Real Gone Kid Having arrived a little late at the start, Nick made up for it by leaving a day early. There was a tear in my eye as I waved him off...then I realised I could take his bedroom. This was particularly welcome since Plum's snoring was so bad last night I ended up sleeping on the sofa. Not Fair The Spanish do not appear to have any concept of 'weights and measures'. In Blighty we have rules about such things and people to enforce them. If you buy a pint it will contain 20 fluid ounces....or if it doesn't you are required, by law, to make a sarcastic comment to the barman. Something like "could you fit a scotch in there?" is traditional. Because Malaga is an area with many Brits, every bar offers a beer size called a "pinta". If you are very VERY lucky this may indeed be a pint but usually it is just the biggest glass they have, which could be anything from about 40cl upwards. You won't ...
We plan our trips, as far as is practical, to enjoy decent weather but this is never a given. A bit of rain is to be expected, and nothing to be afraid of, but the forecast for Lisbon was wetter than a wet thing. Faced with the prospect of finding shelter for building our bikes then 20 miles of sub-aqua cycling to our hotel we resolved to get a taxi. Arriving into Lisbon, there was a noticeable absence of rain so figured we might as well revert to plan A and cycle. The promised long queues for biographic data capture didn't materialise. Those cunning Portuguese had found a way round the problem...they didn't bother trying. As a man who has been preparing his stool sample for several days this was a bit of a disappointment. Finding a good spot to build the bikes is always a challenge and today we came up with a corker. We hauled the boxes off the oversized baggage belt and built them right there. This created the tantalizing p...
On paper today looked like an easy one. Unfortunately, we didn't ride it on paper but on tarmac...into a sodding great headwind. 55 miles, 2800 feet and the option of a 6 mile saving via a shortcut all seemed very doable but today was our 12th consecutive day of riding and the toll is starting to tell. Then there was the bloody headwind...forecast as 10mph but actually more like 15 with gusts to 20. The decision to take the shortcut was taken before we were even out of sight of the hotel, but it was still a hard ride. The highlight, in a day that badly needed one, was a sensational descent through a gorge. This was especially gratifying because we would have missed it had we not taken the shortcut. We are staying in Montilla Del Palancar, a farming community where it is much easier to buy a plough than pint. We have played Check-In Charades and are settling down for the usual 5 hours of drinking before dinner is s...
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