Evening all, I know this is a late blog update and for most of you it will probably be a good morning. I doubt I could have summed up today straight after I had finished. Been too busy in a swimming pool and out celebrating!

Its not all been fun and games today though, started last night when I was trying to get to sleep in the sauna of a room that I had. No joke, I know a room back in France was hot but this was something special. My stomach and back was sweating before I had even laid down on the bed. My shorts i wear to bed were wet and after little if no sleep at all I decided to just get up and get the show on the road. But to remind you, It was the HOTTEST place on earth to try and get some sleep.

Within the first mile today from leaving Almunecar I was on a climb, it was like this for at least the first 10 miles. A nice easy start to the last day. It was coastal roads the whole way and the first section was up and down, but after that it was all pretty much nice and flat. I have been so close to the sea all day and again seen some lovely views. Shame that the nice views are always looking back into the sun and not very good for a picture. Oh well I have the memories.

I saw a sign for a restaurant called Lola today, which if you don’t know is the name of my niece. Made me smile and I thought about Uncle Sam telling her all about it one day.

When I came across this waterfall right beside the road I did think about dunking my head in. I managed to resist the urge and wait for the swimming pool at the end. Very hard to resist that as I was so hot it was hard to deal with.

Then I entered Malaga and what a busy city. They couldn’t cram anymore traffic lights in that place if they tried! I don’t think i managed to go half a mile without stopping three or four times! I stopped near the airport for some more ague and it was then that it hit me. This is all over as this is my last stop, next stop is the top of the hill.

Just to let you know and I guess you may have picked up on it from the last few days blogs, but these last 4 days riding have been very very tough! The weather has started to get hotter, the terrain has been a constant up and down, dealings with the Policia. Its been hard work but good fun.

Now i did have a black cat cross my path towards the end of today’s journey, now is that good or bad luck?

I spent most of today’s ride thinking about the hill at the end. Its been playing on my mind the whole way and boy was it tough! I had certain people say that they thought I would stop halfway up, that’s how steep it is. Its one of those hills that you have to drop down a gear in a car to get up. At one point I had to lean right forward over the handle bars as I thought the weight of the panniers on the back would have made me do a wheely. Couple of videos below, one of my view on the final bit up the hill, and the other what my mum recorded. I knew she would be there, worked it out last night when I didn’t speak to her at home and dad, well he cant lie to save his life bless him. Was good to see my mum, aunty and cousin all at the top cheering me on. Been told to rest up and let the girls pamper me!

I also had a little reception from a few of the other people who live here and the ones on holiday. Was a nice surprise as I wasn’t expecting it. I then went straight to the swimming pool and stripped off and jumped in. Cramp hit me about a minute later in my right calf! Probably the worse cramp ever and cramp in a swimming pool isn’t a good combination! Went out for dinner tonight and had a lovely beef capaccio starter and ravioli for main. Then I finished off what mum had left. And then had a little bit more room for what my aunty had left too.

Been working out some stats below to put it all into perspective what I have done,

– I have climbed 72931 feet, that’s the equivalent to 2.5 Mount Everest’s
– 1867.7 miles ridden, that would be like driving round the M25 16 times
– 137 hours in the saddle
– 110,824 calories burnt  which is the same as 205 Big Macs
– 129 litres drunk, that’s enough to fill a bath

Well after a long slog of 31 days away and 27 days riding its all finally over. Im a little bit sad to see it all go and won’t know what to do with myself when I wake up in the morning. When I rested up at the weekend I knew I would be back on the bike and riding again. Where as today it feels weird. Its been something I have spoke about for the last 2 years, and after putting everything together with help from my family i managed to make it happen. The whole trip has been an amazing experience, at the moment it all feels like one big blur, as the trouble I had back on day 3 seems like a lifetime ago. Im sure though that with time things will slowly start to come back to me and ill remember where I was when I saw some amazing sights. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated to the charity and for those of you that haven’t and still continue to read my blog without doing so, put your hand in your pocket and try to donate a little bit.

Today’s journey was 65.47 miles, riding time of 4:50:49, max speed 31.62 mph, avg speed 13.51 mph, 4240 calories, 5.5 litres so far.

 

Well today’s the last day I have my set out routine, and after I post this I get to think about tomorrows ride and getting over that finish line (and into the swimming pool).

I had a sneaky feeling today could be tough. I didn’t however anticipate it being just as hard as it was. I was thinking about what to put in the blog tonight within the first 2 or 3 miles. I got the coastal road and had views of the coastline with massive cliff faces and the sea to my left. I wish I hadn’t thought about it to be honest as today’s ride has been anything but nice. I would have taken more photos of the views I saw this morning but there was a big mist coming in off the sea and it was evening fogging up my glasses.

At one point today riding through Ejido I wish I wasn’t on the road bike and had a full on suspension mountain bike! The road was terrible. I haven’t rode on anything as lumpy and bumpy as that the whole trip.I also got stitched up at a vending machine today. They have machines that let you buy litre and a half bottles of water. So I put my money in and didn’t get nothing out. A lesson learnt and one that I will only need learning once.

Today would have been a perfect day to be doing the ride with a support team. I was dying out there at some points, not only from the ride but also from the heat. At about 2 o’clock the heat was so severe that I wish I could have been riding in my underpants! I was fortunate enough to be riding towards a tunnel. I must have gone through 2 miles worth of tunnels today, however I didn’t stop to get my bike lights out before hand. Just decided to push on and pedal faster through them.Two things happened day several times. The first was me nearly reaching breaking point. Not a nice feeling but the legs just wanted to give up. The other was riding round a corner and having such a strong wind in the face that it stopped me dead in my track.

I thought I heard rocks falling from the cliffs at one point today, wasn’t until I looked back that I saw my first deer of the ride. Its only taken 30 days, but after seeing hundreds of deer signs it was about time I got to see one. I was lucky to see two, young deer at that looking for the nearest tree to shade under.I got really tired today at the 70 mile mark. I think its all starting to take its toll on me now. But I decided I needed to pull my finger out and crack on. I don’t know if you have been noticing but my average mph has been dropping the last few days and I’m guessing my mind is telling my body that its nearly all over and fatigue is kicking in.

I have only just realised that I have broken my max speed record. I didn’t even realise. I’m a little bit gutted about it as before today I knew the stretch of road which I broke it on, even got a photo. Where as today I don’t know where it was. Nevermind, nearly 44mph, that’s quick!Today has felt a bit like a Rocky moment, I’m climbing up those steps and only a few from reaching the top. Tomorrow I get to reach that top and reflect on what has been an amazing experience.

Today’s journey was 81.69 miles, riding time of 6:47:45, max speed 43.74 mph, avg speed 12.02 mph, 4907 calories, 9.5 litres so far.

Well I’m nearly there now, just 2 more days riding. I sort of look at it as 1 more day riding as the next day when I pack up in the morning and set off ill be finished. Sort of mind trick that you need to do when doing a challenge as big as this.

The day started out very overcast and little after an hours riding the first specs of rain fell from the sky. Also the first sign of rain I have seen since early on in France. I did only feel a handful of them though and it wasn’t long till Mr Sun was back out and beating down on me. I did feel cold at one point before the sun came out when I was going down this hill at some speed, all the air was making my sweaty top feel really cold. Felt strange as I have been used to being so hot. I thought I had jinxed it though when I saw the clouds and the rain today, as only yesterday I sent my rain jacket home.

After about 27 miles I got to a T junction and like normal just followed the signs to Almeria, about 2 miles later I pulled over in a town called Vera. I had missed a turning, doh! I was meant to turn off somewhere a fair few miles back and had just missed the road. I know the road wasn’t that big as when I looked on google maps last night it didn’t even have a name on it. So I had a decision to make, did I try to go back the way I had came and hunt down this road, or did I carry on to the end of the road where the only road that sat nav was showing was the A-7 the Autovia. Knowing that the other way was a lot of twists and turns up into the hills and looked like it could be pretty tricky I decided to go with the motorway. Now there have been these signs at every slip road onto the Autovia, at first I didn’t know whether it meant you can go on the road or cant. I found out you cant! I realised this when I hadn’t seen a single cyclist on the other side of the road for 30 miles, also when I counted up all the beeps I got from cars (which was 8) I sort of gathered this road isn’t for cyclists. I did have no other choice though as this was literally the only road for miles. Anyway it wasn’t until I got beeped at for the 9th and final time, by the Policia! Yeah I know naughty boy getting told off. They stopped at the next exit and waited for me. When I got there I explained that I came to a T junction and the only road was the A-7, the officer said that no bicycles are allowed on the autovia. I was expecting to then be told to exit straight away and get off the motorway, but when I said I had to get to Almeria the officer said to go on for two more exits then come off. So I came off at what I thought was the 2nd exit down, only to find that this then meant a 12 mile route out of the way to get onto the N-344 into Almeria. When I used sat nav to show me this route I saw that if I went one more junction on the A-7 it would cut that 12 miles down to 4. I assume you can all guess which route I took. Zooming along the autovia again I exited and was back on track. I actually think this was the exit that the officer was talking about. I was tempted to ask the officer for a photo as it would have been good viewing on the blog, but I didn’t have the guts seeing as i had just been told off.A sort of blessing in disguise was when I got a puncture today. It happened just before the Policia incident and maybe if It hadn’t I would have missed the junction and ended up going more miles on the A-7 than I needed to. It was with 24 miles to go that I wasn’t paying full attention and went over some glass. I changed the tube and removed the piece of glass from the tyre. Put a boot patch into the tyre where it had been pierced and then pumped it back up. The new tube then popped! I didn’t lose composure and stayed calm. What I think helped here was that it had happened right by a road sign, which gave me enough shade so that I could do it all and not get too hot and bothered. I decided to put the other spare tyre I have on with another new tube, this time everything seemed to go ok. I do think though that maybe the new tube that popped might have been a fault in the tube as it didn’t puncture it had a massive hole in it. Anyway its all changed now and I’m now rocking a white tyre so back to my fully colour coordinated outfit and bike for the last 2 days!

I also just rode past a bike shop a mile away from where I’m staying, was tempted to go in and re stock up on inner tubes, but decided that I will stick with the one new one I have left and if I have to re use a tyre then well looks like the old red one will make a return. I just hope going past that shop doesn’t come back to bite me in the bum as last time I did that in Boulogne I had a disaster of a next day.

Today’s journey was 80.47 miles, riding time of 5:54:32, max speed 32.78 mph, avg speed 13.62 mph, 4712 calories, 7.5 litres so far.

Hey everyone, I hope you guys rested up from reading this blog like I did over the weekend. We will be skipping days 25, 26 and 27 as I wanted to not only rest from the cycling but from the blog and everything else to do with the ride. It was a good few days, lots of rest and lots of sun. May have burnt my back and front but there nearly on there way to catching up with my arms and legs. Health wise, the saddle sore is almost better, didn’t give me any problems today, although I’ve probably just jinxed it and it will come back to haunt me tomorrow. The legs feel fine and even the numbness has died down in my hand. It still wont close up and I cant use it properly yet but only 3 more days cycling until I can rest it for good.

I forgot to mention on Thursdays blog that I had seen a man with a puncture during the days ride. I shouted over to him and asked if he was ok in Spanish, then he answered me in French! lol

Well today has been somewhere near my hardest day. In fact I’m probably going to say that it has been my hardest day. I shall tell you why later. I set off a little later than normal and it was cloudy all morning. Which suited me as It meant I didn’t have to deal with the roasting sun that I had done all weekend. Then by the time I was ready to set off the sun had come out to play and made the days ride even harder! At one point when I stopped for more water the sweat was dripping off my elbows. I was sweating so much that it was also dripping off my eyebrows and onto the inside of my glasses. To make matters worse on at least 3 occasions there was a fly that wanted to tag along for the ride, It kept landing on my face as I was on one of the climbs. So annoying but I couldn’t do much as I had to keep on pedalling.The views today were awesome, in the distance you could see these really dark hills with more dark hills behind them. At first you think they look nice, its not until you realise that the road your on isn’t going around them, but its going straight over them, great! At one point I had to take a photo of my elevation map on the sat nav just to prove that I was at my highest point in a climb. This as you can see is something that I then took a lot of photos of. The first climb wasn’t my only one, the second climb was one of the hardest climbs ive done over the last 24 days riding. At one point it was hurting so much that I was shouting out and hearing the echoes in the hillside. I was shouting all sorts of things just to try and take my mind off it. I haven’t spent as much time standing up on my bike to pedal as I have done today. I started to take photos at every corner I got to as I thought they were in fact the highest point and round the bend would be where I start to descend. But no the terrain had other ideas and just kept going and going. Every bend I got to I then turned and climbed another 100 foot. This went on for about 600 foot! That is now the highest I have ever climbed. I had to keep thinking of the possible massive downhill section at the end. It was the only thing keeping me going.

Because of this hard day in the saddle, it doesn’t actually feel like I have had a break, I could almost do with another day off now!I had to stop at one point to take a photo of these two signs. Remember how a few days ago I told you how the measurements in Spain were all wrong and incorrect. Well here’s proof, literally within 100 meters of each other are two signs for the same place, one saying 4km to go and then the other one saying 2km to go. Very strange.

If I had to compare today to a boxing match, it would have been one hell of an ugly slug fest!The bike box has made its way to my destination and everything is there waiting for me, just 3 days standing in the way now. Hopefully they will be coastal roads and on the flats as 3 more days like today and ill end up with jelly legs for life!

Today’s journey was 80.54 miles, riding time of 5:35:16, max speed 31.94 mph, avg speed 14.41 mph, 4878 calories, 6.5 litres so far.

I left it all out there today, knowing that I now have 3 days off to recover for the last 4 days of this cycle, I decided to push hard on the inclines, keep up good pace on the flats and generally try to enjoy myself. It was pretty hard to do this however as today was one of the hottest days I’ve ever rode a bike. Its only going to be even hotter after the weekend when I have the last 300 miles to go.

I worked it out that over the first 10 days before the rest day in La Rochelle I had covered 650.41 miles. Since that rest day up until now, which is 13 days I have covered a massive 909.12 miles. My legs are feeling it a bit tonight and are zoo looking forward to getting them selves horizontal on a beach tomorrow. I’m staying near to where I used to go on family holidays about 20 years ago, so going to try and re capture some photos from back then and see just how much it has all changed.

As I was packing up my stuff this morning and putting it all on my bike ready to go, out of the blue and it was def out of the blue as the place I stayed last night wasn’t the biggest of towns. One of those men that normally walks around the beach selling glasses or watches only offers to sell me some socks! Now all kitted up do I really look like a man that wants to buy some socks!As I was staying right on the N-332, before i had even clipped both feet into the pedals I had to take the photo of the sign post. It was literally this road all the way into Alicante until the last mile or so. So you can say I ended up getting pretty friendly with it. Saw my first Spanish Bull on top of a hill today, well I saw 2 in the end but thought id share one with you. Not that I took a photo of the other one, I’m not that sad.

I didn’t go look at any data on my sat nave or odometer today. I just knuckled down and got on with it. When I was tired I stopped, when I was hungry I ate, and when I needed to go, you know, I went.I was soo fast today that I ended up cycling straight across the Atlantic and ended up in Canada. They really do have the strangest signs over here. I used this opportunity to have a little toilet. As I was going this old man rode past on his bike and said hello. So by the time I had got back on the bike and set off again, he was in the distance but catchable. I was catching him slowly and had planned what I was going to chat to him about, when all of a sudden this convoy of 3 bikers ride past me (not saying hello, seems to be if your on the same side of the road you don’t say anything). As they then overtake the old fella, he gets a second wind and starts drafting them. Cheeky git was out of sight before I knew it.

Now what I hadn’t planned for on this route was a massive climb. Not only did I have to ride 90 miles I had to ride to a height of 860 foot, which is higher than the day I crossed the border! I did get to see some great views from up there though. But on the way down I was going pretty fast when a bug flies into my shirt. Been riding with it zipped half way down my front to get a breeze and cool me down. I don’t know what it was, but going downhill at some speed and having to try and get this bug out of my top isn’t something I wish for you to try at home kids.It was after this lovely long downhill section that I then encountered half an hour of sheer pain. It was around the 5 hour mark of riding and it was up and down for what seemed like an eternity. I took a picture of what I was having to deal with. But like I said earlier I didn’t just plod up the hills, I was maxing it out and getting up to 20mph.

Well as you can see from the stats below, I’ve broken a record, I’ve already drunk 8.5 litres, now that’s more than some of you will drink in a week let alone a day! And the days not even over yet!

Today’s journey was 92.76 miles, riding time of 6:22:49, max speed 32.04 mph, avg speed 14.54 mph, 5645 calories, 8.5 litres so far.

 

Well I made it here, just over 80 miles and what felt like a lifetime. Its been a pretty fun day though and its even ending one too as I just walked round the whole town of Favara because I thought the woman at reception said supermercados are all shutting soon, where as what she meant was the one next door is opening soon. Language barrier hey!

I forgot to mention yesterday that its been a few days since I have seen any English plated cars, well I saw one, a camper van yesterday afternoon, so I gave it my normal cheer, although I guess they cant hear me and anyone who can just thinks I’m the lunatic on the bike! And then literally 5 minutes later another one shoots on by, this time a truck loaded up with someones furniture. None today though, as I guess they would all be using the toll roads.

BBC weather yesterday was telling me that today was going to be overcast and light showers all day. They couldn’t have been further from the truth! Its been an absolute scorcher today, I’ve been out in the sun all day and my shadow was like its own sun dial.

When I set off from Benicassim this morning, for about the first 15-20 exits of the N-340 I couldn’t escape the city of Castellon. It was like it just wouldn’t go away. I have never heard of the place before and yet soon as Vila-real came up (a place I’ve heard of from La Liga) I was expecting it to be a bigger city, but I flew straight through the place. Not even a hint or sign of a football stadium!

Stopped for some food, well I say food but my lunches these days are just energy bars and a banana. Once I had put a fresh coat of sun lotion on and was about to get on my way this Spanish guy on a mountain bike stopped, asked if I was ok. Told him I had just had my lunch and was fine, also mentioned what I was doing. Then again like the people in Benicassim, he was more concerned that it would be hard to get to Malaga, not even a praise for the 1400 miles I’ve just done. Maybe all these people know something I don’t about the remainder of the journey.

So once I got into Valencia the first thing I saw was this impressive Bullring. I couldn’t get a photo as the road I was on was just too close to it. But still it was probably bigger than most bog standard non league football clubs. They have this really good bike hire system over here in Spain. I had only seen the one in Barcelona before, but obviously the ones in Valencia are a bit more up market as they are all new. But you literally swipe your card, pick a bike up, ride for how ever long you want and then drop it off at another station. Great idea, although I cant see it working in London, they wouldn’t have any wheels left on them! I then went past the City of Arts and Science in the south of the city. The buildings were very impressive and the whole place made me want to stop and go see what was inside.

Just as I was on my way out of the city I heard a ping noise of some sort and stopped immediately to see what it was. I could see something metal lying in the road about 30 foot back and so I jumped off the bike and started working my way round both wheels counting the spokes. I swear I’m going crazy at every little noise and sound I hear. Even went over a bump today and thought I heard a hissing, but realised it was coming from the field next to me.

Oh and if you didnt notice I’ve had Club Tropicana stuck in my head all day!

Another pic of the hills in Cullera, I mean its no Hollywood sign but I guess it means a lot to the people of Cullera. I cant imagine however the people of Beverly Hills being too happy with some brilliant white Dulux slapped across the rock face.

For the majority of today’s ride I’ve had watery eyes and I just couldn’t get rid of them. And then to make matters worse the watery eyes turn into stinging eyes. The sweat coming down my forehead obviously had the sun lotion mixed in, this doesn’t go well with your eyes, looks like I got 5 more days of that. Then at one stop I take my sunglasses off to wipe my brow, when I accidentally touch the lens. Bad mistake, when everything your wearing is already wet, your gonna struggle to get that lens clean. I tried my best but had to knuckle down and ride the last 8 miles with blurry vision!

I didn’t use my google print out today, just kept following signs for Valencia and then used sat nav to get me around the city and over onto the road out of town. I then decided to go off my own back again until about 4 miles to go, which is about the time I like to give sat nav all the glory. But it wanted to take me on a 11 mile scenic de tour! I don’t think so! 15 minutes later I got here. Strange piece of technology!

Below says I have drunk 6 litres today, that’s 12 litres over the last 2 days, some impressive effort, and you’d think that it would be enough to keep me hydrated. Well your wrong, the tell tale sign of dehydration, the colour of your urine. Sorry didn’t know how else to put, and thought some people might want to know. Well even after 6 litres of water in a day it was still coming out yellow. I’ve already had to up my buying from 3 litres of water in the supermarkets each evening to 4.5, and then another 2 litres during the day from a petrol garage.

Today’s journey was 81.35 miles, riding time of 5:31:24, max speed 24.47 mph, avg speed 14.73 mph, 4890 calories, 6 litres so far.

I think the last 22 days have finally started to remind me just how far I’ve come. My legs were very tired today and I think I was mentally tired today throughout parts of the ride. You have to keep your concentration levels up all the time, as one little bolt, screw, rock or any debris can really effect you as we all know from day 2. You can’t really afford to look off the road ahead of you for any length of time. But anyway I got here in one piece.

I didn’t mind the counting down of sign posts today as I knew in my head I would take a photo of the 1000km sign. I then thought to myself why not get a photo with it swell, so jumped over the barrier and set the self timer up. Yeah funny how no one was just casually strolling past at this point. But don’t worry folks I haven’t still got to do another 1000km, I think its now only several hundred. I didn’t get to see a sign for Benicassim until there was only 9km to go. Which spurred me on to ride a little faster, until I looked ahead and saw a mammoth hill, that definately took it out of me and lucky enough it was a coast all the way into the town.

Benicassim seems to be a nice place so far, I’m yet to venture out and look for somewhere to eat, and hopefully its different to most of the other places I have stayed. As my night meals have been hard to find. Staff at where I’m staying seem very friendly, the woman here kept saying how nice my bike was. The man was just calling me Lance Armstrong, I don’t think he could speak much English. I told them about where I had come from and where I was heading off to. Funny thing was they seemed to be more shocked that I was riding to Malaga rather than the fact I’ve just cycled 1400 miles to get here! Showered up and washed my kit, then headed down the beach for a cheeky hour. Had a nice little lay down, but was a little bit concerned about my tan lines. Now for those of you that haven’t seen them I will have to put a pic up at the end of the week. But they are ridiculous! So I read a little bit of my book, pic below for any of you interested in what I’m reading. I have read some other Dirk Pitt novels and I like them. Not that far into this one as haven’t had much time to pick it up. Hopefully have it finished by the end of my break at the weekend.

Long day planned for tomorrow, its looking like its going to be back to back 90 mile days for the next 2. Wish me luck…

Today’s journey was 68.73 miles, riding time of 4:35:24, max speed 29.5 mph, avg speed 14.97 mph, 4026 calories, 6 litres so far.

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.