Apologies in advance….a longer, hillier and all round much tougher day means a slightly truncated blog entry today.

Given yesterday was Sunday in Spain (as it is everywhere but you understand what I mean!) we always knew we would struggle a bit to find food and so it proved. When we arrived at the campsite Sorraos we squidged past the partially closed gate and the closed reception to find ourselves a suitable pitch and then made our way straight to the on site restaurant. There then followed a good 15 minutes of pantomime language barrier before we managed to order something….in fact I think they had recently closed and it was only that they took pity on us that we got fed at all.

What we were not able to do throughout the whole of Sunday was find a supermarket open which means no breakfast in the morning!

Showered, changed and fed we settle in by the tent with a couple of beers snaffled from the now closed bar. Shortly afterwards a woman / senorita (look at me flexing my language skills) approaches and although we can’t understand a word she is saying she seems a teeny tiny bit ticked off. Once again Google translate comes to the rescue and we discover that she is in fact the owner and that we shouldn’t be here because the whole site is closed until June. Marc and I briefly exchange a “well that’s awkward” look and then just as I have finished typing “could we please stay here for one night” she holds her phone up to show in English, “you stay one night no problem” ….phew!!! We thank her profusely and ask how much it will cost and she again holds her phone up to say “is free for pellegrinos” which of course we mostly are! I have already forgotten that I have a bit of a hole in my head but this is another act of kindness that is starting to make me think that either people around here are juts generally very kind or they are taking one look at me and taking pity on the vulnerable old person who’s clearly had a nasty fall.

Eventually despite multiple distraction techniques there is no way of avoiding it anymore and we have to settle in for the first night of camping and as anticipated …it’s does not go well. To be fair it’s not the worst nights sleep ever but it’s certainly could have been oh so much better….and I feel that “Three Men and a Hotel” scans just as well!

To add insult to injury the alarm goes off at 6am and by 7am we are on the road ….we need to leave early as its a big day ahead of us.

The absence of a supermarket yesterday means absence of milk for tea and porridge and so we head off sustained only by half an energy bar each and a black coffee….what could possibly go wrong!

The route for the first three days in Northern Spain is pinched in between the coast and the Picos Europes (those terrifying spiky mountains you can see in some of photos. Fortunately we don’t have to climb any of them but if does mean there is still plenty of “bumpiness” to contend with!

Given we are existing purely on black coffee and health bars the second priority (after getting some miles done) is sustenance. We eventually find a small bar in the middle of nowhere and the owner is not only slightly startled by our arrival but also seems quite unhappy about it (I though about taking a photo of “Señor Smiler” but decided that was not very British. We did manage to cajole two coffees and an enormous bag of crisps out of him so that is breakfast officially taken care of.

It’s easy (actually none of this is easy but hopefully you understand what I mean) to get a bit complacent doing this type of thing ….we have cycled just over 135 miles so far and both of us are feeling good, retaining our sense of humour and still talking to each other. Today is a next level of toughness though…it is relentlessly and exhaustingly hilly and our pace is way down on what we managed yesterday and Friday. The voices of doubt start to get louder and louder “you are not going to make it, you are too old and you are too handsome to think you could manage this”. (I may have made the last one up!)

Inevitably, because we are TMAAT, we do of course make it and we limp into Linares after 82 miles and 5000 feet of climbing (in case you don’t know that is about 4900 feet more than is ideal or comfortable) , exhausted, hungry, uncommunicative but proud …..we can still do this.

The day ends with just the teeniest tiniest campsite snafu (a theme is developing already) but I will tell you more about that tomorrow ….rest assured we are safe and sound.

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far it really does mean so much to us. If you have not yet donated please take a moment now…we have a long way to go to hit our target and every donation really helps….thank you!