Hypothermia and Cow Shit

Sunday:   20. 04.2014

Alto do Polo – Portomarin       67kms    509m

I was correct about the early call of the rooster, in fact there were two: one in perfect voice and the other suffering from a nasty case of laryngitis. It had the same effect though. By 0730 we were eating (yes, you’ve guessed it) two pieces of toast! Once again, the coffee and juice were excellent.

The weather had changed not at all from when we arrived and was damp, foggy and very cold with intermittent rain! Now you would think that two so called practiced outdoor education specialist would understand the rudiments of mountain weather! Hmmm….even the best make mistakes and unable to see the descent, which was very long and steep and fast, we had seriously underestimated the wind chill factor. Twelve kilometres later Al was hypothermic staggering from his bike and shaking like a jelly.(so out of it I had to think about how to stop the bike - ed.) A less caring person than myself?, might have found the situation amusing (we did later) but at the time, coffee seemed a good idea along with more clothes. During this thawing process, we were overtaken by the three young female cyclists who had shared our albergue. They weren’t cold, or at least not then, but a couple of kilometres later they were stationary flapping hands and feet!

Two hours later and still wearing all our warm and waterproof gear, we hunted for a bus shelter in order to partake of the remains of the coffee. We are something of experts on bus shelters and the only one available was on the shabby side, very shabby side. However, it still retained a roof and a bench – what more does one require? A bit less litter, perhaps.

Our journey today, has followed the inevitable ups, downs and ups all made a tinsy bit more hazardous as a result of the wet and, I have to say, a lot of shit. If I thought the incident the day before yesterday was unfortunate, today it would seem the farmers had all decided to move their cows to new pastures having first ensured that they all had an enema. No shit on shoes, just splashed onto everything else. Lots and lots of good luck!

A bit fed up with traffic, we thought to follow the recommended route from our magic book which encouraged us to share a road, which was likely to have short sections of gravelly bits, with the pelicans. All initial indications were that this might make for a good short cut. Alas and alack, after a couple kilometres, the few gravelly bits became a stream with stepping stones. Now we have negotiated some odd hurdles in the past but Herman and Sherman absolutely refused to hop from one stone to the next! Another good idea that came to nought.

We still reached our destination fairly early and managed to find shelter under the porch of the yacht club (closed) as the heavens did their best to soak us yet again! So now very damp and a little dispirited, and it being Easter Sunday and some kind of fete in the town, I was not confident of finding decent accommodation. Wrong! Mr. Locator of Refuge, searched his book and came up with a name. I wandered around accosting innocent folk with a request for directions to no avail. Then, ta rah, the Guardia not only explained the whereabouts of the hotel, but actually took us to a point where we could see it. Hmm……………..at the bottom of a very steep and wet hill. With the trailers threatening to overtake the bikes we successfully reached the bottom and proceeded to locate this fabulous refuge. Never in a month of Sundays would we have found it without the help of plod. So, many thanks.

Tomorrow, I suspect, will be more of the same but ever nearing our goal.

Uphill

Saturday:  19. 04.2014

Cacabelos – Alto do Polo   51kms    914m   (stopped by rain and fog)

I know that I was really fatigued when I sat down to write last night. As a result there were three things worthy of comment which I had forgotten. Old age!?

1. Right at the start of all the climbing that was to come and after a short break to take on fluids, Al glanced at me to acknowledge that we were ready for the off. And, indeed, he went. I tried but failed to get my shoe in the cleat. On inspecting my shoe, I discovered that I had managed to stand in an enormous pile of shit! It was either produced by a massive dog or something of similar size. As Al was disappearing up the hill, I searched in vain for some implement to prise the muck from said shoe. A piece of stone was the best I could find at short notice so I hopped around and finally removed the shoe and removed as much of the offending muck, as I could.  By this time Speedy had reached the top of the hill and was almost out of sight. He did, however, stop and wait………..eventually. Hot and bothered and feeling abandoned I was pretty harsh and accusatory with my “ I got shit on my shoe” “Hardly my fault!” he retorted, with justification, but it is always so much more satisfying to blame someone else for your own carelessness. Anyway, I think shit on your shoe is supposed to be lucky?

2. Our lunch stop took in a large pile of stones which are, apparently an accumulation of stones carried by and left by pelicans who have brought the stone from their home! We have not carried an entirely useless and heavy stone from home so our contribution was nil but we admired the efforts of others.

3. Having gasped our way up to the top of our climb, we were looking forward to a speedy descent. It was, however, very steep and after a couple of kilometres the tarmac metamorphosed into concrete and cobbles through a teeny village. Thankfully, Hawkeye spotted the change before we wobbled onto it. As the weather was dry, it was not that dangerous, but we took the safe, if undignified option, of walking. 

All that was yesterday and so I have just asked Al to comment on the highlights for today and his comment was,”Uphill!” And this is so true. From the time we left Cacabelos the road rose ahead.  Much of it was rideable but a good few sections were reduced to walkable. No bad thing really as it gives the arm muscles a chance to do their thing. Legs are looking like Malta legs as the weather has hitherto been very hot and sunny. This evening has come as a bit of a shock: low cloud, rain and very low temperatures. No more sun-tan then.

In need of accommodation, we have stopped at an alberque run by a real Julie Walters waitress, except she is the owner and general manager. For the princely sum of 28 Euros we have a double room with an ensuite, and a three course meal with wine! Mind you, Al is dicing with death by strangulation in his sleeping bag again! There will be no lie-in as the cockerel is housed below with his entourage of hens. Likely to be up with the lark and eating toast before eight. I doubt we will be treated to a full English!

More ups and downs to come tomorrow but progress is steady and thanks again one and all for your comments. (Getting quite a lot of those from passing cyclists; we think they are complimentary but we could be quite wrong!)

Getting too old for this?

Friday  18.04.2014

Astorga – Cacabelos          73kms    650m

Despite the drums and the parading of various religious icons which went on late into the night, your two heathens took to their beds at a sensible hour and slept. In view of today’s experience it was a jolly good thing!

As we expected of our four star hotel, breakfast was a real treat. Sadly, I could only manage juice, cereal, yoghurt, toast, cheese and coffee. Al did a little better by adding cold meats to his plate. There was even scrambled egg and sausages but the prospect of a nasty bout of indigestion discouraged us from consuming them.

So an excellent start. However, the town had not finished its celebrations and we were obliged to walk the walk between crowd and preparations for yet another ceremony. There were two big stages, much media attention and two cyclists strutting their stuff.  So, we could be on Spanish tele! Hopefully not.

The nicest thing about today was the fact that we were well away from the main routes and so encountered very little traffic, although what there was, took no prisoners. It is astounding that along a narrow road, inhabited by numerous walking pelicans and the odd bike, and despite the speed limit of around 40 kilometres/hour, many /most drivers paid scant regard to anything other than jamming their respective feet on the accelerator.

(my dandelion theory has been blown out of the water; nearly every other yellow plant was mmm… yes, a dandelion.)

nuff said

I think I am allowed the luxury of commenting on the physical effort required today in view of the fact that we are so tired we can hardly speak. It was knackering! We still have at least one more ride of similar difficulty but I think I might try and convince Hercules that his midget of a wife is feeling all of her 67 years and might need a shorter day. (That was one of our hardest days but we still kept pace with a few 25 yr olds – well done Mary – promise it will be shorter tomorrow – Ed.) Having said all that, the countryside has been fabulous and we were able to admire it during the intervals when, on the descent we had to stop periodically to allow the brakes to cook down!

Stones carried by pilgrims from their home

We have now ditched all pretence at searching out a cheap night and homed in on an hotel. But…… it is Easter and all the Spanish, it seems, have abandoned their perfectly adequate homes and filled the hotels. So, the hotel was full! Nonetheless, there are always lovely people wanting to help and one such, seeing our dilemma, led us to a second hotel and left us with instructions as to how to locate the alberque. We purloined the last room in the hotel and are now in recovery. 

Ailish's Birthday and Doctor Who

Thursday  17.04.2014     Ailish’ 18^th Birthday!

Bercianos Real Camino – Astorga via Leon  93kms    299m

Wow, what a day this has been. The pelicans in the room next door put paid to my lie-in ‘til 0715 by rising at 0600, flushing toilets opening and closing doors and generally conversing with much merriment. I stuck almost to my guns and got out of bed at 0700. By 0800 we were almost ready and waiting at the door of the bar to access our breakfast. Two big pieces of toast this morning and two tubs of butter and jam.  

Wowee!

Anyway off we trot and eventually find the road we want amongst the maze. I have to confess at this point that we stayed in the only village without an old church. The one in existence was so new it wasn’t even finished! Don’t know what happened to the old one.

We seem to have developed this habit of arriving in cities at the most inopportune moments. Today was no exception. Leon was celebrating – what I don’t know. We have tried between us to work out what comes before Good Friday and think that it may be Maundy Thursday?! No doubt some of you will know. As a result of all this activity, it was absolutely impossible to reach the cathedral without killing half the populace. Throngs of folk; for they were there in their thousands!  So we did indeed follow the sun and a very helpful lady who waved us vehemently in the direction of yet another plaza with a church and a Parador. Once there, however, we found our route out of Leon. Neither the route in or out of this city could be described as anything other than very mediocre. In fact, I thought Leon to be an unwashed and unloved city. Maybe others will disagree. Still, leave it behind we did, up yet another long, hot and busy hill. It has to be said that we have experienced really good weather as we have seen nothing in the way of rain or cold. (tempting fate –ed.)Today though, had memories of Italy with its unrelenting long roads with no shade at all. We did eventually find a tree with a few leaves providing just enough shade to keep ones head in the shade – mine!

Astorga Cathedral

At some point on the route Mr. I would like a nice place to stop tonight, had seen a sign for a four star hotel in Astorga. “That sounds nice.”  saith he. “Mmmm….. and how far is it?” I ventured to ask. With a careless shrug, he dismissed my question with an “Oh, not that far.” Hmmm……………now 90 plus kilometres later we are in a great venue, a beautiful town and we will hopefully be offered more than two pieces of toast for breakfast which is included in the vast sum we have forked our for one night’s stay.

Angels of Stone

Gaudi

Tomorrow is a 25 kilometre climb so two bits of toast ain’t going to go far!

(With thousands of pelicans marching west and now the Angels of Stone, I'm beginning to think this is a Doctor Who set -Ed.)

No Dandelions

Wednesday:  16.04.2014

Fromista – Bercianos Real Camino  74.8km  141m

We passed a comfortable night and promptly at 0730 we were seated, waiting for breakfast. The orange juice was freshly squeezed and delicious; the rest has to be described as meagre – two small pieces of toast, one sachet of jam and one of butter and a single cup of very good coffee. But generally not quite enough.  If my Spanish existed at all, I might have asked for more and probably we would have got some.

The actual ride today has been the least momentous thus far. It has been uncomplicated, warm and relatively flat with vast tracts of fields on either side of the route and snow covered mountains in the distance.

There's a lot of them about

( I think that we may have found the only place where the dandelion does not exist. I have scoured the verges and hedgerows for just a hint of a yellow dandy but to no avail. I really thought they were set to take over the world! Obviously not in northern Spain.)

On the other hand, churches are two a penny. All shapes and sizes but absolutely everywhere. Mostly, it seems the villages have grown around the church in an entirely higgeldy piggeldy fashion. We are passing this night in one such village. In fact, I am trying to write this blog accompanied by the sound of several groups of very pissed Spanish elders, playing, I know not what, except that it requires much roaring, shouting and outbursts of laughter.

We had planned on spending tonight in Sahagun but made the wise decision to proceed further towards Leon so making tomorrow a little less long. Very glad we did as

Sahagun was not a pleasant looking town and this dutty village feels so much more genuine. Anyway, if you can’t beat ‘em, (the locals I mean) then join ‘em so we did and partook of a beer or two. Sitting next to us was a French lady (not pissed) who had carelessly misplaced her husband.  So for a time we all speculated on where he might be until a car pulled up with said husband in the back. Much relief and merriment followed although he seemed anxious to justify his absence while his wife just seemed relieved to have him back! (No accounting for taste).

Look Hard-the Next Challenge is There!

Tomorrow requires a traverse of Leon, the last of the large cities that we have to negotiate. The guide books do their level best to be helpful but directions are often vague and misleading so if the sun continues to shine it may be a case of “ Go west young (or in our case, old) man!” We shall see!

Just Humps

Tuesday:  15.04. 2014

Burgos – Fromista     80kms   286m

Why is it that when you have to get up at seven, there is silence in the hotel:  When one has no need of leaping out of bed, (us yesterday,) all the pilgrims in the hotel rise at 06.15 and assume that everyone else shares their enthusiasm for such an early wake -up call by ensuring that doors are well slammed and voices are kept to an absolute maximum. (Moan over – just don’t understand peoples thoughtlessness). Anyway they are no longer called pilgrims by us as we began in English with the word pilgrim, the French is pellerin and the Spanish is pelegrinos so these have all morfed into “pelicans!”  

Anyway, things were going well: we had breakfast , checked out, loaded the trailers and then my helmet decided that it wanted to be centre of attention by refusing to adjust to the size of my head. It obstinately remained at the appropriate size for a six year old until Mr. Fix It tore off the casing, revealed the required mechanism, twiddled a bit and stuck it on my head. Hoorah!                                                                          

Well, the way out of Burgos for us pelicans was a vast improvement on the way in. We followed a well organised cycle track along very lush boulevards until it finally ran out on the outskirts of the city and we took to the road. (And we had a toot and a wave from the police on motorbikes – that’s a first). For a few kilometres only, we shared the route with traffic which then joined the motorway and we didn’t!  Always keep on the right side of the law! Henceforward, we saw only a handful of vehicles all day!

2/3 of the Journey Complet

The sun has shone, the birds have sung their little hearts out and we have really enjoyed a day of peace on the roads and almost nothing in the way of climbing. It has also reminded us that we can easily complete 80 kilometres in a day and we now recognise that we have actually completed a lot of uphills! Today’s efforts were just humps.

And just in case you are reading this, Ailish, I have finally managed to find a general store which had stamps! So your card will probably arrive sometime next week!

And finally a note to all dog owners! Please keep them secure in your yard or garden. Two yappy Yorkies (Rats) literally leaped under the wheels of my bike almost killing themselves and possibly me in the process. I am still waiting for some PhD student to explain this weird anomaly of dogs being able to hear bikes from long distances even when the road is full of cars and lorries. Unrestrained they then proceed to terrify the cyclist depending on the size of the dog!

Otherwise a really super day and thanks to all those folk who have sent emails or  posted words of encouragement. Much appreciated along with the toots.

Day in Burgos

Two More for Old Bones on Bikes

Fantastic day out in this beautiful centre of Burgos

The Cathedral

Incredible architecture

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The Long Downhill

Sunday:  13. 04. 2014

Santo Domingo de la Calzada – Burgos      71kms    530m

Good morning to you all. It is now Monday and we have decided, very  sensibly, in my opinion, to take today as a rest day. It was clear from our arrival here in Burgos, that the centre of the city is something to be admired and explored, thus sealing our existing but tentative idea of a day off.

However, this is really yesterday’s blog so having insured that we had paid our dues, the receptionist nun allowed us access to our bikes and we were packed and away pretty efficiently. Quite a chilly start to the ride but lots of friendly toots (does make a difference). By lunch stop, and after the vagaries of the usual ups downs and maybes, the sun was up and the world astir. Over our meagre repast, Al decided to peruse the upcoming route. Not always a terribly good idea.

However, in this instance, the horrendous climb which was to follow immediately was entirely mitigated by an extraordinary downhill of some twenty kilometres all the way into Burgos! How about that! What’s more, it was all true.

I Can't Believe It's Downhill

The long run into the centre of the city was very unattractive along a route bounded on both sides by unloved buildings graffiti and the usual plethora of small factories. Having no clear idea of where we were going, we thought to follow the signs for the cathedral based on the assumption that we would find, in that area, some indication of the camino. Soooo pleased it was Sunday and therefore crossing three lanes of traffic was marginally less terrifying than vying with midweek traffic. Nothing though prepared us for our first sighting of the gateway into the cathedral square. The word awesome is, in my opinion, over used but I can think of no other way to describe this first impression of the cathedral. Still on an indrawn breath, we found ourselves hailed by a loud voice crying “Have you ridden from Wales?” NO! Thence ensued a conversation with a very friendly Scot who was delivering a brand new Bentley to Edinburgh. How do people find these jobs!

More urgently for us, we needed information on how to find our bike friendly hostel and some cash from a hole in wall. An “OPEN” tourist info provided both and in short order we found ourselves solvent again and inside a very acceptable room for two whole nights!

Having the time for a perusal of the view from the window I could not help noticing and, calling Alan’s attention to, a statue in the square. I do admire these actors who paint themselves and hold a pose for hours hoping to make a few bob from passing tourists. These two were exceptional: putting up with people leaning on them and placing sunglasses on their heads…….. They are still there this morning! Real statues! What a dork.

View from the Hotel -Notice Mary's Living Statues

With a little more leisure time available, it seemed a good idea to touch base with a human voice, so I made a quick call to Kate. “How’s it going, mum!  Are you enjoying yourselves?” she chirruped. “We’re fine but it is hard work.” Quoth I.  “Not as fit as last time then.” came the response! Just to put the record straight and make me feel better, thus far, this has been topographically much more of a going uphill kind of challenge!

Still, today we are off to explore and enjoy the sights of Burgos and just revel in wandering. Until tomorrow then.

Sleeping with Nuns

Saturday.  12. 04. 2014

Viana – Santo Domingo de la Calzada via Lognono.   62kms  460m

We made breakfast for 0700! All eaten in silentish mode as folk geared up for the day. By 0830, we were on our way and the first person we should pass, was the kind and helpful gentleman of the previous evening. He thoughtfully waved us through, either not wanting to break our flow or maybe not in the mood for a conversation. He did ask if we found good accommodation and we thumbed up.

Pictures =Churches, Statues or Sculptures

Once again our magic book came up trumps and we located the cycle route through  Lognono, or, at least, very nearly. One small misplacement which was no bad thing ‘cos it took us past a supermarket and we added another ton of weight to the trailers. Sunday tomorrow – Be prepared! We corrected our misplacement by accosting very helpful people who waved arms, spoke very quickly, but nonetheless managed to convey the necessary corrections. Track, for such it was, meant slow pedalling and spinning back wheel but it went through a very fine park area and as it was Saturday we spent some time weaving around excited small children.

It seems the Spanish are reorganising road systems – nothing new there but made for a few tricky decisions in order to avoid doing a Sicilian job on the motorway. You will be delighted to hear that, through no fault of our own this time, we did pass a debatable 1 kilometre on the A 12 motorway! No trouble with plod though and a quick exit led us into Santo Domingo de la Calzada .  A few kilometres short of our expected destination but have found a hostel for tonight run by an order of nuns. Single beds, but otherwise very comfortable with our very own facilities and no expectation of death by sleeping bag!

Choose your bed

Friday:  11. 04.2014

Puento la Reina  -  Viana                      63kms  773m

A good start! I ordered what I thought was a breakfast but somewhere in the translation the word breakfast was lost. Nonetheless, we received two large pieces of toast with jam and butter, a glass of juice and then a white coffee ‘cos we couldn’t remember the Spanish for black coffee. Yes thanks, have got it now!

The bikes have been safely locked away each night and this night was no exception: the only small problem was the key provided did not fit the lock. Always a Mr. Nice Guy around when you want one and this one ferretted around in a shed and came up with a key to fit the hole. Hoorah! Bikes were released, packed up (still takes ages) and off we went…………….Uphill, just for a change.

Weather still hot and sunny but today we are the scenery is beautiful. Interesting to note that new cultivation is taking place in otherwise very arid soil. GM?  We have passed through delightful villages all with churches and quiet roads as the newish motorway has taken most of the traffic away from the old main road so cycling is a pleasure or so I keep telling my protesting muscles. Have found some that I forgotten I had!

Navigation has been made easier since I purchased a book in St. Jean etc the title of which for any mad bugger who wants to replicate our example, “Sur les chemins de Compostelle, Le Camino Frances a velo.” Authors:  Marie-Helen et Pierre Costes. It has saved us hours of head scratching – not quite eliminated that past-time but reduced it to manageable proportions.

We arrived in Viana, eventually and set about the evening ritual of searching our accommodation. As ever tourist information was SHUT but as we admired this gorgeous little town, a very helpful German  gentleman suggested that we take a look at rooms that he had found for himself. (People are so forthcoming.)  Anyway, in this instance, the rooms were fully booked by the time I made enquiries so having thanked him profusely and wished him well, I returned to the search and made for the hotel. Oops, no reservation, no room! Back down the hill to the Alberge. No rooms for two available! After much gesticulating, we were awarded a room for eight but with only us inhabitants. Fine!

A grand group of pilgrims from  all over the world were already ensconced and we joined them for our evening meal (the remains of lunch) but washed down with a bottle of wine. As breakfast was to be served at 0700 hrs, on the dot we were in our bunks by 21.30 with Al fighting to stay alive in his sleeping bag!  Hee, hee.