was in front with Dave trying to tell me which exit to take.  Then we ended up on what appeared to be a motorway!  At that point, we were committed to carrying on to the next exit and I pedalled like mad in front, not wanting to stay on that road for longer than necessary.  When I got off the exit and into a nice safe hatched area, I looked behind and only Dave was with me!  We waited for Gerard and Jean-Marie to appear safely and apologised for taking them on a motorway.  Oops.

On the busy streets of Ventimiglia

Then we had to take a detour back to the right road and found the campsite.  We checked in and asked the guy about the people sleeping at the station.  He said they arrived on a boat from somewhere in Africa and they wanted to get into France, but France wouldn’t let them in, so they were trapped in Italy.  Sounds awful, being stuck somewhere far from home, waiting for someone in an office somewhere to decide what to do with you!

The campsite was between a busy road and a railway, so we found a pitch as far from both as possible but it was still noisy.  We were tired and hungry and unhappy about the last two days.  Whatever happened to the peaceful Portuguese roads, the mountain scenery and cheap food?  Stupid tourist coast.

Happily we found a nice shop and stocked up on pasta pesto, cheese and bread for dinner.  The four of us ate together and had nice chats.  Jean-Marie works in a butchery and brought some of his own made cured sausage to dinner, which was delicious.

Dinner time

A few beers later and we were ready for bed!  Another travelling day awaits… Ugh.

– Anna

After another late night chatting, we were still tired when we dragged ourselves down to breakfast at 8:30am.  Breakfast left a lot to be desired but I suppose it did the job and we set off in the late morning.  At the main road, we waved goodbye to Joe and he set off up the hill towards Andorra.

Bye Joe! Happy travels

Then Dave and I popped back into La Seu to get some bread and enjoy the atmosphere in town again.

La Seu

We set off along the Segre river, which we would be following upstream all day.  The road was quite busy again but the views were nice and we enjoyed heading into the Pyrenees.

Along the Segre

Gradually uphill all the way (with a few ups and downs thrown in!), we climbed to 1300m by the end of the day.  When the road went through tunnels again, we took the trusty disused old road and stopped for lunch in peace by the river.

One of the old roads was blocked off but we took it anyway.  There was a dodgy looking area of rockfall, which we passed quickly!  I guess that’s why they built the tunnel.

Lunch on the Segre

Danger road!

We were getting pretty tired towards the end of the day and the closer we got to the border, the worse the scenery became.  The natural landscape was lovely – a wide green valley with the Segre in the bottom, rolling mountains either side, and glimpses of  huge rocky mountains in the distance.  But the lower mountains had been deforested, the valley was full of ugly new tourist resorts and the road was really busy.  We found a couple of nice little diversions and witnessed the atrocities from afar.

Ugly tourist town

Eventually we crossed into France.  There wasn’t a border, just a sign that said ‘France 1km’ then 1km later, the signs were in French.

We came out of the half-Spanish, half-French town and rode up a gentle hill.  Then I turned around and saw a storm coming!  We pedalled like crazy to try and escape the rain and stopped in a village to shelter.  But the wall of rain passed on the hills about half a mile behind us and we missed it, phew!

Quick, outride the rain!

Then we only had 10km to go to the campsite, so off we went.  The lady at the campsite was lovely and we pitched up, sorted ourselves out and headed to bed knackered.

– Anna

After chatting to Joe we went to bed pretty late last night. We decided that today we would just do a short ride, which would give us time to catch up on everything we’ve ben neglecting the last few days. We were ready to go about 11 in the morning, and as Joe was going the same way as us as far as La Seu we decided to ride together. It was a lovely cool morning, we had a tailwind and it was great riding with someone else to chat to! We headed along the busy main road from Organyà, We climbed gradually as we followed the river through a mixed landscape of fields and occasional gorges.

Joe also favours riding in the middle o the road!

Riding round another tunnel – no cars!

When we got to Organyà we were hungry so went to find some food for lunch. We found ourselves in the middle of a tightly packed street market, not ideal for the bikes! We got some bread and went to sit by the cathedral. There was a medieval fair happening which gave us something to look at while we prepped first lunch. Just then it started to rain, and we had to leg it with sandwiches in mouths to shelter under a covered pavement. It was full of cafe tables and other people trying to stay dry, but we managed to find a spot where we could peacefully eat lunch and watch the world go by until the rain stopped.

Anna and I decided we would stay in Organyà to catch up with stuff, so we told Joe we were off to find a hostel. He decided to come with us, and we were soon in the Hostelling International hostel wondering why on earth there was no kitchen. It’s still a mystery. I kind of thought that was the pint of hostels! Argh I just remembered, the showers were also awful – you had to press a button which gave you literally two seconds of water. If you wanted something approximating a continuous stream you had to just stand there pressing and releasing the button with one hand while attempting to wash with the other. Terrible hostel.

Anna and Joe did a quick shopping trip while I sat around reading about people who live with no money. It was really interesting – it sounds like its definitely possible, but you have to have a very different mentality and basically no fixed timescales for anything. Not sure I’m ready for that yet!

Despite having no kitchen Anna made a delicious dinner of stew and pasta (mmmm), and we sat about chatting with Joe and drinking some suspiciously cheap (but tasty) wine. It sounds like Joe has had an interesting trip. Leaving Sheffield in January and staying in a squat in Barcelona left him with some great stories (and a few flea bites!). He also told us a hilarious story about his younger brother soiling himself while trying to force out a fart on a family caravanning holiday. Apparently his mother wouldn’t let thin throw away the pants as they were a present from an aunt. Sounds like a harsh regime!

We headed to bed feeling like we had had a nice relaxing day, but hadn’t really achieved the intended goal of catching up with all our admin. Ah well, maybe tomorrow!

– Dave