Went for another nice little ride with Colin – north to St. Groux, then southwest to Villorioux and on to Cellettes. On the way we passed a field of sunflowers – someone had made a heart shape in one of the larger ones – it looked pretty cool.
Stopped at the bar again for a coffee – it seemed especially tasty for some reason. Church across the street got out and the plaza was getting crowded – the bar was busy as they set up tables and chairs in the plaza under the trees. We figured that maybe there was a christening or something about to happen as more and more folks kept arriving – not just any old church service.
Back at the house Mo had shown her displeasure at being left alone for the 3rd day in a row by leaving a small protest pee. She thinks she should always be included, so maybe Colin will have to get a basket for her to sit in when he rides.
We each had only a light snack instead of lunch since we planned to get the hot camembert with toast at the campground’s bar before we headed nextdoor to the racetrack. We walked down and picked a table, only to be told it was reserved – although how we were supposed to know that is beyond me as there was no sign on it or anything. The waiter said it wasn’t a problem, though, and we could stay there.
We placed our order with an older lady and were very surprised when the waiter delivered our plates – we were each presented with a huge ‘hot camembert salad’, which wasn’t what we’d ordered. He took the plates back to the kitchen and shortly returned them to us, saying we could have them at the same price as the much smaller dishes that we’d asked for.
The salad was pretty good – kind of potato salad on a bed of lettuce, with several slices of prosciutto (or something like it). Neither of us could finish our salads, but the melted cheese and toast was just as good as we’d remembered from when we’d both gotten it several weeks ago.
We walked over to the track and I was a bit surprised when there was a charge to get in – I did remember though, that we were handed free tickets outside the one in Luxe last month, so I guess it’s not unusual. Colin paid for me and we went in – the area to the east of the actual track is quite large and has many nice trees for shade. There’s a small grandstand, as well as a fairly large covered eating/drinking area, and of course, several lines for the betting.
On the other side of a creek is where the horses are – hundreds of them in various stages of getting ready for their races. It’s lots of fun to just walk around and see what’s involved – some of them were getting hosed down, and others were drinking water from a ‘pool’.
I thought that the different ways folks had of doing the horses tails was very interesting.
We found a place in the shade in the stands and watched several races. They were all trotters pulling the carts except for one race that had riders. I felt sorry for the horses that broke into a gallop as they were disqualified – they just want to run!
There were several female drivers, as well as a few rather chubby ones that we figured would be a disadvantage to the poor horses that had to pull them.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t betting, as most of my picks either bolted into a gallop or were otherwise just slow – the only one I picked that didn’t completely suck came in second in its race. In one race I picked the horse that had stylish red ear covers, but they came off during the race and ended up hanging on the back of its head.
We left just before the last race of the day – there was now a live band playing at the campground.
Stopped off at the bar and Neil met us for a drink (or two). Back at home Colin made roast chicken but we were both still stuffed from lunch so only Neil actually ate any.
We covered about 15.5 km in all, and it’s quite different riding with someone else instead of by myself. I didn’t stop as often to take photos, and I pushed myself a bit more at times than I would have if I’d been alone.
After the ride we took Mo down to the bar, which was open again after their little vacation. The market was on, and the lady that knows Colin was very happy to see that Mo had been found. Everyone in the bar also knew she’d been missing so they made even more of a fuss over her than usual – she lapped up the extra attention, of course.
Had a lovely steak with roast potatoes for dinner.
I went with Colin down to Angouleme to get a few things from Decathlon, as well as more groceries. After lunch at home and a quiet afternoon we went back to the bar with Neil for a quick drink before dinner.
The area is very pretty, as is the village, but nothing was open. There was a nice-looking bar but even with the extra folks there to see the race it was closed. I know it’s a French holiday today – being Assumption Day (whatever that is), but it’s also day 2 of a 3-day festival in the town. I’d think that a local business could make a tidy sum on a day like today, but nooo.
Colin had an appointment in Poitier so I stayed home with Mo – no getting out of the gate for her this time!
This morning was a little more exciting, thanks to little Mo. Colin and I had removed my bike from the bike rack on the car, then he went out to get the car washed. As I was getting ready to go out with him when he returned I noticed that I couldn’t see Mo out on the deck. I called for her and she didn’t respond as she usually does.
I dropped everything, including my money belt, grabbed Mo’s harness and leash, and dashed out the door and down the stairs. My first thought was she’d probably gone down to the bar hoping for her usual treat so that’s where I ran to. Of course she didn’t know the bar was closed but I figured that would likely be where she’d gone.
I ran across the bridge and down to the campground – the fellow there hadn’t seen a little dog, and the delivery guy that was also there gave me a strange look – I was obviously very distressed and they must have thought I was a bit nuts.
After lunch at home we headed up to the town of Chef-Boutonne so Colin could take care of some more business. Mo and I sat in a bar across the street to wait – this area also has a large population of older Brits and there was a couple at a table next to us, joined a bit later by 3 or 4 more. I don’t know what all of the Brits around here and elsewhere in Europe are going to do when Brexit happens – they must be a bit freaked about it.
After Colin finished his business we drove about 1 km to a chateau that is now owned by the town and has a lovely park with a lake – there are nice walking paths and picnic tables, etc. The chateau itself is being renovated so it looks like they’re trying to keep it from falling apart.
On the way home we passed a farm that had two donkeys and a horse in a nice large field- the horse and one of the donkeys seemed like best friends – they were all so cute and happy looking.
Had lovely lamb chops and roasted potatoes for dinner. I don’t do much cooking here, but I’m really enjoy the eating!
Got up a bit early so I had time to shower and eat a nice breakfast before tearing down the tent and getting ready to leave. This was a nice campground – the only sound at night was the creek below me.
We got on the road before 10:00 and ended up going all the way back to Burgos before getting on the motorway north/northeast. 
Crossed the (non-existent) border from Spain into France just past Irun, then skirted St. Jean de Luz and Biarritz. The area around Bordeaux was, as usual, a bit of a bottleneck, but not as bad as the way south had been a couple of weeks ago.
We were able to drive up almost to the top – seeing only two other vehicles along the way, one of which was police/civil guard. When we reached a plateau there was a large parking area that had a few dozen cars and campervans and the police had just closed the road that goes to the very top – we missed getting through by 10 minutes or less.
That was ok – I walked up the road to suss it out and ended up not going to the top – I didn’t know how far it was and it was getting very steep. I didn’t want to come back down to collect my chair or anything else I might want for the afternoon and go all the way back up again.
Set up the table and chairs and raised the flags, then had a nice lunch and settled in to wait. Dozens and then hundreds of people and cars kept going by us on their way up, and not all of the cars came back. When I took a little walk up later I saw that there was another road going down the other side towards to town of Neila and because the parking area was now full they were pulling in on the side of that road going down.
I checked with the civil guard just to make sure which road the race was coming on – we’re on the right one, thank goodness. An enterprising ice-cream seller was making a killing – the line was 20 or 30 people when I passed by. I’m actually a little surprised there aren’t more food trucks, etc., although many people, like us, have brought picnics.
The first racer came up just before 4:30, and they all straggled by singly or in small groups over the next 20 or 25 minutes. 
As there was apparently no room at the top for the team buses, etc., the riders were coming back down the road after finishing, chatting with each other, as the late comers were still going up.
It was quite confusing, as by then many of the fans that had walked all the way up were now coming down also – kind of chaotic, in fact. At one point a family was walking down the hill as cars were already passing and a little boy dropped a bidon he’d gotten onto the road – he ran right out in front of an oncoming car to grab it and I screamed ‘Jesus Christ!’ and reached my arm out – which, I know, was useless – while the mother did nothing! Luckily the car driver was paying attention and slammed on his brakes and the kid wasn’t run over. The mother did say something to the boy after, but it might have been better if she’d been paying attention earlier.
We took down the flags and followed one of the team cars down the hill and into the town. Stopped at a large cafe/bar that was fairly packed, so just grabbed a couple of chairs and pulled up to a table of local men and set our drinks down. We then proceeded to watch the long parade of team cars, motos, buses and fans coming thru the town from the mountain.
Packed up our tents, had a cafe latte at the campground’s cafe, then said goodbye to Burgos. The start of today’s stage is very close – only about 14 km or so at the beautiful old Monasterio San Pedro de Cardera. El Cid is pretty big around this whole area – the monastery has a huge sculpture of him on his horse above the main door, although he’s missing most of his sword arm and part of his face.
The moto guys were having a meeting next to the statue of Christ, co-ordinating their race plans and duties, and the caterers were hanging catered lunch bags on the motorbikes (all of which are extremely nice-looking BMW’s).
Then the music started – the first song to blast out of the speakers was an AC-DC tune – at least it wasn’t Highway to Hell.
The motoriders, then the ‘civil guards’ got their group photos taken, then the teams started arriving to be introduced to the crowd and sign in.
We left near the end of the team signings rather than watch as they actually started to race. As we were passing the team cars and buses that were parked all along the road one of the riders was paying some attention to Mo so we asked if he could score us a bidon or something – he pointed to another guy and said that he’d give us something. 
When we asked the other guy he said no, he couldn’t give us anything so I piped up ‘but I’m from Canada’ and turned around to show him the maple leaf that’s now pinned to my small backpack. The guy then said ‘oh – well then ok – here’s a musette (feed bag) for you – alright?’.
We barely made it out of the next town as the race was about to come thru and the road we wanted to take was blocked. We went down a side road just before it and got thru a back way onto the small highway we wanted that went the opposite direction that the race was taking.
We stopped just after the small town of Villabilla de Gumiel, where the people don’t seem too concerned about walking in the middle of the road even when cars are coming. We pulled over in a nice flat area where hay had just been cut and was just before the end of the ‘feed zone’. 
The only other car that joined us was a nice young Spanish couple that we chatted with – the guy especially seems keen on the cycling races, and they are from the Basque so were quite interested that we had just been there and seen the San Sebastian Classic. Once again didn’t get any bidons or anything but the musette we got earlier made up for that.
Not too far from our next camping destination we we both feeling tired from the sun earlier so stopped for a refreshing beverage in the village of Palacios de la Sierra. The small bar was cool inside so for once we didn’t choose an outside table. When we ordered a second round told us they were closing, but we could sit outside and drink if we wished, so we ended up at the outside table anyway.
The campground just outside Quintanar de la Sierra was easy to find and we setup next to a creek/river. There are lots of tents here and only a few campervans. The wi-fi reception sucks so no online news or blog posting for me.
The day started out fairly chilly, and then just got worse – and I don’t mean the weather. I was putting in a new pair of contacts and the right one went in nice and easy, but the package of the left one was a bit hard to open, which was unusual. As soon as I rinsed it with saline and put it in my eye it immediately started to burn and sting like mad. I ripped it out and tossed it – I don’t really know where – and closed my eye tightly. I cried and cried it burned so bad and every time I opened the left eye it started burning again – I wondered briefly if I’d blinded it.
As we entered the village we were directed to a parking lot on the left – it was actually the local football field. By then it was warm enough to change into my ‘rah rah’ skirt, as Colin calls it. It’s actually an LPGA skirt with built-in shorts underneath and is very comfortable to wear. 
I’m experiencing what I would call a ‘behind the scenes’ start of a stage for the first time – all of the buses and team cars began to arrive, then the riders all signed-in as each of the teams were presented – and it’s a whole different atmosphere. Once the race is actually on the riders are all very intense and this was just the opposite.
Right after all the teams had signed in and been presented a local kids’ group did a couple of traditional dances all dressed up in costume – or rather, a guy played a flute-type thing and another played a snare drum and most of the kids kind of stood in one spot and swayed a bit while the two oldest ones danced a bit. One little fellow looked quite put out with the whole thing, but he was so cute.
The riders rolled out right on time at 12:49, then we went and asked some locals where the bar was – right across the street and around the corner. We went thru the inside and out to the back patio, then I went in to order. There wasn’t really a line, and the 3 servers were working furiously to try to keep up. I had some good laughs with the old fellow beside me – one lady got her daughter to stand at the counter hoping she’d get faster service than us, but we weren’t having that. For once I had patience and just went with it.
Another fairly windy night, but no rain. Had a nice breakfast of leftover paella, then went for another ride to the east. Headed up into the national park that’s across the road, although most of the trails were more suited to mountain bikes so I couldn’t go on many of them.
The part of today’s stage we’re heading to first is the ‘feeding station’ just outside the town of Sotopalacios, which is only about a 14 km drive from the campground. We got a really good place to park and set up the table and chairs, as well as my umbrella sunshade. Even though once again it’s not so blistering hot out the sun isn’t good for my skin – I’m still putting the cortizone cream on the back of my neck and my arms – especially the two mosquito bites I got a couple of weeks ago that got infected, or maybe they were just extra irritated by the sun. 
Even though we were in a good spot we didn’t score any bidons or musettes (water/juice bottles and food bags), but that was ok. As soon as the last rider and all of the support vehicles had passed we sped away to get to the finish at Castrojeriz.
We found a good parking space outside the local swimming pool and walked a short way to the finish area. 
The small breakaway group had been caught and the peloton blew by in a sprint finish.
We waited and watched part of the podium presentations before heading to a cafe/bar in the village to have a beverage before hitting the road back to the campground. It had a lovely backyard area and we sat under the trees surrounded by bushes, flowers, fellow cycling fans, and locals.
Went for a nice little bike ride after breakfast – followed the path that leads east from the campground, then circled a bit north towards the river. There are many paths, large and paved, as well as small dirt ones. The one that goes west near the river is excellent – I believe it goes all the way into the old city but I didn’t follow it that far, turning instead back towards the campground. I did see many small tree branches and one very large one brought down by the storm in the night.
Upon returning I changed, packed a few things in my backpack and we headed north to Poza de la Sal – it ended up being the same road we had come south along into Burgos on Sunday. We intended to stop and have a coffee before heading to the mountain summit that the first day of the Vuelta de Burgos race will be going thru but couldn’t find an open cafe or anything.
We had a heck of a time trying to find the right road for the race – there were no orange arrows in the town yet but we knew they were coming thru. Also, the road number on the map and the road number from the race website were different, but we figured it out anyway after a couple of false starts.
The climb to the summit won’t be fun for the racers, but at least it isn’t quite as hot as it’s been for the last few days. There’s a fairly large flat area at the top, and there are wind turbines all over the place. 
Also a couple of combines harvesting grain and blowing it into a large pile on one side of the big ‘parking’ area. There’s a statue of a vulture on top of a tall triangular base that has writing about a Dr. ‘Somebody’ but I’m not sure what it was about – maybe a scientist of some sort that saved the vultures around here from extinction or something.
I went for a walk along one of the trails and it just went down and down, eventually turning a corner and opening up onto a great view of the wide valley below, although it was quite hazy.
A very nice older English couple pulled up and we chatted with them for awhile – Joy and John, who know a bit about the cycling races, but had happened along not knowing the race was coming thru. They didn’t stay to watch, but were going down into Poza to try to get a coffee – we wished them luck.
There’s not as much fanfare announcing the arrival of the racers as there’s been at other races – especially the TDF – but we still knew when they were coming. Several motos and some team cars, then a breakaway of six or so, followed about 3 minutes later by the peloton. Once again, even though it’s the end of a long fairly steep climb they all seemed to be going so fast.
Once they’d all passed we took down the flags and packed up – rather than going back to Burgos the way we’d come we followed to route of the stage for a bit and took a different way home to the campground.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 