The clue is in the name….
My birthday consisted of 14 hours in the saddle with side orders of snow, freezing fog, blazing sunshine and then the darkness.
The snow looked quite pretty when it started falling but we are in the real mountains now and snow means trouble, especially when you are travelling super light and only have just enough clothes with you for the journey.
Freezing cold and already very tired we had no choice but to press on, the best thing to do was to lose some height and quickly…
As the snow eased off and we entered the swathes of freezing fog on our way down the mountain, my back hub started playing up so even though the quality of the tracks had improved we couldn’t pick up the pace for fear of irreparable damage to my bike….we were less than half way through our route for the day and the cold was sapping our strength.
A silence of grim determination had fallen between us when the magical restaurant full of enticing smells and piping hot radiators appeared through the clouds, our host, a very welcoming if slightly inebriated camarero met us on the road just when we needed him…
Well fed and with renewed determination we began the long and winding slog to the refuge at the top of the next mountain.
Just when we thought things had started to improve we were greeted by tracks so steep, rough and loose we struggled to walk them. Progress was painfully slow.
By the time we reached the refuge, Cap De Rec, our home for the night, it was long past darkness, I was too tired to eat and the obligatory bottle of wine that came with our food went untouched.
We were greeted by snow storms this morning (1st May) so the forces of nature have given us a day off.
Gez is currently outside beating my back hub with a wooden chair leg in the absence of a hammer. We plan on resting here today and eating as much as we can until morning when the forecast is significantly better…
With well over 100 miles of track under our belts already we are well on our way to the west coast of Spain and most certainly not beaten yet.