What a morning…! The ferry is at 11am so I departed the hotel at 9am. Well, tried to… It was raining so when I got to the garage I put on all my wet-weather gear, as the rain outside was biblical. Its a strange feeling when you and your bike are in the dry and you know you’ve got to go out into the rain. You almost feel sorry for the bike.
Starting the bike I trundled around to the huge exit door. Waited, waved and did all manner of things to attract what I assumed would be a the magic-eye but the doors did not open. Getting off the bike I went up to reception and asked about the door – and they said there’s a button on one of the support pillars. I went downstairs again and eventually found it (it was near the lifts…!) and by this time because I had all my wet-weather gear on, I was sweating like Prince Andrew at a Pizza party. After some anglo-saxon, the door was open and I was on my way – into the cooler air and the heavy rain.
The rain was truly heavy and the strangest thing was that the motorway into Bilbao was completely empty. Its like everyone had said – “I’m not going out in that, I’m staying in bed”. In a few places it seemed like the water was not clearing and the road surface was like a pond. After a little error of direction I eventually found the ferry port – look for the small yellow signs that say ‘PORTO’ – and found my way to the terminal. Thankfully there was a small café there. I only took 30 minutes to get to the port, so I had time to drip-dry and chat to some Irish and UK bikers who were also drip-drying.
At about 1030am they started calling forward the vehicles – motorbike first – and before long the bike was secure and I was in my cabin, removing all my wet riding gear and getting warm, wondering whether it was worth going up-top to say goodbye to Bilbao. I did, but fortunately there was a covered area near the funnel so I waved bye-bye to Bilbao as we sailed out to sea. And yes, it was still raining…!
