Santander to Perpignan - Tour Daily

Day Two.

That large inflatable mattress I've brought work a treat, woke up feeling nice and warm in the morning, with the tent enveloped in a pastel green light, I slowly packed everything away as I get dressed, the great thing about riding into the camp site at night is that you have absolutely no idea what the surrounding area look like.

I was not disappointed.

Jagged peak in all direction, trees look like tiny brunched up kales next to it, right at that moment I am glad that I decided to ride straight out of Santander instead of camping there, the morning would not been as lovely as this.

Riding through Northern Spain somehow remind me very much of England, it even smell like it after the rain last night, a bit disconcerting after the last time I was in Spain, I was riding through a desert.

I have no plan on where to stop next, the idea is to simply eat up the kilometres as much as possible, all I know is that I've carefully plan the route so it'll avoid large town/cities as they can be a complete pain in Spain.

Feeling a little deflated this morning due to the landscape (and climate) reminding me very much of England in the spring, this soon change as I head further toward Basque Country and seeing the mountains in front of me, the road start to get wider and smoother, because of the Autovia ahead of me, it remain lacking in other traffic as I ride alongside it.

You know, I’ve noticed just how late we (the UK) have gotten into this MAMIL games, it’s very obvious that they have been in this games for a very long time by their kits pre-date the Festina era, and sometime with matching bicycle that also follow the same era with a stupidly big chain set that only those with EPO can successfully propelled themselves up the mountains at 40km/h without breaking a sweat, they’re less douchbaggery compare to the UK, with bicycles that actually look like they're slightly well looked after with chain not being completely soaked in black tar, the sun-faded jersey that lost it’s fluro that hitting the coast like a storm here, and none of those club attitude of being better than anyone that may or may not have two wheels under them.

They're great fun to ride with, I think they endure me because I look like a fucking train coming up from behind and able to ride behind my slipstream, as one guy managed to slip the word “snowplough” when trying to converse with me in broken English, it doesn't matter really, in my experiences, body language count a lots, you'll know a genuine person by their body language before they open their sorry mouth.

30km in an hour, gotta be a record.

I found myself through a forest, pine trees started to show up, my favourite kind, following by my favourite scent from the pine itself, they’re intoxicating and I swallow every gulp of that fresh air, it felt warmer and drier, I noticed that there’s a small lake called the Embalse de Albina, it look fantastic with a cool light red sandy beach, it would be amazing to camp there, but with lack of food, and still too early, I pressed on.

It was getting hillier, but I was riding through valleys, great way of riding quickly, not so great when you realised that large town are usually on the valleys, cue lots of start/stopping trying to head to the correct route and carefully avoiding the Autovia.

After passing a handful of time, I notice it was getting late, there’s no chance of a camp site within the vicinity, best course of action is to simply book myself a room at the Hotel Ongi Etorri in Onati, €32 including breakfast is a steal.

Freshly showered, explore the town, couldn't find a restaurant that’s open (very odd), end up getting some food at a bar instead, ate too much and paid too little for the quantity, all I can remember about this town is the wonky church window.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5880056

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