After a night at the OK Coral – Stage 11

We slept in today and I didn’t wake until 7.30 but I had lay awake mulling the worries i currently carry, over and over in my head. The air con works here and as it was a lot cooler outside it became like a fridge inside. So when the Cyclist woke after 8am his first uttered words were about me being as quiet as a bull in a china shop and that he was in need of a sleeping pill tonight as he was too cold to sleep last night. This is from the same mouth that only a few days ago said our rooms were like sauna’s. We weren’t in a major rush so we went down for breakfast as it was included in the room rate anyway.

There was a 1.5hr drive to today’s start which was only a short time trial before a 3 hour drive to tonight’s place. We had to stop for fuel and who,e I was sent in to pay (another of my jobs that means I have to do the talking) The Cyclist got stuck into washing the windscreen. He was do enjoying it I just had to capture the moment with the joy on his face.
While driving I looked the The Cyclists hotel book.et that has the times from each hotel to the start and the time+ distance from the end to the hotel. There are some stinkers coming up. Real real stinkers. One of which is in 3 days time when we finish up a mountain in France. The worst though, as he was keen to point out, was of my doing. That is the final Stage 21 day into Madrid. There is a 2.5 hr drive to the start. Then we have to do the stage nay ends in the middle of Madrid (god help me!) followed by a 5.5 hour drive back up north to the coast by Bilbao. Oops.

The time trial was in Taragoza. Not to be co fused with Tarragona where we end tomorrow’s stage. When we got to Taragoza we couldn’t get in to the town as we were waved on by a policeman, so we pulled up in a car park on the edge of town. When the policeman waved us on there were dancing figures in the stress behind him. Also I saw a girl in a Spanish National costume get out of a car and head to the town. The Cyclist and I thought there must be some sort of Fiesta on and that we may get a chance to see it when we finish as today’s cycle was only short. He said he was going to pick his was to the start with the cycle and I was to get off on the route and wait for him a little way into it.

I did this and while I waited I spoke to Mrs G+T as she has been through something similar to what I now face. It wasn’t long before The Cyclist came down the hill behind me and I got the camera out to take a shot only to find it taking a video, so we ended up with 10seconds of The Cyclist zooming past and up the little bank. Off we go then. This village was directly under a damn. It seems to me that Spain has lots of damns inland ( well that explains their water supply) but they still let the villages beneath the damn be populated. One of the days in Italy finished where there used to be a damn, but it had burst Nd flooded the villages in the waters wake. Mostly school children of you remember the picture I took with the hundreds of names all pinned on flags along a fence where the village used to be?

This time trial headed up a mountain and into the trees which was lovely as all we had seen since leaving Costa Verde was baron dry lands. As normal there was nowhere to stop so I have to stop and put the hazards on if I want to take a picture. On the downhill I decided to video the Cyclist as it seemed like a nice track. That was until I followed him to a dead end wall! Still it was painted nice. Time for me to zoom out on the sat nav’s and find us a way out and we were soon on our way again.

When we got back to Taragoza we parked the car on the corners of a road where someone had just moved from, being careful not to revers over all the smashed beer bottles that were by the pavement. There were lots of men and women walking towards the noise of trumpet sounding things and they were all dressed in white with blue sashes and blue scarves that had embroidered crest on the back. I didn’t want to be long as we still have a long drive to tonight’s hotel with a long day after. We walked in to the town which was absolutely packed. Not being in white you stuck out somewhat, but at least my dress was blue.

There were people sat drinking outside bars, at picnic tables, everywhere in fact and there was a lot of noise. We kept hearing a bang like a gun shot. Rounding a corner we saw kids letting off bangers in metal bins to make the loud sound. Back to the car then and off again. Where we are is a lot further north as we are inland of Barcelona so the temperature is cooler too.

Our hotel tonight is a tiny apartment in a no horse town some 30Km from the start point. There is nothing here to see and the woman that manages the apartment block (which is residential rather than short stay) does not speak one word of English. She is smiley, which is unusual for Spanish, but totally mad. She knows we don’t speak Spanish but she keeps chattering away forty to the dozen, regardless. When we got ourselves sorted The Cycist did the first thing he always does, firing up the lap top. As there was a hob I made the Cyclist rice, fresh chicken and sweet corn for his carb loading dinner. He looked up Taragoza festivals and found that that one was a tomato throwing festival. A celebrity is dressed in a harlequin costume and as he is expelled from town he is pelted with hundreds of tomatoes. So why choose white costumes then? Or do they have better washing powder than us?

That is one of this weeks 6 rides done, so 5 to go before another rest day, that is a transfer again. I

2 Responses

  1. Surprised you haven’t learned Spanish by now!!

    Road to Nowhere – Talking Heads
    Blue Dress – Depeche Mode
    Car Wash – Rose Royce

  2. Funny you should mention Road to Nowhere! Look out for a road to nowhere video in my home page coming as soon as kyle has the minutes to load it.