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Legs of mahogany and arse of rhino hide
Did you take a photo of yourself before you left? Would be interesting to compare with when you get home. Might even persuade some of us out onto our bikes
Of his legs or his arse ?.
The pics are not really a good advert
Leaving home fresh faced and keen
This morning. Broken hungover old man i dire need of coffee a haircut and a shave
dire need of coffee a haircut and a shave
That's the day sorted then.
That Shand looks a good solid bike.
If you don't mind me asking,how old are you Jeremy?
60 when he started, 120 now 🙂
Lolz at weeksey. Thats what it feels like
Im 61
The shand has been great much to my relief having spent 10x what i have ever spent on a bike before. Not one thing has gone wrong with it bar a quick link broke and the cranks creaked a bit until I tightened them. That was my fault. Also the bike has been really comfy.
Well Paula said " come with me to walk the dogs" what she didnt tell me was it takes over 2 hours over the local mountain.
Lovely view tho
Managed to get everything sorted out today. Got a hire car to go visit some other pals on Saturday ( too far to cycle in the time available ) and also got some walking shoes and a stick for not too much for the walking we are going to do next week.
I cannot believe that its all come together
Still not sorted out how to get home. Ill deal with that next eeek
Looking decent for 61 I should of thought.I can't see much difference in how you look compared to the starting photo.
I weighed myself today. 11st 10lb. Before i did the Scotland test ride I was almost 13 stone. Thats the lightest I have been for 30 years
I made it to aguilla de compoo to meet up with my pals. Too far to ride so i hired a Renault misspelling
Needless to say beer wad involvef
Are you pissed? 🤣
Who me
My bed is ip stairs in my room. Difficult. The telly tuned on as i walked in. Its centuries olf building and i have been made to drink cognac
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.
I am disturbed by the wonky beams
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Ffs posting pics
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Arrgghhttps://i.postimg.cc/BvrxwvWP/20220917-232559.jp g" alt="" />
I give in. Between congac ans stw i ca
Nt post pics
Went to the spanish desert today
Good work posting that in what appears to have been a fair state of inebriation. Make the most of the warmth, it is freezing back in Blighty
Make the most of the warmth, it is freezing back in Blighty
Good point. You might want to just keep going
Still the best thread here
Last nights hotel was a beautiful old monastery
Im going to do some sightseeing today
I am disturbed by the wonky beams
😂
Stayed in a place like that in England once (the night before Dusk 'til Dawn IIRC) – beautiful property but couldn't wait to get out in the morning, away from the weird creaks, wonky beams and general lack of symmetry – made me feel slightly disorientated (and I wasn't even pissed).
Went to the spanish desert today
A contender for the Arrrgghh! My Eye! thread surely. Can anyone else see the head of a slightly stern sand creature wearing sunglasses?
Edit: Think it may have been TwentyFour12 rather than D2D.
Seeing as i have a car today i drove up to a high mountain viewpoint 
Brilliant.
Are you sure you don't want to crash the 90 day Brexshit staying limit?
Im so tanned i fear being sent to Rwanda anyway without that
Top pic looks like heavenly Road bike territory. Zero traffic, acceptable gradient and smooth tarmac.
Lack of cafés might be a proplem though.
Are you in the picos
Paula said ” come with me to walk the dogs”
So another side effect of this long bike ride is that you've mellowed out about dogs?
Im not sure where i was. The hazards of allowing my pal to input into Google maps. I think i was looking at the picos. The climb was almost 2000m. I'm not riding a bike up there
Paula said ” come with me to walk the dogs”
So another side effect of this long bike ride is that you’ve mellowed out about dogs?
Paula had Tj under close control so the dogs were safe....
I've been adopted by Paulas two psychotic rescue dogs. I think they thought me a kindred spirit.
Have you had to carry any old injuries on your odyssey this summer tj.My body seems to be creaking and I,m a bit younger than you.Perhaps, being a nurse means you've dealt with health issues better than most.
Worst issue has been a bad case of betty swolocks🤣. Well you did ask
I had two different fungal infections sorted with the right cream. One in my builders bum cleft and one in the groin fold. Just itchy and nasty. Took a couple of weeks to clear each time
I've also had a couple of spots / boils on my arse which have responded to again the corect creams. I thought at one point the boil might be ride ending but the correct cream reduced but not eliminated the infection to the point i could contine.
Got a bit of tendonitis in my left arm. Doesnt hurt on the bike. Tennis elbow maybe?
Got a corn on my right big toe from pressure from my shoes. Thats down to my odd shaped feet.
A callous on my right thumb from the twist shifter . Too hot for gloves and sweat makes it slippy requiring a lot of grip pressure to turn it
So nowt very much and mainly a product of the heat. I do wonder if I would have been better not in lycra shorts for better air circulation. Clean pair every day.
The key thing to avoiding injury imo is riding position. Bars are sweptback and higher than the seat. The bike is really comfy. Low gears so i dont have to push hard at low cadence uphills
I do seem to have strained an adducter in my right leg driving the car over the weekend. Its 18 months since i last drove a car and a decade since i did 500 miles over a weekend. edit. I drove a car at Christmas but not far
No injuries prior to this ride that effect riding . I was in good fettle before i set off but do have an old rotator cuff tear that i need to be aware of and a dodgy back. Comfy upright bike again stops either being an issue
On long tours I carry an antibiotic cream from Amazon Yee hawww It's quite common to get folliculitus or similar. This clears it up in a couple of days.
I used chlorhexadine. Prefer it to random antibiotics.
The next bit of adventure starts today. Paula an I are catching a bus to Zubili then a few days walking on the Camino Santiago. Heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast on Friday so as ever plans subject to change🙄🤣
Meeting other pals in Zublini
Arrived at the hostel where we are all meeting up to discover its a town I passed thru 10 days ago and tbat we are going to be going to all the towns i have already been to. Oops. At least the walking route is different from the cycling route🙄🙃🤣
🙃
Ha! But you'll be sharing the experience with you pals this time which will also bring a whole new perspective.
Walking not cycling which help.
Im a bit concerned at the salad on the menu in hostel
I'd be asking where the burgers are!
Fabulous meal but nae chips
The folk im walking with
Is there a book somewhere in this adventure of yours?
Do you still tow a trailer when walking? 😉
Harry. I am in the process of writing two books. My winter project ( as well as going to the Yukon) is to finish them. It might get a chapter or two in one of them which will be about my last couple of years. That one is part written. The other is only in ouline form so far and is a guide to coping with ageing parents
tj that menu looks great , reminds me of cycling the camino many years ago
I’d be asking where the burgers are!
Benidorm
( as well as going to the Yukon)
Raises eyebrow.
Sounds fun.
Matt.
Polar bears snow up to your oxters and minus 25. What could go wrong? Its a bucket list thing to ride a bike on the frozen yukon river
Adventure it was. Nice walk today of about 13 miles into Pamplona. (Yes i was here a week or two ago) but we had no accomodation booked thinking it would be no problem. It was. A big conference of ophthalmologists had booked every room in the city. Lots of faffing around and we found a place a good few miles out of the city. Then we couldn't get a taxi. Arrrggghhh.
But then we got a taxi. The place we are staying in is cheap and lovely and we got a decent dinner with vino.
Once again the randomiser flipped from good to shit to great in a few hours
Saw a bloke walking with a trailer🤣
Its a bucket list thing to ride a bike on the frozen yukon river
I look forward to the pics...
Another great thread!
So looking forward to your future Yukon thread.
Also desperately in need of your advice on coping with elderly parents.
We walked back to Estella today. 20 miles and suprisingly unbroken. Lovely to be walking in tee shirt and shorts in tbe sunshine and the highlight was probably seeing vast amounts of mistletoe in the trees. Something i have never seen bofore.
Then we had to go by car to Logono as one of the posse had to catch a bus to Santander. Now at an official (???) Irish pub drinking beer and eating tapas
Is there a book somewhere in this adventure of yours?
Im disappointed to find theres no GoPro footage being released nightly onto you-tube. 🙁 This is the 21st century afterall.
Now at an official (???) Irish pub drinking beer and eating tapas
What constitutes Irish Tapas? I assume it's pretty potato heavy... 😜
Its also fiesta night
Its also fiesta night
Feria Del TJagain?
But what sort of glass is this to serve beer in
Its also fiesta night
Looks like a normal night on Calle Laurel. Great place - every bar has their own speciality tapas, particularly good where the big mushrooms with fried bits of serrano ham on top. And the eggs + chips butty thing.
Calle laurel
Those glasses are also used to serve about a finger of “tinto del año” ie young wine. For when you’re “poteando” from bar to bar. When I first came to Spain they cost 0.20€ each but I imagine they cost a wee bit more now!
Btw did you come across the drinking fountain that serves free wine for Camino walkers?
Apparently we are going there tomorrow. Im sure its a good idea
The bit of the Camino de Santiago that you're likely to be walking is a part of the Eroica Hispania, the 180km route starts in Haro then through several hilltop villages to Logroño and on to Santa Domingo de la Calzada, mainly on gravel tracks. I restored a Peugeot bike to do it last year only to have the event cancelled on the eve due to the organisers forgetting to get a police permit. This time of year is fantastic in La Rioja when the vines start to go golden brown.
I only got to do two days walking. The others had to go home.
Found the wine fountain this morning
Im disappointed to find theres no GoPro footage being released nightly onto you-tube. 🙁 This is the 21st century afterall.
Trouble is it’s more involved as the editing and engaging content creation(as opposed to look another mountain to ride over) sort of get in the way of the actual doing 🙂
I think the nicest compromise is using komoot and putting the route ,pics and write up. I’ve been following a random old German bloke doing a 3 month ride ebike and trailer and his pics routes and auto translated write ups are interesting as it gives you ideas for your own routes, places to stay etc.
Jeepers guys. Its hard enough posting pics for this old luddite.
Looks like i am going to set off again on the bike in a couple of days to meander slowly to Santander to get a ferry back to the UK aiming for the oct 3rd ferry
Don't worry, not much has changed since you left.
Im on my way home. Or at least i will be on Tuesday. Ferry booked Santander to Plymouth. Hire car booked in Plymouth ( but I have my doubts it will actually be there) I'll set off on the bike again on Tuesday to ride to Santander and the ferry is booked for oct 3.
Autumn has arrived here and its time to go home.
A few more days riding to report on.
Well I got one will be sad to see the end of these amicable and uplifting threads. Can you plan something similar next summer please. 👍
North sea to black sea following the Rhine and the Danube with excursions to transylvania and bohemia perhaps?
tjagain
North sea to black sea following the Rhine and the Danube with excursions to transylvania and bohemia perhaps?
Sounds good to me, I could be your support crew ready with a nice pastry and a well chilled beer 😉
Its a long time away yet.
I'm due to retire in either April or June next year, fancy some company?