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.

Got up before 8:00 after a pretty good, long sleep – sun shining brightly in a cloud-less blue sky. Had a nice hot shower, then did yoga in the sunshine. The tent, fly and ground cover were all soaked from the condensation, so I spread them out to dry while I ate breakfast and had tea.

We got going shortly after 11:00 and headed to Logrono – not too far a drive. Just as we entered the city we saw a big truck with a dragon on the back going around the round-about and under an underpass – it slowed right down but did manage to clear it without damaging the dragon’s horns.

Experienced a bit of frustration in the city trying to find parking so we could go into the market, so we just parked on the street (as the locals do) and set in a course for the campground instead, figuring we would find another market somewhere along the way.

Passed more signs for the Camino de Santiago, so know that one of the routes is around here somewhere. Found the campground just outside the town of Navarrete – checked in, then immediately drove back into the town to get some food. The parking lot across from the store is actually a small bull ring that’s been paved over but the seats are still there – yuck. Returned to camp, setup my tent, then had a nice lunch.

Watched the last bit of today’s Vuelta stage on the big screen in the bar – next to a table of very loud girls playing a card game of some sort. Enjoyed the local red wine – 1 euro a glass. Stayed for quite awhile and ended up having mini-pizza for dinner – I had the ‘tropical’ which included pineapple and corn, and was very tasty.

Sat and watched a bunch of kids of various ages riding their bikes up and down on the paved strip that runs from the entrance past reception and to the far fence. The smallest girl we saw couldn’t have been much more than 2 years old and was going great (on a two-wheeler with no training wheels) until she tipped over and got a scrape on her hand.

Woke up in the middle of the night to pouring rain and howling wind. The rain eventually slacked off but the wind never quit. Just after the sun rose I thought it was going to be ok and everything would dry by the time I was ready to pack up, but then the rain started again.

Got up around 8:00 – rain had finally stopped again so I started to get ready to pack. Colin and I had a discussion over a cup of tea on whether or not we should stay another night, or continue on. We eventually decided that we might as well pack up and go, so I took the tent down and hung everything I could on the fence and the nearest olive tree to dry out as much as possible.

Went to the restaurant for a cup of tea, then back to see how things were drying. Thanks to the wind most of my stuff was ok to pack so I loaded it all in and we left Murillo de Gallego right around noon.

The whole area seems to have lots and lots of wind farms, and we passed a few solar farms as well. There also seems to be a great deal of various kinds of factory-type farming – lots of large covered barns that we guessed were chickens, although some may have been for cows. Didn’t look like any outdoor space for whatever they were.

Headed southwest to Ejea de los Cabelleros, then northwest to Sadaba, where we stopped for lunch in the shade right next to the river in the town. After we left Sadaba we continued northwest to Carcastillo, then ended up doing a little extra driving trying to find a campground for the night. Neither of us was overly thrilled with the first one we tried just outside Villfranca, so Colin looked up another one and we ended up going north to Olite. This one seemed better, so we decided to stay.

Most of the campground seemed to be permanent little cottages, some with very pretty yards, but we were directed to the very back, which was just a large field with two small buildings marked WC.

Setup next to a fence with bushes on the other side next to a small dirt road. The WC’s were nicer than they looked from the outside, complete with shower and plenty of hot water. There are lots of little white snails around – on the ground, one on the shower door, another on the WC wall, but there doesn’t seem to be a mosquito problem – I’ll take the snails any day.

Had dinner, then went to bed very early – it was still light out and I intended to read for a bit but was so tired I gave up and went to sleep. I think it was before 9:00 – the earliest in a long time.

We’re back in a land of church bells – no less than four separate bongings to tell us it was 8:00. I don’t think the village across the road is large enough for four churches, so maybe it was two churches ringing twice each – all at slight intervals. And the last one – at about 8:04 had five sets of 3 bongs – not sure what the count of 15 was about.

Had a nice hot shower then did yoga under an olive tree with the sun shining thru. Ate a leisurely breakfast, did dishes, then started out on our walk to the village under the red stone formations.

It was only about 4 km altogether, but the walk took us over an hour – it was downhill to the river, then across a bridge and mostly up from there. We climbed so high that we were looking down across the river to the campground as well as the village that’s across the road and up the hill from it.

The ‘Mallos de Rigos’ were even more impressive up close – although I must say I actually wouldn’t want to live there. At least there was a restaurant in the village of Rigos once you got up the climb – we had a small pizza, one cup of tea, one cup of coffee and a small beer – 18 euros (!). There are vultures around the peaks of the Mallos – they soar effortlessly on the uprising currents.

The walk back was much less taxing than the walk up had been – it actually looked much steeper going down than it had coming up. Stopped at the restaurant before the campground and had a nice cold bottle of water, then went up and did a bit of laundry.

Changed into my swimsuit and went down to the pool for a swim – it was very refreshing and not crowded. Awesome to float on my back and look up at the red rocks.

Joined Colin at the restaurant for a nice glass of wine before I went up to check how my laundry was drying. It was dry enough to get changed back into the shorts I’d washed, so I took the doggies back down with me to the restaurant – they’d begged me not to leave them – I couldn’t help it!

Came back to the campervan for a light dinner, then back to the restaurant for another glass of wine and more free wi-fi.

It rained, thundered and lightninged off and on all night long. The lightening was, I believe, sheet rather than fork (although I never poked my head out the of the tent to look), and the thunder was way behind it so I concluded it was fairly far away. The rain came and went – every time I thought it was going to stop I would hear it coming again – like a train in the distance that got closer and closer and then was upon you full force.

Everything was totally soaked when I got up, but I packed the tent, fly and ground cover up and just stuck it in one of my waterproof bags hoping I could dry it out later.

We were on our way right at 10 – as we left Dax there’s a large figure of local sprinting hero and Tour de France green jersey winner (in the sixties) Andre Darrigade in one of the many traffic circles. Traffic circles (round-abouts as they call them here) are really big everywhere in Europe, and many have arrangements of trees, flowers, statue, etc.

Headed southeast towards Pau, but turned off the main highway before we got there. Stopped at a road-side park for lunch – beautiful little pond and lots of trees in a very lovely valley in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

It was a nice day so we decided to keep going down into Spain. Went thru Oloron Ste. Marie then took the road over the peak of Col du Somport rather than going thru the tunnel, and passed into Spain somewhere near the summit. We did hit some rain along the way, but it wasn’t too bad.

Continued south to the town of Jaca then turned west for a bit thru very flat, dry countryside. It already seems very different here than the French side of the mountains – smaller, scrubbier trees and drier looking.

Turned south again onto a quieter road and after a bit came upon some spectacular red stone outcroppings and mesa – saw a sign for a campground and decided it looked like a place we could stop for a night or two. It’s a very lovely place in the middle of an olive orchard.

Spread my soaked tenting stuff out on the wooden fence to dry, then we went down to the restaurant for a drink – sat on the outside terrace looking across the swimming pool and on to the red rock formations – not a bad spot to relax! The wind started to pick up so I went back to check on my hanging tent gear – it was dry enough so I set up under an olive tree and went back down to the restaurant.

Colin left at one point and when he came back told me I better peg down the tent again – the wind had uprooted it and the only reason it hadn’t been completely blown away was that the campervan was in the way. He had stuck a couple of the pegs back in to hold it in place until I could get back and re-set it. Once I’d pounded the pegs in again and thrown all of my bags in to hold it down I figured it’d be ok.

Had a lovely dinner of steak with mushrooms and rice, then went back down to the restaurant for another glass of wine – very nice dry red, probably local. The wind had picked up again and the sky was full of black clouds so we moved inside the restaurant. There are lots of paintings right on the walls that are very colourful and interesting.

Back at the campervan we chatted for quite a while, then I moved back to my tent intending to read for a bit but was so tired I just turned my little light off and fell asleep.

Got on the road right after 11, just as planned. Stopped at an ATM for some cash, then gassed up the campervan and hit the highway. Went south past Angouleme, then continued south and west past Bordeaux.

Luckily there’s a by-pass around the city, and traffic coming north towards us was almost at a standstill at times it was so busy with Frenchies on the last week of their vacations. The countryside around here is very flat, but pretty – lots of fields and trees.

We stopped at Dune du Pilat, which is the largest sand dune in Europe and right on the coast – I caught a glimpse of part of it from the road and it looked huge, although it was swarming with people. We pulled into a large, very crowed parking lot, parked in partial shade and ate some lunch. We intended to go see the dunes, and I stopped at the loo on the way. Right after we got walking again we saw dozens and dozens of people coming towards us and both of us agreed immediately that we couldn’t bear to go any further – there were just too many people and we neither of us wanted to deal with it.

Got back on the road and headed south to find a campground. Colin had investigated before leaving home and all of the nearby campgrounds were fully booked, so we just kept going, all the way to Dax, which is southeast/inland. The temperature outside had dropped very quickly from 35 to 28, and it was looking stormy when we pulled in to Le Pins du Soleil campground.

Set up my tent immediately, then we walked down to the restaurant for a drink. The entertainment for the evening was ‘Adrian’ and he was just setting up – he sang to recorded music, along with a keyboard that he played. There is free wi-fi at the restaurant, and the receptionist had to help me get logged on – you need a phone to text the password into so we used Colin’s. I tried to face-time Dominic but there was no answer, then shortly after that I got cut off. I took that as a sign that I should just enjoy the atmosphere of where I was instead of looking at my ipad, so didn’t bother trying to get hooked up again.

It had started raining, although lightly – glad I put the tent up when we arrived instead of waiting until later.

Adrian was just beginning his first set when we went back to the campervan for a quick bite, then returned to the restaurant to enjoy the music. There were several tables of folks eating dinner, including a family with a birthday girl.

Adrian had a large list of songs you could request, and one lady chose a song and sang it for us – she was actually quite good. Two ladies at the next table took turns smoking very long cigarettes – its so unfortunate to be enjoying a nice drink outside (under canopy) and then be poisend by neighbours.

Colin spoke with Neil on the phone – it got up to 42 degrees in Mansle today so I’m glad to be a little cooler. Listened to the entertainment for awhile then went back to our spot – decided not to stay up and chat, so went directly to my tent. I was going to read for a bit, but started to fall asleep so turned out the light and hit the

Put on a load of laundry just after 10:00 so all my clothes would be clean for tomorrow, then Colin took me along on a scenic drive to deliver some welding equipment to a friend. She and her husband live in a beautiful house right on the river, and have four cute little dogs – I thought she was calling the smallest one ‘Kitty’, which I thought was pretty funny, but Colin informed me that it was actually ‘Kissy’ – still very cute.

We stopped at the lovely town of Aigre to have a cup of tea (for me) and coffee (for Colin), then picked up some more veggies from the mini market just around the corner.

The vendor that Colin knows that was at the Mansle market a few weeks ago was there.

Went home via the town of Tusson, where there was a large convent, only part of which still exists. Took my version of a selfie when I took a photo of the placque covered with glass that describes the place – a reflection of me is there.

Had a nice lunch, then relaxed a bit before going down to the pub for a drink. Came back for an excellent lamb-chop dinner with roast potatoes, carrots and green beans and watched the highlights of today’s Vuelta – Froome is not only still in the lead, but won the stage as well. I really hope he’s not using the Russian drug – I’m starting to like him and would be very disappointed if it turned out he was a drug cheat. Michael Woods of Canada came third on the day and is now 8th overall – yay!!

Watched highlights of the cricket test match between England and the West Indies – still kind of confusing, even though I watched a couple of seasons of IPL when I was at home.

A lovely morning in Mansle – slightly hazy but not yet hot. Went to the store with Colin to pick up some fresh veggies and a baguette – didn’t leave for a ride with Neil until 1:30. Colin and Neil had already mapped out a picturesque route for Neil to take me on so we knew were we were headed – or at least Neil knew and I just followed.

There were lots of little hills, but I didn’t have to stop other than to take on some water – it was very hot. We passed many fields of hay, sad-looking sunflowers with hardly any blossoms left, cows, corn, etc. Went thru the town of Bayers that has a chateau, but it was closed, so continued on to our destination which was the lovely town of Verteuil-sur-Charente. It also has a large chateau (with a new slate roof)), and is, as the name says, on the river Charente. There are several cafes right on the river so we chose one to sit and have a drink at.

The cafe was very relaxing and friendly – there was an orange cat lying next to a planter – looked pretty tired from the heat. There were also two very fluffy chickens running free – they looked more furry than feathery, even their feet.

The cat wasn’t as zonked out as he’d seemed – we saw him on the bridge trying to get to a bird that was on one of the bridge’s flower planters. There were also two old cars in mint condition – a green Citroen 2 cv and a red original Fiat 500.

I was very tired and Neil and I discussed if I should stay and have a cup of tea while he rode home and brought the van back to collect me. After finishing my glass of wine I declared that I would be ok and could make it back on my bike. He offered me an energy bar to eat before we left but I said I didn’t like to ride right after eating as it made my stomach feel sick so declined.

The bill for my glass of wine and Neil’s beer was rather outrageous – 12 euros! That’s just over $18, but I guess you pay for the location (and the entertainment). As we left we passed the orange cat that was now playing with a small snake – my bet is the cat was having a lot more fun and ends up winning the game.

Rode back by a slightly different route – a bit longer but with fewer hills. I ended up having to stop twice to push the bike up the last part of two of the final hills – I guess I should have taken the energy bar – I just had no strength left and my legs felt like rubber. I did make it home ok – we’d ridden just under 38 km in all, but the heat was intense and totally sapped me.

Had a quick, cool shower to rinse off the dripping sweat, then ate a small, late lunch while Colin and Neil went down to the pub for a beer. The pub is putting on a special dinner tonight – we had to put in our food choices a few days ago – Colin and Neil both got the mussels with fries, and I had chosen the chicken curry with rice.

It was a pretty fancy affair with two long tables with tablecloth and place settings already in place. Many of the folks at our table were Brits who lived in the area, so we did have other people to chat with. The Brits and Neil were all fluent in french and Colin can get by – I understood a little bit when the conversation was in french, but mostly they spoke english.

The chicken curry was delicious – boneless breast meat, and a little spicier than what I had at the ‘snail’ restaurant Colin took me to in July before I went to Worcester. It was a lovely evening, and we got back home around 9:30.

Today’s Vuelta wasn’t taping until 7 tomorrow morning, so watched a little bit of tv then went to bed at a fairly decent time.

I meant to get up nice and early so I’d have lots of time for yoga and a good breakfast before Neil came to pick me up at 7:00 for the drive to Cheltenham, but – either the alarm on my ipad didn’t go off, or it did but I slept thru it. So much for my plan!

I woke up on my own at 6:22 and immediately went into hyper-mode. Luckily I’d done all of the cleaning up and most of my packing yesterday so didn’t have that much to do. I really wanted a hot cup of tea even if I didn’t have time to eat much, but that didn’t work out either. I’d steeped the tea and stirred in the honey then went to fill it up with milk – but the milk came out in a slimy blob – it had completely turned overnight. I did gobble down the pasta that was leftover from yesterday’s lunch and made a quick feta cheese bunwich for later, and was just doing the few dishes when Neil arrived.

I quickly tidied up the kitchen, emptied the fridge of anything that wouldn’t keep, took out the garbage and brought the bike inside. I think I made Neil wait less than 5 minutes – we were on the road by 7:02, so not bad. I hate making people wait, and being in a rush, but all seemed ok so I started to relax a bit, even though Neil is a bit of an aggressive driver in addition to being on the wrong side of the road (ha ha).

The drive to Cheltenham didn’t take very long – had a nice chat with Neil along the way. He seems like a very nice fellow, and dropped me off right at the train station. I decided to catch the next train to Bristol rather than explore Cheltenham a bit, so went right in and got a ticket for 7:52.

The ride to Bristol also didn’t take that long – it seemed a much longer journey when I arrived on August 1 – maybe that was the milk run. I did leave the Bristol train station for a short walk to the river and around a couple of blocks, but didn’t want to go too far and maybe get lost. Also the full backpack and camera bag were quite heavy. The train station is actually quite nice – fairly big but not huge, with nice old scrollwork and lots of flowers.

Caught the shuttle bus to the airport and sat down at a cafe right in front of the Ryanair check-in counter. Finally got my morning cup of tea, then sat and ate the food I’d brought and logged in to the airport’s free wi-fi.

As soon as my flight was listed on the board I checked in at the counter and was okayed to go to security. Every airport must have slightly different rules or training – this time I didn’t have to remove my shoes, even though they have metal cleats, but they wouldn’t let me bring my saline solution. The bottle was too big, and even though it wasn’t full he wouldn’t let me take it – I hadn’t had a problem when in the same situation coming here from Limoges, but oh well – it was very cheap and I’ll just have to get another.

Had to run the gauntlet of all the duty-free shops to get to the waiting area – dozens of expensive perfumes, all of which smelled like mosquito repellant to me – I don’t know how anyone works there all day without throwing up from the overpowering stench. The Bristol waiting area is huge with lots of comfortable seating, as well as more shops and cafes. There was a Superdrug store so I immediately replaced my saline solution – had to use my visa card for 1.99 p as I had spent the last of my cash on a bottle of water.

We had to walk and walk to get to the gate – felt like we were walking half-way to France. Finally boarded and left only 12 minutes late. Unfortunately there were quite a few small children on the plane, but only one was extremely unhappy. He cried and screamed the entire flight – only stopped long enough to get another breathe from time to time. The father did all he could to soothe him, but little guy was having nothing of it.

Landed right on time, then trooped in to the passport control. I wasn’t too far back in the line so the wait wasn’t that bad. The couple with the screaming child came in very late – he still wasn’t happy so a security lady came over and lifted the barrier ribbon so they could cut almost to the front of the line – I let them go right ahead of me. I asked if the little fellow was teething, but the parents said no – he hates being restrained and just wanted to be let loose and run about. They were very nice and grateful to have been let to the front of the line.

The passport control guy took quite a while to clear me – I could see his lips moving as he looked at the various stamps in my passport and was counting to himself the number of days I’d actually been in each country. In the end he didn’t say a word and added his stamp to my growing collection and let me pass.

My welcoming committee was waiting for me right outside the main door – Colin and the very excited little ones. It’s much hotter here than it ever got in Worcester – felt like summer again instead of fall, which is what it seemed like for the last 24 days.

The drive back to Colin’s was nice and relaxing – driving on the right side of the road again and all. I was very hungry so snacked on chips while waiting for Neil to BBQ some burgers. Nice quiet evening watching taped coverage of today’s Vuelta. Got to bed earlier than I have in days – very tired.