Yet another TMAAT day in Spain and yet another campsite closed for our business. After our epic slog across the lumpy foothills of Picos de Europe we were both looking forward to a bit of smooth sailing in the evening with absolutely no “campsite closed” nonsense. Despite checking and double checking on their website (admittedly we did not book in advance or phone or email ahead) we are greeted with a very firm “No, señor” on arrival. I resist the urge to beg….thats not a pride thing it’s simply that he did not seem likely to budge.

Even though he has been abundantly clear there is no way we can stay he then suddenly suggests “apartmento?”. I was brought up never to accept gifts from strangers let alone offers of an apartment (I have often wondered how I might be kidnapped and trafficked, perhaps this is it?)

We have a quick TMAAT conflab….we are very tired and neither us fancy a night of wild camping (especially not me!) and a quick check reveals no other campsite options nearby. After a bit more tooing and froing language wise we establish that he is not in fact asking us to go back to his “apartmento” rather that he has one we can rent for the night for a bargain (IMO) 50 euros. The thought of sleeping in a bed again rather than a tent and having private wash and kitchen facilities …..well just sign me up!

We do a quick forage at the local shop and then settle in for pasta and sauce with mushrooms and some bread ….it really is amazing how even the simplest foods (albeit beautifully prepared by Marc) become unbelievably tasty when you are exhausted and hungry!

After a good nights sleep and some TMAAT (patent pending) porridge and banana we pack up and head off into the dawn (checking at least four times that we absolutely definitely have not left anything behind!!)

Having done all the route planning I have the advantage of knowing what lays ahead each day and today I know that means more of the same as yesterday (ie mostly hateful). The only key difference is most of the climbing for the day is packed into the first 40 miles so as expected we make very slow, painful and occasionally disheartening progress. When we pause briefly at a a supermarket to pick up lunch we reckon we are already about an hour behind the pace of yesterday.

Pausing only ever for a few minutes at a time to get out of the saddle, throw a banana at your face or (the very height of luxury!) a coke and sandwich stop, we keep peddling away, grinding out the miles and the climbing. The terrain is as expected / hoped for / fantasised about slightly less brutal in the afternoon. There is still a fair bit of climbing but it’s slightly gentler and more rolling and consequently more manageable. Our pace correspondingly also picks up and we make up almost all of the time lost in the morning. We would have caught up more but a truly horrific headwind batters us almost to a stand still for the last 15 miles of the day.

Eventually we do arrive, tired but pretty pleased with ourselves, at Camping Nosa Casa around 5pm. We tentatively roll up to reception which certainly looks open but we have been here before. There even appears to be someone behind the desk waiting to greet us, but again we have fallen foul of this cunning little trick before. “Hola” I say, which feels like a good place to start, “abierto?” The receptionist stares at me somewhat vacantly, slowly removes the cigarillo nestled laconicly in the corner of his mouth, licks his lips and slowly opens his mouth to utter his one word reply ………so tune into tomorrows exciting episode of TMAAT El Scorchio to find out what happens <cue Eastenders doof doofs, and scene!>