Didn’t sleep too bad – I kept thinking that the wind was still howling when I finally realized it was the ocean crashing all night long – duh! It didn’t sound this loud at the last ocean-side campground, but we were on a hill and perhaps sheltered a bit from the sound.

Had a great shower – lots of hot water, but chilly once I got out. Did yoga for the first time in days – it always feels especially good after not be able to do it for awhile. Took the little ones for a walk across the road and to look at the beach – rays of sun coming thru the clouds.

Had some of my left-over chicken and chips for breakfast, then headed down to the campground’s restaurant for some tea and wi-fi. They don’t have regular black tea here – you have a choice of black with chocolate, or black with mint – I went for the chocolate. Maybe it’s an acquired taste – it wasn’t horrible, but I don’t think I’d get it every day.

Asked the waiter how to get to the city we can see to the west but apparently you have to go around a fairly large inlet, but there is a smaller town on this side of the inlet that has a store or two. I got on the bike and went for a little ride – found the store no problem, but couldn’t find any cream. I even asked another shopper and she wasn’t able to locate it either, so I bought what is probably whipping cream instead – hope it works for Colin’s cereal.

After shopping I took a ride down the road a bit further – the town is strung out along the highway and down several side roads. When I returned I took a different road than the one I came on and ended up right across the inlet from the city (Foz). The ‘scenic route’ back to the campground was easy to figure out – just headed east along the coastline.

Most of the houses along the road are fairly large – they look like they might be weekend/summer homes for rich people from one of the larger cities or something.

After I dropped off the groceries and had the rest of the chicken and chips for lunch I pedalled back to the restaurant where we had the lunch yesterday and had a glass of wine while I caught up on a couple days of my blog.

I then spent some time down on the beach – some folks are tanning, some are actually swimming, but there’s a real wind blowing and I don’t find it all that hot, although it is very beautiful. I came to a bit of a decision on what to do at the end of the month, but still have some more thinking to do. For now I know where we’re heading tomorrow and that’s enough for the moment.

Read the ‘Thousand Years of Annoying the French’ book some more – still finding it very humorous in addition to teaching me a bit more history.

Said goodbye to the Belgians, who were planning to spend a bit of time in Pola de Lena, and left not long after – there were just a couple of folks left of the dozens that had been there.

Went back down to the edge of Pola de Lena, then took the highway north again to the ocean.

Went west along the coast until just before Foz, where we turned off the highway but were diverted because there’s a race or something happening on the local roads. The diversion wasn’t major and we continued on the the campsite Colin had looked up. It’s right across the road from the ocean, and seems very nice.

Got the tent setup, then went to the campground’s restaurant/bar for a drink and to use their wi-fi – connection not that great, but better then nothing. Got caught up a bit on last week’s blogs, but loading the photos was frustrating.

We walked down the ocean path a bit to another restaurant – it had better wi-fi. There is an awesome path all along this part of the coast, made of slate tiles in some parts and large stones in others – just wonderful to walk on while next to the ocean. We ended up having a late lunch – I had a huge plate of chicken breast on top of fries, all covered with a cheese/creme sauce. I ate and ate and didn’t manage to finish half of it. I looked up on google translate how to ask to take it home with me and showed the waitress – got a doggie bag (for me – not the dogs!).

Walked back to camp and sat in their restaurant again while we watched the final day of the Vuelta on tv. Also face-timed Dominic – so nice to see and hear him. No surprises in the Vuelta – I really wish someone would attack out of the blue and catch them all with their arms linked and drinking their champagne, but no luck. Froome won, Nibali second – home-town hero Contador managed to come fourth, and Cdn Michael Woods came seventh. I want to think that if Contador hadn’t gotten a stomach virus in Andorra he might have won – of course we’ll never know and he says he won’t be back next year.

Went back to the campervan and made some nighty-nite tea, then into the tent, read a bit and had no trouble falling asleep. All in all a lovely, fairly quiet b-day.

It rained off an on most of the night, along with fairly heavy wind. When I got out and looked around the parking lot I saw that quite a few vehicles had arrived since I last looked yesterday evening, and more just kept coming.

The morning started out quite cloudy, but slowly the wind blew the clouds away – I took a walk up the hill to the west and saw more hiking trail markers, and shortly after I got back it became warm enough to change into shorts and remove the merino wool shirt.

Two cars of police and a moto arrived, followed shortly by the banner boys, who took around two hours to erect one simple banner. We now have roadside barriers as well, so will have to choose our watching spot carefully as we won’t be able to run back and forth across the road easily.

Just before lunch the clouds re-appeared, and we could barely see the mountains to the northwest. The rain hit, but didn’t last long – after a surprisingly short time the sky was clear again and mostly blue.

Met a couple of Irish guys – Brian and Mark – and chatted with them for a bit. When the rain returned we all fit into the campervan until it passed. They were on bikes and had ridden to the end of the stage yesterday, then back up to where we were again today.

While waiting I took a photo of a little girl on her dad’s shoulders – I showed it to her and to him and they thought it was great – nothing like the paranoid b**** at the Worcester Festival! I ended up with several more hats from the cavalcade – I traded a kid a red one for a green one and now have a complete collection of red, green, and polka-dot – as well as another packet of olives.

One more time the rain hit hard and the wind picked up but I was standing right at the summit banner and didn’t leave – I just tucked my camera under my jacket and got soaked to the skin. Shortly before the helicopters showed up a woman from Cofidis walked in front of the barrier and stood right in front of me – she had an armful of water bottles for her team’s riders. I asked her to please not stand on front of me and she politely moved several feet further up the road. However, right before the police cars that precede the racers came all of the other team’s water carriers arrived and they spread out all along the barrier right in front of all of the fans that, like me, had been standing there for hours in the rain.

The rain did stop right before the racers appeared – perfect timing. I did get a few decent photos, but missed the best chances because of the damn water folks – one in particular really got in my way and I have several shots of the back of her fat head. She totally blocked out Contador, and everyone else I cared about. She did give me a water bottle afterwards (Astana), but I would rather have seen the racers. If she had stayed in one spot I could have shot around her, but she kept moving every time one of her riders came up the hill – it was impossible to predict which direction she would weave to next – incredibly frustrating for me.

It took quite a while for all of the racers to pass – they were very strung out in small bunches, with all of the sprinters in a large group at the back. The Belgians next to us watched the end of the race on their satellite tv and told us that Contador had won the stage – a fitting way to end the last race of his career.

The Grand Tour part of my trip is now over – big SOBs!!

Quite a few campervans stayed for the night but almost all of the cars cleared out. One of the Belgians had locked his keys in their motorhome so had called their insurance company who sent a guy up the hill as soon as the roads were re-opened. It took him a while but he finally got into the motorhome by unscrewing the top vent and climbing in from the roof.

Got up at what I thought was a few minutes after the alarm at 7:00 and went and had a shower (it was closer to 8:20). I pushed what I thought was the light button and the water started pouring. I quickly got undressed and jumped in, and found it very hot. There was a knob on another wall that I turned until it wasn’t so scorching hot, then it suddenly got very cold. I figured out that the flat button on one wall is the hot, and is on a timer that stops after a minute or so, and the knob on the other wall is the cold with no timer. In the end I had a great shower and felt much better being nice and clean.

Had tea and breakfast at the campervan, then went down for a cup of tea at the cafe. Loaded a couple more photos to my blog, but again the speed was lousy so didn’t even finish Monday’s. I took a couple of photos of the coastline to the west when Colin asked if I saw the cows – sure enough there were a bunch of cows grazing like mountain goats on the very steep hillside right above the drop-off to the ocean.

A group of four cyclists came out onto to terrace and one of the women took a couple of photos – I heard them speaking english so I pointed out the cows to her. They asked where I thought they were from so I said ‘well, I would guess either Australia or New Zealand’. They collectively groaned when I first said Australia – they must get the bigger, inferior (in their opinion) comparison a lot, just like I do with people thinking I’m american. I pointed out that that’s why I have Cdn flags on several of my things – we all laughed at that.

We headed west just before noon, and left the highway at Llanes to try to find a store – it must be a festival day or something – there were so many people, some in traditional costumes, all going to the city centre, so we went around and back to the highway.

We tried another, town – Ribadesella, and had more luck. It seems a little bit touristy, but we found parking and walked with the dogs into the centre where we found a market. I picked out a couple of bottles of wine – 3.90 euros each, then went up to the counter to choose bread. At the counter I noticed a few more bottles so I asked, in Spanish, how much? He responded in Spanish and I didn’t understand a word, so he punched it into the cash register – only 1.70 each. I asked if they were vino tinto, and they were – good deal! I then asked for a baguette for Colin, and pointed to something that looked like a whole-grain roll or loaf for myself – shopping done.

Back on the highway headed southeast to the town of Pola de Lena, which wasn’t as charming as some of the towns have been, but is on tomorrow’s stage route. After driving to the south end of the town we finally got on the north-bound road and drove towards the Alto del Cordal, the second last climb of the stage.

About 3/4 of the way up we found the first place that it was possible to pull over to camp – it was a parking area of some kind of old unused industrial or mining place, and there was only one campervan there. We decided to go for it, so got parked and setup the table and chairs so no one could park in front of us next to the road.

I wanted to see the summit of the climb and knew it wasn’t that far so went for a walk up the road. After just over a km there were two vans parked at a fairly wide turnoff so I asked the lady how far the summit was – I think she thought I meant how high, so her answer made no sense to me and I continued walking.

The summit was actually just around the corner – maybe a few hundred yards. It had a large flat parking area and only three or four campervans there, including the Belgians we’d seen before. I took a couple of pics of the place, then hoofed it back down the hill to let Colin know – we quickly made the decision to move so packed up the table and chairs. Just before we left I jumped out of the campervan to go to the back to check the door and in trying to avoid some large weeds that were right beside it I managed to get my left ankle tangled in a blackberry vine. Pulling to free it was not the thing to do – it just made it tighter. I now have a nice ring of bleeding scratches and little cuts around the ankle, and they sting too.

What an excellent place that we moved to – I think it’s a parking area for hikers as there are trails all over the place. The Belgians were happy to see us – had a couple of nice chats with them. One of the ladies gave me an antibiotic gell for the bites on my arm – I still couldn’t find my cortisone cream and none of the pharmacies in the towns we’d gone into had been open.

I took the doggies for a walk up the hill to the east – you can see so far in every direction and it’s all one beautiful vista after another.


In the evening we heard cow bells coming very close so I went outside to investigate – a rancher in a car had come down one of the trails that I’d taken the doggies for a walk on, and got out with a big bag – he threw down a couple of handfuls of large kibbles and the cows ran for them. Who needs a dog for herding when you have cow-kibbles?

With the help of another guy that spoke a tiny bit of english I asked if the cows had names, but the farmer said they only had numbers. Then I asked why only two of them had bells on – were they the leaders, or the bossiest ones, but he said no reason, just that some do so he knows where they are. Then I wanted to know if they were milk or meat cows – he said ‘carne’ which I know means meat. I said they looked like they would be delicious and the other two guys agreed then we all laughed.

Woke up in the middle of the night to one of the dogs burrowing into my sleeping bag with me – it reminded me of Sly snuggling up and almost made me homesick for a minute. It was little Mo and she stayed with me for the rest of the night.

Got up shortly after 8 to a beautiful morning – clear blue sky, but on the chilly side. There were still only six campervans where we were, but more started arriving throughout the morning. I went for a walk up the hill a bit – we’re not very far from the top of the climb.

I saw the Dutch fellow that had been at the ITT the other day – there are now several of the same folks here that we met already.

The mosquito bites I got on my right arm the other day have really flared up – Colin thinks they might be horse fly or deer fly bites. They were only a bit itchy, but one of them is about 2 1/2 inches across with a much darker red bit in the middle with a blister type thing in the centre. Colin gave me some stuff to spray on it, then later some other stuff to rub on. Hopefully it isn’t infected and looks worse than it really is.

Partway through the morning a service car came by – they were scooping up the cow patties off of the road – the pooper-scooper patrol!

Took the doggies for a walk up the hill in the other direction – a nice quiet side road. More cars coming all the time. Had a nice lunch, then moved the table to the roadside to watch the action.

The cavalcade again came through very quickly, but this time I scored – 3 hats, a packet of olives, and a whole bunch of candies (that I gave away to the kids behind us).

At one time I counted over 50 cars in addition to 11 or 12 campervans in the area – I couldn’t believe how long they allowed cars and cyclists to keep coming up and down the road before the racers arrived.

I moved up the road a bit to watch the race – as usual it was preceeded by the helicopters and cheering from crowds below us.

I got some really good shots, including one of Contador – it was such fun! It took a while for all of the racers to pass in small bunches – probably 15 or 20 minutes from the first to the last.

I was just before a watering station so after the last racer went thru I walked up and asked an Orica Scott guy if I could have a bidon (water bottle) and he gave me one! I should have gone up earlier and asked every team’s guy – I could have a collection.

Colin took down the flags and we were on our way again in about 1/2 hour. We drove north to the coast passing out of Cantabria and into Asturia. They have a very interesting way of slowing down the traffic when you reach a village – rather than having a speed bump or two there’s a blinking yellow light with a red light about 50 metres further on. As soon as you slow down enough the red light starts to blink yellow so you never really have to stop.

Colin consulted his GPS for the nearest campsite and there was one only a couple of km away – right on the ocean. It was beautiful – all terraced and with lots of awesome tent sites.

We went down for a drink and to use the wi-fi, which was very slow. We actually stayed for dinner, which was just excellent – we ordered a starter of fried squid and then shared a main course of ‘cheek of pork’ – it was so tender and delicious!

Face-timed Dominic to let him know I was ok, but still would likely be out of touch for a couple more days, then went back to the campervan and read a bit before hitting the hay.

Had a really good sleep – got up just after 7:00 and went for a shower. Had to wait a few minutes for the hot to kick in, but when it did it was great, although it faded out a time or two it did come back.

The town of Villarcayo was larger than it seemed going by the map – many towns have the same size dot on the map but vary greatly in actual size. We stopped at a store to stock up on food, then headed back south a bit to get on the N232 again to go northwest via Soncillo and Reinosa. Passed into Cantabria, then drove on what was supposed to be an extra-picturesque part of road but could only see about 20 feet into the very dense fog. We passed many signs on the road describing the wonderful sights that we couldn’t see because of the fog.

Once we did get out of the clouds the countryside was very beautiful – fairly large mountains, lovely valleys, very green with lots of trees.

At one point there were some cows on the road – a large bull and a cow – didn’t seem the least worried or interested in us and they were not moving so we just slowed down and passed them by.

We drove as far as the top of the Collada de la Hoz, then back-tracked just a bit to the one wide spot we’d seen – not many places on any of the climbs to park a campervan, but even so we were the first ones there.

Over the next few hours several more campervans arrived – four of them were folks we’d been at the ITT with on Tuesday.

Finished the book I was reading – sleeping in the van again rather than the tent as it’s wet, rocky, and somewhat chilly.

Up nice and early so we don’t miss anything – beautiful clear blue sky to start, that rapidly changed to totally overcast. Saw the first Camino walker around 7:30 – he must have started very early, and they just kept coming – hundreds I bet thoughout the morning. The ones that arrived near noon were likely wishing they had left much earlier – the overcast had dissipated and it was starting to get very hot.

All of the police motos came thru twice – first around noon, then again about an hour later – probably about sixty or more, lights flashing and everything. Quite a few racers did a test run – got some good photos of Vicenzo Nibali and Michael Woods.

Colin ran into an English couple that he’d met at the Tour last year – the cycling fan world is small – they seemed like very nice folks and had a little visit getting caught up on each others’ news.

The cavalcade went thru very quickly, and threw most of their goodies on the other side of the road. I did get a couple of things, but it wasn’t nearly as large or exciting as the Tour’s.

There was a group of folks down near the bend below us that sounded like they were having a really great time – the kind you see on tv almost blocking the road, then running along with the riders up the hill, although I didn’t see any pink hair or orange tutus.

The first racer left the start at 1:32 and we could tell he was coming by the arrival of the helicopters.

First was the police heli, then the tv ones – the first rider got to us around 2, and then after that every minute or so, although sometimes they were closer together and two would pass at almost the same time, sometimes further apart.

I had found a really great spot to take photos from – not where I had originally staked out. It was on the inside of a bend near the top of a small hill and as the riders got near they all veered to that side of the road. I got some really great shots, but was frustrated a few times as well.

By the time Froome passed we had been out on the road for almost 4 hours in the blazing sun. As usual as soon as the last racer had gone by the crowd started to disperse – we were already pretty well packed up and were on the road within about half an hour.

We drove west past Logrono, then followed the smaller highway northwest towards Santander, intending to stop for pizza somewhere along the way. We did pass thru several small towns, but didn’t see much open for dinner, so kept going until we came to the town of Villarcayo. We saw a sign for a campground and decided that it would be nice to stop there so we could have showers, etc.

The campground has a bar/restaurant, but we ended up having pasta in the campervan, then going down for a drink and some wi-fi. The signal was very poor so all I did was face-time Dominic to let him know I’m ok but may again be out of touch for a few days. I didn’t bother trying to load any photos so the blog will have to wait – I’m going to be loading about a week’s worth by the time I’m at a place with a good enough signal.

Colin’s alarm went off at 7:00 and we decided that I might as well go into Logrono with him to get the van checked out rather than waiting by myself at the spot we’ve chosen to watch from.

Found the campervan place no problem – GPS is great and Ricardo did take us to it last night. He met us there at 8:00 in case Colin needed an interpreter, but the electrician spoke very good English.

Ricardo and family had gone to the airport last night when all of the riders arrived from down south – he has photos of himself with Contador, Froome, and a bunch of others. Apparently there were some press folks there but hardly any other fans and the riders were happy to pose for shots with them – I wish I’d been there!

The problem with the van was only a fuse (as we’d suspected and hoped) and took only about 15 minutes to change. One of the problems is that Fiat doesn’t always put the fuse box in the same place on every model so sometimes they have to search for it. Anyway it was quick and easy and not outrageously expensive. I took the opportunity to use the WC and I must say that for an autoshop it was a very nice one – I guess they cater to a more wealthy crowd and need to keep up appearances.

Back at the chosen spot there was another, large campervan parked on the road right at the entrance to the pullout, and several more arrived during the day. Camino hikers by the dozens passed by, many stopping for a rest after the very hard climb getting here.

I took the dogs for a walk down the hill, and it is extremely steep. We walked back up the road – several more campervans are down at the next bend.

Talked to a few of the walkers – one older couple from Calgary, whose son lives at the coast, and a group of four that were two Irish, one Canadian (from Courtenay) and one American (who did admit to sometimes saying he was a Canuck!).

There are some other interesting flag displays, and the folks down at the first bend have written a bunch of stuff on the road. The almost-full moon came up as the sun was going down – colours were spectacular – a beautiful end to the day.

Got up before 7:30 so I had time for a nice hot shower before I packed up the tent – it was soaked from condensation, but I folded everything up and put it all in the wetbag. Headed to the village of Cerezo de Rio Tiron, where we met some friends of Neil’s friends – Colin had met them a few weeks ago in Mansle and they live in Logrono and have a summer house in the village. They are Ricardo, his wife Christina and their daughter Lucy (Lucia). Ricardo is a teacher, and is also very interested in cycling and the cycling races. The ITT of this year’s Vuelta ends in Logrono, so he’s going to help us find a spot along the route to watch from.

We had a really nice walk around their village then sat for a drink at a cafe before going to their house for lunch.

They have a black and white cat named Daisy and she seemed friendly enough to me until she smelled the dogs on my hands – then she hissed and pulled away. I’m not used to cats that don’t like me.

Lunch was excellent – tomatoes with garlic, prosciutto, chorizzo, and some kind of mushroom with bacon (or something). The main course was very tender and delicious lamb in tomato and red pepper sauce.

After lunch we took a short drive to another village – Sajazarro (?) which was voted one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. Hardly any cars are allowed so we parked outside and walked in. It was lovely – a really nice park, a castle (now privately owned) and flower-decked winding streets. One of the streets is so narrow they have a sculpture of two arms reaching towards each other and almost touching.

Had another drink at a cafe there, then followed them back to Cuzcritta, where they collected the cat, and returned via a different route back to Logrono.

After they dropped the cat off at their place in the city they led us past the campervan service place that hopefully will be able to fix the blown fuse tomorrow morning. Next they led us out along the ITT course to a place that Ricardo had scouted out as an ideal spot for us to park it for 2 days until the race. It is perfect – at the top of a small hill and at a curve – we’ll be able to see the riders coming one-by-one straight at us. It’s also right on the Camino route – there’s a couple of benches for the hikers to take a rest on, as they come up a very steep hill right at the spot we’re at.

The family left us there – we’ll see them again tomorrow as it’s a rest day for the Vuelta and the riders will all be testing out the course and getting ready for Tuesday. Spread out all of my wet camping gear hoping the black clouds overhead don’t open up and soak it all again.

We decided it might be best if I didn’t pitch the tent tonight – there’s really no flat space, and what there is is covered with thistles and ant-hills. We re-arranged the inside of the campervan so that I have my sleeping space and Colin and the dogs have theirs. I woke up a couple of times in the night to the sound of rain on the roof – just as glad to be inside.

It’s a good thing I went to sleep so early – when I woke up at 12:07 am to visit the WC it seemed that almost the entire camp was still up. A hoard of young girls were congregated at the entrance, sitting all over the steps and inside on the counters. When I left I actually had to say excuse me to get one of the little brats to move so I could go down the steps. At the same time another woman was trying to get in and had the same problem.

I had just gotten settled back at the tent again when the singing from the bar started. It sounded like a bunch of drunk men singing an anthem, or maybe a football club song – over and over. It would be quiet for a few minutes, then start again. It might have been different songs, but kind of sounded the same to me – very loud and a bit out of tune. I think they must have finally packed it in around 1:30.

When I did get up just after 7:30 it was a beautiful, if cool morning. I did yoga then had a nice breakfast inside the campervan. I rode into town around 11:30 to get a haircut. The town is on one of the main routes of the Camino – there are hostels everywhere, and folks with walking poles all over the place.

I had looked up on ‘google translate’ how to ask for a haircut (and written it down on a flash-card), so I would be understood or if I had to ask for help finding a place. I did find the salon that I’d looked up online, but the lady indicated she was too busy. She did, however, try – without speaking any English – to direct me to another place that might be able to help me. I rode down and around a bit, then found the other salon on the main street. That lady said she couldn’t help me right away, but then wrote down ‘12:45’ and I understood that if I came back then she’d be able to fit me in.

Rode back to the main square and sat outside drinking an 80 cent glass of local red. Popped across the street to the market in case it closed for a 3 hour lunch, then back to the cafe to finish my wine. There was some sort of running race happening – they had barriers up and were stopping traffic as runners came thru – men and women.

Got back to the salon in time to look thru a couple of hair magazines. I picked three pic’s of possible cuts and showed them to her – I told her (using gestures) that I wanted it very short and that the colour wasn’t good any more, so she chose one of the cuts and got to work.

It might be the shortest my hair has ever been – most of the faded purple colour is gone and the top now blends in with the sides and back.

Rode back to the campground – Colin says the cut looks ok. We went up to the bar just before 3 and got them to put the Vuelta on the big screen for us. Several Spanish men also watched, but none of the boys that were there were interested – they were all absorbed with their various screens – phones, ipads, whatever.
When I went to do the lunch dishes I tried to turn on the light above the sink and it wouldn’t go on – Colin discovered that we had blown a fuse (trying to power up all of our devices while we had electricity).

Later on in the ‘wi-fi area’ of the bar I managed to spill a whole glass of wine all over the table and floor – without breaking the glass. I went to the bar and tried to tell the bartender but he didn’t understand – he pulled out his phone and when I repeated what happened into the phone it translated it. Spillage cleaned up in no time.

I wanted to go for an evening swim, so got into my suit and headed to the pool – gate locked. A group of folks were outside the bar, which is right next to the pool, and they told me it was 8:30 and the pool closes at 8 – rats – no swim.

Stayed up reading for a bit, and eating peanuts and chips – light out a little later than the last few nights.