Down hill baby !

I am pointing to the road bellow wich is what I'm about to descend down to ! Didn't bother taking one of the way up ! Did however overtake a mountain biker on the way down ( let the brakes of ya wimp ! )

Sore feet, no sleep

Last night turned out eventful, turns out I had booked in to a truck stop, so lorrys crashing banging reversing till about 1 then started again at 5, not a lot of sleep! Managed to order a fish paella ! Thought I was getting a pizza so that was also a surprise ( mmmmm black squid ink my favourite ) also had 2attacks of cramp in my legs one whilst eating the said paella in front of all the truckers watching the Spain verses correa football ( to there amusement )
Started riding at 845 this morning things started out ok but then spent 1/2 hour going up and down a sodding hill trying to get my road to match the map. Sod it stopped for a coffee and food to find the road I wanted on the other side of town ( bloody map) hurrah for iPhone !. However the road I wanted turned in to another mountain pass! The view from the top was stunning, the way down took 10 minutes and was a series of hairpin turns, only got up to 35 ish before braking hard to go around the next bend ! Even managed to scrape the pedal on the ground ! (scary). However once at the bottom I had 24km to the next town ! By the time I got to el burgo de osma my feet were in tatters (hard day yesterday telling tolls ) so as I entered the town at the cross roads was the hotel Virrey and that was as far as I got today (50m). Had a shower then a hot bath and am now chilling on my bed ! And the baths full of whites !!!!! Have some pics on the phone so will upload them soon

Burgos

Just a couple of random snaps from Burgos yesterday, what's with the dinosaur? & a large old complex by San pedro de cardena !

Burgos and beyond

Well the hotel last night was good managed fish soup followed by fish in tomatoes followed by cold rice pudding all with a bottle of wine for 10 euros. This obviously set me up for today as I was on the road at 8.30 of to burgos, did some tactical riding which got me to just outside Burgos for lunch 45m down by 11am the rest of the day quickly went down hill getting in to the city with the neon sign showing 31 deg, the road I wanted to take was only accessible via a motorway so had to go across country! Welcome to mountainous Spain again ! Finally found my way out on the N234 20 miles south of where I wanted to be with no food and .5 ltr of water. A quick rethink saw me head of to a village 10 miles along the way! Next problem the town water tower was broke so the hotel was shut! Now up to 90 m, in pointing gestures a local informed me of 2 hotels a bit further on 5m so yes I am now nursing sore feet and will now have to rethink my route for tomorrow as I've done 30 miles of it already !!!!!!!

Corrales - Aguilar

Well the day started ok finding a cafe at the foot of what appeared to be a modest climb, so tortilla and coke it was with a couple of chorizo rolls for lunch. Spoke with the guy in the cafe who told me what my day had in store and even in Spanish I can say he didn't hold back - yes the next 3.5 hrs had me climbing a mountain range all the way to reinosa by the time I got there I had consumed all but a mouthfull of my mornings water rations 4 ltrs, then the oasis of lidel emerged, stocked up on rations and headed of to aguilar still climbing with hardly a down hill to remember arrived at 4pm only 40m done but what a 40 !

Santander to corrales de buelna

A nice easy day to start with, left the. Ferry port at about 1 pm and then peddled around Santander for a while trying to find my way out, headed out of the city on the n611 to torrelavega then on to corrales. Stopped of before I got to my hotel for some lunch but as no one in the bar spoke English and I don't speak Spanish I ended up with a coke and a slice of tortilla ! I don't know if you can tell how steep the climb is in the picture but I got 48 mph down the other side

Day 2 - on the ferry

Well alls going well so far, found the boat relaxing so much I slept for 14 hrs ! Just had breakfast and we are now about 2 hrs from Santander, met a few freaks like myself one is riding an old 70,s Raleigh racing bike to Madrid complete with skateboard strapped to the back !
Understand there is a problem with the tracker so will take a look at that (it does belong to corky just borrowed it for the trip )

Ferry

What a good ride 35 miles to the port in 3.5hrs with a half hour stop halfway

day 1 northlew !!

well the big day has arived ! as i lay awake in bed this morning thinking i must get up and pack, i listned as the odd car and tractor passed by the front of the house making that all to familiar splashing sound as they drove through the puddles ! yes its devon and its raining !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Help for heroes

Please sponsor me as I attempt to cycle across Spain by clicking on the help for heroes link on the right