Alison and Alison and the art of re-tyrement

Distance 37 miles Ascent 865 metres Descent 1056 metres Temperature 16 degrees A pattern is developing at the start of the day. I get up and switch on the lights. The lights fuse. The water heater hasn’t been out of the bag for several days. We have developed strange powers. We cycle to the end…

Distance 25.5 miles Ascent 777 metres Descent 728 metres Temperature 13 degrees A relaxed start to the day as we had another lie in and heard the walkers leaving early. The Spanish grid is safe. We had coffee in the nearby cafe. As we set off on the climb out of Portomarín we spied a…

Distance 32.5 miles Ascent 676 metres Descent 1387 metres Woke at 7.00am to low cloud, rain, wind and temperature of 8 degrees. We decided to have a leisurely start but without the early morning cup of tea. Alison has said the water heater is now for emergencies only but am not quite sure what constitutes…

Distance 38 miles Ascent 1714 metres Descent 963 metres Temperature 15 degrees Water heater update. No tea in our room this morning but breakfast in the Hostal cafe instead. We are mountaineers. We followed Christophe’s route which took us up gradients so steep they were unrideable even for Level 12 cyclists. We spent a lot…

Distance 35.7 miles Ascent 814 metres Descent 1168 metres Temperature 20 degrees A lot more cyclists on the Camino now and we are enjoying exchanging stories as we go along. This morning two fellow bicygrinos staying at our hotel were mending a puncture first thing. A disappointing start to the day for them. Then a…

Distance 34.3 miles Ascent 392 metres Descent 350 metres Temperature 19 degrees Today started with a bang. Alison fused the lights in our Hostal bedroom whilst making us an early morning cup of tea. We made slow progress today as much of the route was on the walker’s unmade road. The bikes are unsteady on…

Distance 37 miles Ascent 298 metres Descent 318 metres Temperature 15 degrees It has been a busy day. On waking I gave Alison the good news that the weather was set to be fine. A pleasant 24 degrees, no wind and a 10 % chance of rain. Within an hour of leaving Sahagún the skies…

Distance 25.8 miles Ascent 219 metres Descent 216 metres Temperature 26 degrees A relaxed start to the day and we left our luxury hotel after 10.00am. Our departure was delayed as we had to do some emergency repair work to hotel furniture. Overnight a cold bottle of water had left a large watermark on a…

Distance 28.8 miles Ascent 228 metres Descent 192 metres Temperature 34 degrees We had three thunder storms today and found plenty of wreckage on the road. The locals rushed for cover whilst we sat under the umbrellas thinking how stoic we were. Then we had the thought that metal seats and lightening are not a…

Distance 32.4 miles Ascent 318 metres Descent 377 metres Temperature 36 degrees We rose at 5.00am, had a light breakfast and were on our way. We made our way out of Burgos with dozens of walkers just as the sun was rising. Everyone trying to beat the heat. The further we go along the route…