Up at 5am this morning to complete all those tasks that get “concertina”d in your schedule before any holiday – or was I just excited to get on the road? The Ferry is not until tomorrow evening, but I hate rushing and was worried about being held up on such a long drive, so I decided to head down to the South coast today, just in case. I had packed most of what I needed yesterday so was good to go just after midday. I still haven’t mastered the art of identifying the bare essentials, so I’ve brought an overflow bag with me to leave in the car at the Ferryport, and will have another critical look at what I have in my pannier bags tomorrow to see what I can leave behind.
The dullest part of the whole trip is over. I’m now holed up in nice Fuller’s pub/hotel (The Hampshire Hog) just off the A3 a few miles North of Portsmouth and have been “carb-loading” on Fuller’s ale.
I eased off the training in the last few weeks: having done 2 consecutive rides of about 50 miles a few weeks ago, I’m fairly confident I can cope with most of what is to come. Our experience last year was that we felt increasingly fitter as the ride progressed. The hardest days are mostly this week: I’ve got a short 20miler off the ferry on Wednesday evening to my first stop at Ajo, with a decent climb at the end, after which the phony war is over. I’ll be riding 60 miles to Bilbao on Thursday along the hilly Basque coast-line, then after a day’s sightseeing (OK – I know it’s a bit soon for a rest day, but I want to see the Guggenheim and find some souvenirs of the Butcher of Bilbao – how do you spell Goikoetxea?)…
… I’ll be heading to San Sebastián near the border on Saturday, then a 116 mile hike North up the French Atlantic coast. I’ve been obsessively checking the BBC Weather App for the various locations I’ll be at on the route. Looks like I’ll be getting wet on Saturday and riding into a moderately strong northerly headwind all day Sunday.
Maybe I should go back to the bar for another pint.
The Trick Cyclist 