We have finally polished off the Spanish Coast, and are in France. After almost 15 weeks cycling in total and 2,200 kms since arriving in Morocco 21 days ago, we are calling and end to the trip and are now training to Paris tomorrow. This means we now have around 400 kms left to cycle, and will make it back on Friday, slightly delayed due to the need to get Duncan an emergency passport!
In true tour spirit, we had a single rest day in Barcelona, and spent it doing a 3 hour weights session in the gym. Since then neither Duncan or I have been able to lift our heads when sleeping because of the pain in our abs. More work to do! However, a 140km day in the saddle is now second nature.
We saw the Tour de France up close and personal after a long 4 hour wait, still amazed by those guys' speed. After seeing a flat stage we fancied our chances of keeping up, but today we heard the winner averaged 36 kph on a 221 km ride up to Andorra, and have decided it is best left for the pro's! As always, it was not a comfortable day, it rained like hell all day, and all our clothes and kit got soaked, plus it was freezing. Duncan's expensive panniers leaked, drenching the contents. My cheap ones were fine!
The Tour will officially finish at the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square at about 7pm on Friday the 17th, and if anyone fancies coming along to see how dirty we have become, you are welcome! The plan is to have a few beers, then get a curry in.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Barcelona and The Tour
After ten days blasting up the Costa Del Sol, we have made it to Barcelona. Really put in the hours to get here so fast, mostly motorway bashing to be honest which is a bit disappointing, but the fitness has reached a new peak! We can now cruise happily at 28 to 30, with pushes at faster speeds. In Valencia last Saturday, we encountered lots of very enthusiastic Spanish Club Cyclists, who generally went around in pelatons at 28 or so. We felt great overtaking them all with our panniers and bottom-end Sora groupsets! One lad looked fast and was cruising at 35kph, so we drafted him for a while. Serious pace!
Shortly after, a fourth member joined our little group. We couldn´t really see him, but I tried to talk to him a bit to encourage him to maintain the pace. Turns out my chat was wholely unneccesary because he burnt past us a bit later on. He must have been at least 45, maybe 15 stone too, but he could produce a significant number of watts! He was very impressed with our speed with our panniers and offered to buy us lunch. We dealt!
A good opportunity for me to practice my spanish, a tour of the city, a couple of beers, and two portions (each) of paella later we felt like heroes once again. A cheap lunch.
Now, 1,800kms since Casablanca, good fortune finds us coinciding with the Tour de France. You may have heard of this little race. At a mere 3,500km, it is about half the length of Leg One of our tour, but these guys are incredibly fast and we will be here in Barcelona for the end of Stage 6. We hope to see Lance in the Yellow Jersey schooling all the other competitors once again!
We will be home in about 10 days.
Shortly after, a fourth member joined our little group. We couldn´t really see him, but I tried to talk to him a bit to encourage him to maintain the pace. Turns out my chat was wholely unneccesary because he burnt past us a bit later on. He must have been at least 45, maybe 15 stone too, but he could produce a significant number of watts! He was very impressed with our speed with our panniers and offered to buy us lunch. We dealt!
A good opportunity for me to practice my spanish, a tour of the city, a couple of beers, and two portions (each) of paella later we felt like heroes once again. A cheap lunch.
Now, 1,800kms since Casablanca, good fortune finds us coinciding with the Tour de France. You may have heard of this little race. At a mere 3,500km, it is about half the length of Leg One of our tour, but these guys are incredibly fast and we will be here in Barcelona for the end of Stage 6. We hope to see Lance in the Yellow Jersey schooling all the other competitors once again!
We will be home in about 10 days.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Robbery!
Yesterday was a bad day. Arrived in Alicante around 2pm and found a small park to rest for a couple of hours while it cooled down. Geoff got the mat out and had a siesta while i went and wandered around the marina. At this point somebody stole my handlebar bag, complete with camera, passport, credit cards ect. Geoff also had his credit cards stolen but his bag was not taken. We now have no cards so cant get any money out! I have no id so cant get back into the UK. Perfect.
The worst thing is that we have lost all of our photos past Cyprus, including a lot of really good ones from the middle east.
Despite this, the progress has been very good. In the past 5 days we have cycled 618km.
Last night we had a good night out to celebrate the thefts. Geoff thought it would be a good idea to dance on a table with his shirt off and nearly got kicked out of the club.
Duncs
Just thought I´d add a couple of comments. It´s bloody typical that after sleeping rough in the Albanian mountains, kipping on the streets of Beirut, hitch-hiking opposite the West Bank, negotiating with Ammanian businessmen, and getting harranged by angry Greek Shepards at daybreak, all without any incident, we let our guard down in the safety of the continent. No chance of recovery of any of our stuff, and the lack of money is a serious problem. We have a paltry 150 euros left which we had stashed in various panniers, and that´s going to have to last us for a while. We´re used to living on a tight budget, but when you cycle an average of 130km a day, in the heat of South Spain, you need to eat a lot of calories and drink a lot of fluids. As Duncan said, the worst bit is that the only photos we have of the past 6 weeks are what we uploaded (at greatly reduced quality) to the blog. We lost a lot of stunners, including Petra, Damascene markets, and "The Kite Runner" style towns in Jordan.
Needless to say, we´re pissed off!
Geoff
The worst thing is that we have lost all of our photos past Cyprus, including a lot of really good ones from the middle east.
Despite this, the progress has been very good. In the past 5 days we have cycled 618km.
Last night we had a good night out to celebrate the thefts. Geoff thought it would be a good idea to dance on a table with his shirt off and nearly got kicked out of the club.
Duncs
Just thought I´d add a couple of comments. It´s bloody typical that after sleeping rough in the Albanian mountains, kipping on the streets of Beirut, hitch-hiking opposite the West Bank, negotiating with Ammanian businessmen, and getting harranged by angry Greek Shepards at daybreak, all without any incident, we let our guard down in the safety of the continent. No chance of recovery of any of our stuff, and the lack of money is a serious problem. We have a paltry 150 euros left which we had stashed in various panniers, and that´s going to have to last us for a while. We´re used to living on a tight budget, but when you cycle an average of 130km a day, in the heat of South Spain, you need to eat a lot of calories and drink a lot of fluids. As Duncan said, the worst bit is that the only photos we have of the past 6 weeks are what we uploaded (at greatly reduced quality) to the blog. We lost a lot of stunners, including Petra, Damascene markets, and "The Kite Runner" style towns in Jordan.
Needless to say, we´re pissed off!
Geoff
Friday, 26 June 2009
Finally Some Photos
Here is one of our wild campsites in Morocco. Looks quite nice in the photo, but the ground was hard as iron and there were shed loads of burrs and spikes! Plus we had a bit of interest from a load of kids living in a nearby slum.
Just outside Cairo at Giza, checking out the pyramids on some very over-priced camels. We got ripped off so badly! They cost us over 30 quid for just a couple of hours. We must have been seriously dehydrated to get stung for so much!
Sphynx. Pretty standard. A couple of American girls hit on us at the Sphynx, wanting to follow us round all day. No joke! In a move Dan Maranhao would be proud of, we said we already had a couple of camels with us.
Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are not puncture-proof or flatless as they claim! Here a nail from some Jordanian road went right through the reinforcing and out the other side. Dead flat. A quick road-side repair and we were off in 15 minutes. Duncan got some more sweat out when reinflating in the 40 degree heat!
Here is a typical view of some desert cycling. Road goes into the distance, but what the photo doesn´t show is the heat from the headwind, which felt like a hundred hairdriers blowing over you. We both got very dehydrated that day, with thick slime lining our mouths and throats, and lips cracking.
Here is Geoff Lord, AKA "The Hero", who sorted us out with accommodation, food, and advice throughout our 5 day stint in North Cyprus. Great lad, and some stories probably aren´t best shared here!
A good recovery meal! A keg of lager, Turkey´s finest Efes no less, five frozen breaded cods each, and 500 grams of pasta. Lovely. Hopefully that fish went to our legs and heart, and that booze straight to our brains!
The weather girl on a channel called Star in Greece is amazing. She does some sort of dance while doing the weather, has a great uniform, and clearly has an erotic background. Perfect. I didn´t catch whether it was going to rain or not.Tuesday, 23 June 2009
The Beginning of the End
We've had a few comments about the amount of blue on the map. Let me say, yes, we are ashamed! However, now we are on the return leg, I can guarantee that there will not be any more, unless the powered vehicle in question is an ambulance!
Morocco is a very dirty place, particularly when you cannot wash and sleep rough for 3 nights in a row. We are covered in filth, but because we aren't anywhere near a tourist, amongst the rural lot we fit in quite well! We've just had 250kms of just flat, straight road surrounded by fields, it's been the most boring cycling yet.
Duncan has managed to pop his inflatable matress, and in Cairo caught a fairly robust fom of 'The Pharoah's Revenge', so he has been ejecting matter from all orifices and sweating profusely. In fact, on the plane to Morocco 4 days ago he had 4 of the 7 symptoms you should report to limit the spread of swine flu. Like a true hero, this hasn't stopped him doing 100+ kilometers each day! We just managed to get hold of some Gaviscon, woefully inadequate for the severity of his symptoms but hopefully that'll settle his bowels.
We are now out of spare inner tubes, so if we get another puncture before Spain, we're in trouble.
Keep checking the site because we have some excellent photos to upload when we get the chance!
Morocco is a very dirty place, particularly when you cannot wash and sleep rough for 3 nights in a row. We are covered in filth, but because we aren't anywhere near a tourist, amongst the rural lot we fit in quite well! We've just had 250kms of just flat, straight road surrounded by fields, it's been the most boring cycling yet.
Duncan has managed to pop his inflatable matress, and in Cairo caught a fairly robust fom of 'The Pharoah's Revenge', so he has been ejecting matter from all orifices and sweating profusely. In fact, on the plane to Morocco 4 days ago he had 4 of the 7 symptoms you should report to limit the spread of swine flu. Like a true hero, this hasn't stopped him doing 100+ kilometers each day! We just managed to get hold of some Gaviscon, woefully inadequate for the severity of his symptoms but hopefully that'll settle his bowels.
We are now out of spare inner tubes, so if we get another puncture before Spain, we're in trouble.
Keep checking the site because we have some excellent photos to upload when we get the chance!
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