What a difference a day makes

Day 12 - Thursday 16/09/2010 - Dos Torres to Fuente Palmera - 78 Miles

Before writing about today, I'll finish off last night, we ate at the hotel, where the food was excellent, but Tim F made a bit of a boo-boo in ordering Paella for 5 people, he thought he was ordering them as starters but it turned out we got full portions, so the T-bone steak I had for the main course was just a bit to much. Given the Spanish tend not to start taking orders until well after 9, I left the table at around midnight, some others (not mentioning Tim S and Guy by name) did not get to bed until nearly 1am.

Starter ??

Main course ??

Anyway, this morning we woke up to find it was raining, in some ways this was a good thing, as it meant the temperatures would be lower, but it also made the roads somewhat treacherous, especially in Dos Torres, which had cobbled streets with what looked like marble tiles on the edges.

As today's ride was only 78 miles (many of us never thought we would say that), some of the group planned to start later to give the rain time to clear, but I decided it would be better to get off earlier to avoid the heat when the sun came out, as there was bound to be a lot of humidity as well.

Brown bear was ready to go, so we rode very carefully out of town an onto the main roads, it was raining very lightly, but the roads were wet, so instead of riding close behind each other, we kept half a dozen bike lengths apart to try to keep out of each others spray, as we did not want to get dirty - much use that  did !!!

Sorry nice sponsors - I will wash it properly soon (O:)

After a while, we came across Dave P, Jamie, Pete, Barnaby and Roger on a long climb, we carried on past them, picking up Roger. It started to dry out and we were able to start slipstreaming, I led for a bit and then Roger took over, he was immense, dragging us along for around 8 miles at 24 mph!!

Roger dragging us along at 24 mph

The first stop was originally at 30 miles, but Mike Spencer had passed it during his 200km ride and found nothing there, so he had suggested a service station a mile or so on. We saw the service station, but it was on the other side of the highway and we could not see a way over, so we carried on to Cordoba.

To get to Cordoba, we had to do some steady climbs (undulations as Brown bear continues to call them), but this time there was a payback, 6 miles of downhill!! The road surface was brand new, so new that the lines had not been painted and the workmen were still there, at one stage directing us t the left side of the road. I was in the tuck position, staying as low and streamlined as possible to maintain my speed, travelling through the road works a 35mph, way above the 40kph limit and not being passed by any cars.

There was one slightly hairy moment when I came across a new layer of asphalt that was slightly higher than the surface I was on, so I had to hop the bike to jump it over the join and limit any bumps that might damage the tyre or wheel.

After a while I could not hold the tuck any longer, so I sat up but still was going well over 30 mph. I'm afraid there are no photos of this as I was focused on keeping the bike in the right direction.

Any doing what he does best !!

Once down the hill, we turned into Cordoba and looked for the lunch stop, it was around 12:45 and there was no van, we found a plaza and Brown bear found another puncture!! We called the van to let them know where we were, they were still at the first stop so Roger went to get some fruit while I helped Andy with his puncture.

Norm, Pam, Ian and Scott turned up and got directions to a local cafe, we could not go with them as Andy had not quite finished his repairs, we set off a couple of minutes later but were unable to find them and did not know any of their phone numbers, so we decided to carry on, stopping at a garage to top up on water.

While we were there I got a call from Hannah saying the van was now at the lunch stop and checking where we were. I said we were carrying on and would see them at the hotel.

The run to the hotel was only 27 miles, we were riding alongside a river, so it was relatively flat and we were ruising along at just over 20mph, the scenery was nice and we passed a number of cotton fields, not something I've seen before.

We turned off the main road about 5 miles out and hit some rather nasty hills. Up until now it had been overcast but now the sun was beginning to break through and we got hit with the heat and humidity, Roger and I took it easy but Brown bear seemed to revel in it, charging up the hills as if his life depended on it.

Once over the hills we rode into town and found the hotel at around 3:15, we checked in and then went to the bar for lunch and drinks while we waited for the van or other to arrive.

At around 4:30, Norm, Pam, Ian, Scott and Steven, who had joined the group at lunch time following a relaxing morning after the 200km ride with Mike, arrived, by now the sun was fuly out and temperatures were well into the high 30's. The van turned up half an hour later, with the rest of the coming in over the next hour or so.

This is the hotel I'd arranged, thanks to the assistance of my friends as La Quinta Club, where my family and I go on holiday each year. There were a few towns where the travel agents the organizing team were using had been unable to find accommodation, I asked Laura and Angel if they could help and they were able to use their contacts to find this hotel. As such, I was a little worried in case there were problems with the hotel, but it's fine, not as grand as the one at Dos Torres, but the rooms are clean and the staff friendly.

The hotel, adorned with Inspired Living laundry

Only two more days to go and we will be in Gibraltar. Each time I look at a map to see where we are, I find it hard to believe what we have (or are about to) achieved. It really does show that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and the support being given to us by everyone really helps push us on.