The days seem to be flying by at the moment, I only have 7 more days riding until I’m finished. Although ill be glad to have completed this challenge I also think ill be sad to see it go. It almost became a routine for me, and every day being the same apart from the journey and the bed! Spain is treating me well so far and the ride today was pretty nice.

I was staying on the main road in Tarragona and it was the same road for 45 miles or so, until I turned off and had about 6 to get into Tortosa. I didn’t use the sat nav or my google print out for today’s journey. I studied the maps last night and wrote down a list of key point on the back of a bit of paper. I didn’t even end up using this. As when I got to a point on the N-340 I turned off at the first sign for Tortosa that I came across. This ended up being a bigger C road and I wasn’t sure if I could go down this road. Still not sure now to be honest, but the Policia drove past and didn’t stop so I guess I must have been ok. Its been a lot easier to navigate so far in Spain I think as most of the roads I’m using, well all of the roads I’m using are coastal, so you just ride until you see the sign for the town your staying in. Today’s ride was originally meant to be 62 miles, then last night I got it down to 58.5, and today its actually ended up being nearly 54. I swear that google has a problem with measuring the road lengths in Spain, but I’m not complaining.

The one thing that is starting to get on my nerves are the km markings for the roads. They basically put a marker up every km to tell you how long that road has left on it, as you can see the N-340 is a big old road! I will actually still be on that road when I turn off it in Fuengirola!

I feel like I haven’t even done a ride today, its been a mental and rapid 50 miles. I just seemed to fly down the roads. Didn’t really stop much as most of the road was just motorway with no lights. Stopped once for a couple of energy bars and some haribo. I had also been needing a wee for about 20 miles, where I had stopped seemed pretty quiet. Sure enough as soon as I start 3 cars drive down this gravel road from some random village, all from different directions, so they all got to have a look at the package! Just couldn’t have timed it any better.

Within the first 20 minutes of riding today I caught a whiff of some freshly cut grass! Its one of my top 3 smells and although it was only for a few seconds it was enough for me.

Going to chill out completely tonight as got 3 tough days coming up. Off to check out what Tortosa has to offer as a Town, seems to be a lot smaller than Tarragona so maybe I wont have to walk as far to find something to eat or a supermarket.

Today’s journey was 53.81 miles, riding time of 3:22:57, max speed 33.7 mph, avg speed 15.91 mph, 3182 calories, 4 litres so far.

Today would have to be rated as one of my best days on the trip so far. Weather has been scorching, even had to ride part of the day with my top unzipped to cool me down.

I’m still not sure whether I can ride down certain C roads over here so I had a decision to make pretty early on. At about the 10 mile mark I had to choose been the autovista or a road that I knew sort of went round the coast. I decided to go with the coastal route and boy am I glad I did! What a lovely ride, Its been filmed below but you cant really see how nice it was as the camera cant see over the ledge and out to sea. It was a pretty decent climb weaving in and out of the rock faces, shame I couldn’t have stopped to take some pics, but the road wasn’t wide enough and cars were getting impatient. It was an amazing little snippet of my journey though, and one that I shall remember for ever. I was half way to the top when I see this man cycling past on the other side of the road, top off, in his flip flops, panniers on the front, panniers on the back, basically everything he owned was on that bike. He even has this ridiculously long beard and white hair, reminded me of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings.

When I was in France and had my rest day in La Rochelle, I watched a load of windsurfers out at sea and thought I wouldn’t mind having a go looks pretty cool. Well now I hate the sight of the things! I was battling some more winds today when I looked out to sea and saw loads of them. Made me think whats bad for me is good for them, so I hope not to see another one for rest of my journey.

I would go as far to say that I have seen more cyclists so far in Spain than I did my whole time in France. What a different breed these ones are swell, I think that I’ve maybe seen one or two ride past and not acknowledge me, the rest go for the compulsory hand up and wave! I love it, makes me feel like I’m in some secret club or something. There were loads on that coastal road, how jealous I am if that’s what there regular ride is!

I was amazed to see some road kill today, don’t worry there are no pictures. Had a few personal complaints about the digesting sight of the Wildboar. I also guess no one would really want to see a picture of a dead Cat. Yep saw one that had obviously used up all of its 9 lives today. Then a few miles later I saw a Dog! I felt quite bad actually as I laughed a little bit, not at the fact the dog was dead. More so at the fact I would have to tell you all that I had seen one!

Today’s journey was 64.01 miles, riding time of 4:58:33, max speed 27.1 mph, avg speed 12.86 mph, 3927 calories, 5.5 litres so far.

So today was meant to be one of 3 easier days that are coming up. All of around the 60-70 mile bracket and achievable without getting too tired.

Things didn’t run that smoothly this morning, I had packed up all my stuff and was ready to leave when I make my last little check of my tyre pressure. Always have to top them up as the pressure drops throughout the day. So I manage to do the back wheel without any problems, then as I come to do the front, I manage somehow to break the valve and before you know it all the air had come out and the tube was useless. So I had to unpack everything again, as spare tubes are in one bag and tyre leavers in another. Anyway I manage to change it (first new tube in the front wheel for near on 2000 miles!) and I get on my way for about 11. Few miles into the journey I see a Decathlon, so I pop in and re stock my spare tubes back up to 3.

Today was a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be. The wind was in my face all day and I was even having to pedal the downhill sections to try and get some momentum and rhythm into my ride. At one point though I did get out of the wind with a 10 mile section on the GL-555, which as I riding down I thought to myself, this would make a great ski run! It was only just slightly downhill, with some up parts, but the curves and bends would have made this road a great green run for the end of the day!

I then hit this section of road that must have been one of the longest straightest roads I have ridden on all trip. It was just always there in the distance not getting any closer and for what seemed like an eternity. I even got overtaken today but a few cyclists today on that road. I didn’t try to keep up with them as they were serious riders and didn’t have any kit on them. Then it got me thinking, is seeing other cyclists on the road your on a good sign or a bad sign? I only say this because it can either mean that the roads an easy road to ride on, or it can mean that the roads a good challenge and there they are laughing at the touring guy riding along the same road.

The sat nav nearly got 3 strikes today, I tried to make it direct me into my destination in Barcelona twice today before it finally wanted to work. By the looks of things it doesn’t get on very well with the Spanish!

And a little update on my health and general well being. The hand is still the same, fingers won’t join up, but I’m taking Ibuprofen for that and massaging it. The only other health issue that was bad today was my saddle sore. As I had to literally pedal the whole way today, I didn’t get a chance to stand up and let things breath shall we say. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a nicer day to me in terms of the elements and ride!

Off out for some tucker along the sea front now, luckily I’ve been to Barcelona before and know a nice place. Speak tomorrow when I get to Tarragona.

Today’s journey was 66.12 miles, riding time of 5:09:59, max speed 25.98 mph, avg speed 12.8 mph, 3668 calories, 3.5 litres so far.

This is the majority of todays ride put into 4 different videos, had to split them up so I can upload them from my phone to laptop.

Enjoy

Part 1 – Before the Climb

Part 2 – The Climb

Part 3 – To the Border

Part 4 – The Descent

Well I said my goodbyes to France today and have arrived in Girona. Spoke French to the receptionist when I got here, out of habit and then she spoke English to me. She said she uses her English more over here than she did when she was at Oxford for a month!

I got a good nights sleep and a big breakfast before my big day at crossing over the Pyrenee’s and the border!

Now I know I’ve cycled over 1100 miles so far and I was pretty sure I was on the right track, until I cycled past The Statue of Liberty! Albeit she was in blue and about 12 foot tall, just had to take a pic. The first sign post I came across today that I took a photo of was the one of Girona with the mountains behind, I really didn’t know what to expect today and was trying to second guess every possible route that then road go head through the mountain range. I then took a pic of the A-9 road which seemed a lot higher than I was at one point which again made me think I had a lot further to go than first thought. The actual climb itself wasn’t too bad, to be honest I actually think I’ve had harder days climbs so far over the last 2 weeks. I looked at what read outs my sat nav has given me, and although the peek height I was at today was around 800ft, I only climbed a total of 2000ft today, compare that to the 2nd day when I travelled to Boulogne, I climbed 5400ft! What hit me hard today was the 2 hills that came after the border, both 400ft climbs and they both seem to come from no where, they didn’t even go from side to side, they were just straight up! Real thigh burners!

Now I’m sorry for the animal lovers out there, but for today’s road kill I had to take a photo, It was on a downwards hill where I wasn’t going that fast, but soon as I saw it I knew no one would believe me if I said I saw a Wild boar! So I had to turn around, battle back up the hill and take a snap. Again it doesn’t break any rules as it is fresh road kill. I just couldn’t believe the size of the thing, Id like to see what damage it did to the car!I have taken some videos on my climb today and the descent, but will have to do that a little later on as they take longer to upload.

Today’s journey was 62.61 miles, riding time of 4:22:29, max speed 30.5 mph, avg speed 14.3 mph, 3837 calories, 3.15 litres so far.

Today has been one of the better days. It was pretty much the same road the whole way, and I’m back on that road again tomorrow. I thought I needed a day on the flats to let my legs recover from the battering they took over the hills yesterday. But when your on flats you need to work just as hard to keep the pace up. So I’m feeling a little bit tight now and will be stretching like crazy tonight.

Rode past Toulouse Stadium today which I didn’t realise until I got there that it was the football stadium and not the rugby ground. Although the rugby team play there for the big games.

Got honked at a few times today, firstly because I wasn’t on the cycle path on the road going out of the city. Which was an honest mistake as I didn’t see the cycle path, and the road was too narrow for me to ride on and let cars go past at the same time. Then the other honks were for no reason what so other! I swear the odd random Frenchman loves to sound his horn when he see’s a cyclist!

I’ve added a short little video of part of my journey today, It seems to work better and uploads to my computer when I make it smaller, so this was about 10 miles of my trip today. As you can see its pretty much flat the whole way. I did start it with glorious sunshine but then for about a minute I was riding in the shadows of one of the few clouds up there. Even had time to stop and give you a little spin of the views I could see. Also a little accidental de tour into a little town when I took the wrong turning, which was quickly adjusted! Looking forward to doing some more of these as I had the dark outline of the mountains in the distance for a little while today. Got a feeling the next 2 days are going to be well worth it!

I broke my average miles per hour today, 16mph isn’t bad going with all my kit on the bike. Doubt ill be braking that tomorrow, I need to make sure I take it easy tomorrow as the mountains are the day after!

I’m now off to try and find somewhere to eat as I’m feeling pretty hungry and I can sense it being quite a walk. I got a feeling I’m in the middle of no where at the moment!

Today’s journey was 64.54 miles, riding time of 4:00:55, max speed 29.9 mph, avg speed 16.07 mph, 4106 calories, 3.15 litres so far.

So I got up nice and early and set off to the Decathlon shop that was about 5 miles away. I got there for when it opened but the man inside said that they didn’t have the right size spoke for my wheel. With the language barrier being an issue we managed to work out where the other Decathlon shop was so I headed off there. This was a further 5 miles away but it didn’t matter as I had to get the spoke fixed. The man in this shop said the same thing that he wasn’t sure about the size. But after a little while hunting around he found the right one. He tried to keep the tyre on whilst changing spoke, until he accidentally moved the wheel and the nipple fell inside the rim (for those of you that don’t know bikes don’t worry just read on), so he then had to take the tube and tyre off, I didn’t like the fact that he had to do this and was worried that he might nip the tube putting the tyre back on but then again it was his job. I bought a couple of spare spokes for the back wheel and couldn’t get hold of any for the front. I asked if they had any spoke keys and he gave me his one as a present. I had told him where I was going and where I had been. So all was well and off I went.

Within 20 minutes I had to stop as I didn’t put any sun lotion on this morning so I thought I had better as the sun was out all day. As I was rubbing it in a man on a bike stopped and asked if everything was ok, then about a minute later a guy in a van stopped and asked the same thing. Why is it I get asked for help applying sun lotion yet when I’m sat there on the side of the road with the bike in bits no one stops!?

I took a photo of what the scenery was like today, lots of woods and forests either side of the road, completely different to northern France where its vast open landscape.

I then took a gamble, I came across this road block sign, I thought to myself do I go down there as it is the way I need to go or do I follow the diversion? I took the gamble and tried my luck at the roadworks, it was fine and I coasted through, until the guy working in the digger thought it would be funny to honk his horn just as I ride past! Yeah my sides were splitting!It was probably Karma getting me back for not following the diversion as when I got to the next Town I took a wrong turn, I headed the wrong way down the D655 and it was a lovely downhill section that lasted 2 miles, It wasn’t until I coasted to a stop that I realised I had gone wrong. Doh! So turned around and headed back the 2 miles up hill! Stupid mistake, what an idiot! It was when I got back upto the top of the hill I noticed my back wheel had lost pressure so I had to pump it back up.

There’s a picture of a hill below swell, I took this cos I had a feeling it was going to be quick, and boy it was! I broke my top speed record for the trip so far, just over 36 mph! I have also just found out when entering in the data down below that I have also broke my record for best average miles per hour, it was actually 15.55 for the 91 miles I did after the Decathlon shop visits.

I broke rule 1 today, for those of you that haven’t been following me from the beginning, rule 1 was to never stop on a hill. I broke that rule today taking the photo of the country house with the awesome backdrop!

As I mentioned earlier that I had to pump my tyre back up, I think they may have even effected my top speed today as with 10 miles to go I struggle to avoid going over a small pot hole with the back wheel, I managed to lift the front wheel in time but couldn’t help the fact the back one hit it. The wheel went down in seconds and I came to a stop 10 foot away. This time though, I knew i had 10 miles to go so I relaxed and changed the inner tube. I’m now rocking a michelin latex comp tube!

Just as I set off again and get 5 minutes down the road, I had to wipe my eye, My sunglasses fell off and luckily got stuck in between my pedals and didn’t make the floor. Saying its been an eventful day is an understatement!

The last photo is what a man looks like after being out all day riding near on 100 miles! I was dripping from head to toe with sweat. Its probably the hardest day I’ve had, not just physically but mentally swell. Guess I’m going to sleep well tonight!

Today’s journey was 99.16 miles, riding time of 6:35:42, max speed 36.1 mph, avg speed 15.04 mph, 5830 calories, 4.5 litres so far.

Well I’ve had better days, but I’ve also had worse days. Started with a bad nights sleep, couldn’t get into a deep sleep and kept tossing and turning all throughout the night. I forced my tired self up though when the alarm went off and then set off on schedule. Today’s journey was going to be around the 70 mile mark, so my first longish ride in a few days. I was using the google route that I had printed out as there was a stretch of about 65 miles all on the same road. The weather wasn’t the best and has been cloudy all day. As im typing this the heavens have just opened and its raining chats et chiens! Good thing I got here about an hour ago and managed to miss it otherwise that really would have topped things off.

About 7 miles into my journey I could hear a funny noise coming from the bike, now it was different to the squeaks I get when my cycling shorts rub on the saddle and it wasn’t a brake pad rubbing on the wheel. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Anyway I was about to approach an ascent when ping! A spoke broke and started rattling about on the hub. Great! Not having any spare spokes with me, I had to give Tony yet another call, should have him set up on friends and family by now, would be a whole lot cheaper! He said I needed to get it to a shop and get the spoke fixed and make the wheel true again (spinning without a wobble). As I was 7 miles away from where I had set off and there was a Decathlon shop there I didn’t know whether to head back or try and carry on. It would have been very risky to head back the 7 miles as I don’t even know if the shop is open on a Sunday, I know not many places are as everywhere I have rode through today has been like a ghost town! So with Tony’s advice I secured it with a velcro tie wrap so that it wouldn’t rattle and then took it easy for the next 63 miles. I got here in good time even with taking it easy, there were some slow up hill parts but I tried to coast down as many downhill parts as I could. I have googled my nearest Decathlon shop and will be outside it first thing tomorrow when it opens! I will probe pack all my gear up with me and take it as the shop is on the way to my next destination. No point riding the 5 miles there and back, that’s just pointless. So I’m hoping they can fix the spoke and re true the wheel. Fingers crossed for my guys as I have a tough few days ahead.

Today’s journey was 70.04 miles, riding time of 5:16:16, max speed 28.3 mph, avg speed 13.29 mph, 3906 calories, 3 litres so far.