Bilbao to St. Malo 2023

 Up and out. We saw no one this morning as we merged from 'la cave' at 8am and headed for the middle of Bordeaux.  We followed the sat nav which took us through the city on cycle routes. These are always fascinating because the route is off the beaten track to stay on the quiet roads. You see the non-tourist side. And then, suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of a very impressive square with the cathedral, an immense hotel de ville and several chi chi cafés. We stopped at one and had coffees for a very chi chi price! We then followed the grand river Garonne seeing more amazing squares and impressive buildings before crossing the river and re entering the 'behind the scenes' part of the city again.  I thought the route was going to be quite flat today so was surprised as well as apologetic when things took a nasty turn out of the city. Upwards! We climbed for what seemed an hour but that's probably an exaggeration. We left the grand city and entered grand count...

 We slept on our bed with no covers in our static caravan. Not because it was hot. In fact, it was cold. But the ferocious staff only gave us one sheet and two pillow cases. It's an odd feeling, going to bed fully clothed in your 'day' clothes but without the security of a sheet. Just a sheet. That's all you need as a barrier between you and the outside world. In spite of such an extreme bed situation, we slept. Every now and again, we would wake up and find something else to put on but we slept.  Because we had passed no shops for miles the previous day, we had no food or drinks so when the alarm went off at 7am, we had no choice but to have a drink of water (no alternative beverages being available), get into our wet, cold clothes (we had washed them the night before) load up the tandem and go. But not before the lady in white appeared and demanded €10 with menaces for kindly lending us the inadequate bedding. It wasn't the easiest first few miles. No breakfast, n...

 Incense. This, mingled with cigarette smoke was a constant presence whilst we stayed in the air bnb near Bayonne. It was an interesting experience all round. The whole of Bayonne was populated with people wearing white T shirts and red neckerchiefs. In the end, I asked our host why. It turned out that there was a festival for the whole weekend in Bayonne. I learnt that it was to involve much singing, dancing and drinking but my French comprehension didn't stretch to the reason for looking like a cross between sailors and cheerleaders. However, the other guests in this house were young. It doesn't matter how much we like to think that we're 'down with the kids', we just aren't. The revellers returned at regular intervals throughout the night, ranging from the considerate to the 'too anebriated to care'. There was never more than a two hour gap and we completed the sequence by getting up at 7am. incessant. The day was how I hoped it would be. One, giant b...

 We washed our clothes last night. Thought I'd let you all know. We hung them up to dry marvelling at how quickly licra dries. This morning they were still as wet as they were after being wrung out the previous evening.  We sat at breakfast, thankful that we were on a wooden bench tather than leaking on to an upholstered chair, freezing cold from wearing very wet clothes. We weren't even that sure they smelt any better but perhaps I ought to stop there? At the other end of the very long  breakfast table were a young Spanish couple. They spoke some English which we made full use of and asked them to convey our apologies to our host for our sorry lack of knowledge of the Spanish language. I did learn Lo Siento: Sorry. Every English person needs to be able to apologise in whichever country they find themselves. After all, you're not truly English unless, if you walk into a door, you apologise to it.  The day started quite cool. We made the most of it by setting off as s...

 Habadashery has nothing to do with it but i crave alliteration.We sat alone for breakfast. We had sat alone for our evening meal. I think there were other guests but we never saw them. The previous evening,  we'd had an incredibly 'cheffy' three course dinner. One of those where they purposely miss with the sauce or jus and you have to find the best way you can of introducing it to the rest of the food whilst hoping not to be observed as it's almost definitely not the thing to do.... However, the meal came with a bottle of wine of our choice and the whole thing cost us €30! If we'd opted for 'a la carte' it would have cost us €92. We drank half the wine and left it on the table in case we drunk some more later by mistake.  After our quiet breakfast experience, we were off to our day's destination of Berrobi, a little b and b in the hills. Within a few miles, we were faced with the choice of going down a one way street the wrong way for about a mile or g...

 Not as mysterious as the title might imply. There are a few things which I forgot to mention about yesterday. I have created this 'bolt on' as much for our memories as anything... For a start, the assault on the nasal passages must be mentioned. Now this might not be what you're thinking..... Everywhere and everybody is so clean!  The hotel in Bilbao smelt like the cleaners had been indulging in a bleach fest. It was overpowering and got the back of your throat. We wondered if we had arrived just after an annual 'bleach down' but the next morning, we saw staff getting busy with the bleach all over again. Also, when we walk, or even cycle, past people they smell of washing powder. Perhaps it's just that their smell is in such contrast to the way we now smell? Then there were the dogs. We set off down a little lane which turned out to be the wrong lane. It lead to someone's house. As we came within sight of it, we heard and then saw a group of dogs hurtling t...

 The alarm sounded. We ignored it, happy in the knowledge that today was quite a short day. Not as short as yesterday but still a mere 34 miles. I've kept the next two days short because of the word, Pyranees.  Actually,  leaving Bilbao was seriously up. The sat nav tried taking us up a street which was so steep, it was actual stairs. We made the sat nav  think again and it took us up a street which might as well have been stairs. Five minutes of that and we decided it was time for breakfast. We stopped at a little roadside bar and had little baps full of prosciutto type ham and a coffee. I now know these little baps, which are a ubiquitous part of the Spanish diet - it seems - are called pinchos. We are also discovering that they include this ham with every dish that they make. Chicken and ham. Tuna and ham. Prawn and ham, Pork and ham... As we set off again, I remembered something which a Spanish man had called out to us yesterday. We didn't know one word of what h...

 We always wake up to the sound of a Breton harp when taking the ferry to France. I wasn't expecting it to announce our arrival at a Spanish port. Still, preferable to being aroused by castanets and flamenco I suppose, especially as it was 5:45am. Locating a cup of tea was a challenge this morning, but one which had to be met if either of us were to avoid malfunction. I, and a few other Brits, obviously cut such pathetic figures as we wandered aimlessly in a panic striken daze that a member of the crew told us where tea was being served before we had told him of our plight. We were the only cyclists on the boat. (funny, that) and had been ordered to the bowels of the ship, along with the 18 wheeler lorries. I knew we were to have a long wait to disembark, when a person in a full brown bear costume walked the length of vehicle deck 3 to wave at us. And blow kisses. The weather app promised rain but the huge doors opened to reveal sun. So, the biggest concern of the trip for me was a...

 It was my fault, really. I woke up at 3am and heard the rain thundering on our roof, and imagined the state of the motorways. We were on the road by 5:15. As you drive through towns at that time, the only other people on the road are those who work anti social hours. Your brain functions enough for you to be classified as conscious but really you are asleep. Thus, we aquaplained our way south and woke up somewhere around Nottingham.  It was a long day. We left the car in Southampton with Ron and Anthea who are friends of my parents. It is spending the next three weeks on the road opposite their house where we trust it will behave. Ron and Anthea gave us a lunch which was exactly what we could have hoped for and even offered to drive us to the ferry port in Portsmouth but by now the sun was out. We wanted to see if we could still do this. Cycling a fully loaded tandem is much trickier and it seemed good to iron out any teething problems in dear old blighty. Waving goodbye to R...

If you don't get a blog on Monday, it's because WiFi isn't a thing when your in a boat on the high seas of the bay of biscay. I will start blogging the following day in that case. (As long as we have WiFi in Bilbao) Also, we love receiving any comments you might like to make. The trouble is that, as yet, we haven't worked out how to respond so please don't be offended. We are not ignoring you in our hearts.....🤪

 Check in here for our progress, or lack thereof, as we attempt to cross the Pyranees then France on our tandem. The first post will hopefully appear on 24th July.  Stephen and Kate 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️