Todays ride was 360 miles – and it was a slog. A boring, monotonous slog, but I got where I wanted to be on one piece, so life isn’t too bad. Reluctantly I left Carcassonne this morning. I wanted to stay a few more days but the campsite was closing today for the winter, which would have meant finding a new campsite. The nearest one I could find was about 20kms away but instead of packing-up, getting there and finding it was closed, I decided to head north.
It was warm and bright when I left the campsite but after Toulouse the rain arrived – and it certainly arrived with vigour. I had to get my waterproofs on, including my over-boots and wet-weather gloves because the rain was heavy and relentless. Spending a day riding through the rain is no fun. If the ambient temperature is warm – and it was – then quite soon you start getting warm: like a piece of chicken in a boil-in-the-bag. And then the rain starts to seep-in, down your neck, your crutch, and then your fingers. And then your visor becomes awkward to see though, both from the rain and sometimes when it starts to steam-up on the inside. The joy’s of biking.
At one point I stopped for fuel and went into the café to get a hot drink and a baguette – and when I walked in everyone stopped and looked at me. I was a drowned rat. When I peeled-off my kit and sat in a corner out of the way, there was a large puddle around me…
As I left France and entered Spain (again) when I got to Donostia-San Sebastian – the rain stopped…! I pulled-in to a garage and removed all my waterproofs as it was like living inside a sauna. While I was cooling down in my damp riding gear I then had to find somewhere to stay. Plan A was to go to a campsite to the north-east of Bilbao, but the weather forecast said heavy rain for the next few days so suddenly camping was forgotten and I needed a Plan B. I started looking online for a Hotel and found one for 100eu for two nights about 25km to the west of Bilbao. I could have gone to other hotels in Bilbao, but this one had underground parking and I didn’t want the hassle of having to unload the bike if I went to a city-centre hotel.
The Hotel is superb. The B&B Hotel Castro-Urdiales is brand-new, with underground parking, big modern rooms and most of all – it was warm and comfortable with a huge TV which would let me cast my laptop to it and let me watch movies from my laptop. Luxury. There is even a large supermarket across the road so I didn’t need to go far to get snacks and food. The hotel provides breakfast, but I still needed something for the day and evening. I’m so glad I opted for Plan B.
Because there is heavy rain tomorrow I’m here for two nights. I’m not going out tomorrow, so I’m going to stay in the hotel, staying dry and warm and languishing in comfort after a long ten weeks on the road. In two days it’s the 11am ferry to Rosslare, a quick dash up to Belfast during the afternoon and then the evening ferry over to Scotland – and hopefully I should be in my own bed…!
