Another month. Another cycling tour!

Here we go again. Only 2300 actual cycling miles to do in 3 weeks. The Cyclists says he feels fitter than when he left for Corsica and the Le Tour. The Sports Therapist has been working hard on his legs to get rid of those lumps in his quads. I bet she wasn’t using menthol massage gel, ha ha! I have brought it again so I will have to be careful not to go too high!

This is the last ever The Cyclist will attempt a Grand Tour so we will have to relish all of it. I have always wanted to see the Atlantic coast of Spain as it is supposed to be magnificent, plus we will see deep inland Spain all down the Portuguese border and that isn’t something many Brits will ever do.  It will be traumatic though I’m sure. The journeys are horrendous. It is with heavy hearts that we do this though as when we left Both MM_Scimitar and Mrs Chimney were very poorly. So we will be in regular contact and we know that we may not be able to finish this tour, but if that happens we will have had a good run and still done something extraordinary.
At the port last night while we were waiting to board I text some of you about a dilemma I had about what to do with the £20 of on board spending P&O had given us (to compensate for our delayed crossing I assumed). Anyway, The Cyclist had said to use it for food on board when I had thought a new Benefit mascara or wine. Of all that joined my text dilemma only the sensible Physiologist said food. Everyone else (who were all female incidentally) agreed with me. My favourite comment was from Angel Boo who said that I could go for either wine or mascara as both made people look better. It made me laugh any way. On board we decided that we would eat at Buffalo Grill the other side so off to duty free I went. Practically skipping. However I was only to be disappointed as they didn’t have the mascara I wanted and I decided that I would do better to get any wine from a supermarket on the way down or in Spain. So what to do with the vouchers? I got a nursery rhyme book for Bambino and some Alien perfume for me to complete my Thiery Mulger collection of fragrances.
Our route to the northern Atlantic corner of Spain includes a stop over just south of Bordeaux. A cheap and not always cheerful Premier Classe.  In France the air con wasn’t working when we really needed it and visa versa. However at the moment the car is acting like a green house as it feels warm which is a contradiction to the outside temp’ which the car says is 18C. On the plus side there is likely to be a Buffalo Grill. One thing is for sure, there won’t be any in Spain. So although we ate at Buffalo Grill last night just off from the boat, I will recommend we do it again. For one I don’t have to cook and secondly he won’t have a steak again for a while.
We have three big bottles for carrying water. Two 5L and one 8L so all I need to do is make sure that he drinks more when it gets hot. That is not easy believe me. I have bought blinds for this journey. One for the rear window, one each for the back doors and one of those silver reflective ones for the windscreen for when we park up. I am hoping it will help the cart keep cool.
The Cyclist is counting the amount of Dacia Duster’s he sees. What’s that you say? It is France’s favourite vehicle judging by the amount on the road. I can’t say I have ever noticed any at home so they must be more inconspicuous than our little taupe Meriva.
As we headed right to the centre of Paris (don’t you just hate sat nav’s) we are on the N1 that goes through Saint Denis. The temperature has climbed to 20C outside but it sure feels warmer in the car. Anyway, there is some major re-generation going on in Saint Denis, not least the new tram network in the middle of the road. I still wouldn’t want to stop long though. At least we didn’t end up literally going through the centre, just the Peripherique Interior.
Just outside Tours the temperature climbed to 25C. The Cyclist wants to get the MPG to 45 so I have turned the air con off to help, though when it gets there it will go back on. I may even put it on while in Spain. I haven’t before to help save fuel, but if it is as hot as I think it will be, then on those days I will give in. However when I jump out of the car to take photos I will feel the heat more wont I? Mmmmm.  At 1.30pm and after 5 solid hours of driving I thought we could do with a leg stretch. Neither of us are hungry for lunch etc and we could just keep going for the last 360Km, but I know we will feel it worse when we do stop. Getting old sucks.
Before I list just a few of today’s soundtracks, I want you to know that I still have all of your chosen tracks for France. They will come up as we do our many many miles. I have to say that it is under promise only that I will let that Blurred Lines track play, as chosen by Angel Boo. It is repetitive and after about 30 seconds I have had enough. The soundtrack on the journey down is coming from the iPad not the iPhone. It has over 1000 more songs so I am hoping it will stop the cyclist from moaning that he has heard them all before. And I bought 5 new albums (2 x The Mavericks, 2 x Lissie and a Summer BBQ compilation) plus a few other tracks I wanted. I know what you are thinking. The Mavericks! Yes yes, but I love Country and Western music. Bet you didn’t know that did you? Nor that I have a secret passion for Garth Brooks. Ha ha.
I can’t wait for one of my new tracks to come on. It’s Devine – You think you’re a man. Oh boy that takes me back to Thursdays when we always watched TOTP. I bet my Angels and Halo King won’t have a clue but everyone from The Physiologist (who’s also known as DrDave, so look out for him in my blog), will know exactly what TOTP is. As for the Devine track, who else remembers it?
Those were the days that you set your VHS or Betamax for certain times and if the timings changed you missed the end of what you were watching. How many times did that happen to you and how frustrating was it? Don’t tell me you had forgotten!
Journey Soundbites:
 Sweet Harmony – The Beloved
Shake that thing – Gwyneth Paltrow
Puppy Love – Donny Osmond
I predict a riot – Kaiser Chiefs
Time for Action – Secret Affair
I think of you – Sixto Rodriguez

4 Responses

  1. I remember the Betamax your dad bought and how it all went over to VHS and soon became obselete. With your music I only know Puppy love not good am I? Those buffalo grills look good, what will you eat in Spain then?

  2. Great to have the blog up and running so soon into your adventure. Rest assured, Kay, your passion for Garth Brooks is definitely no secret – lol!! And yes I remember Thursday nights – TOTP followed by Fame what more could anyone want….stay safe and I can’t wait to follow you both through Spain :0)

  3. Alien perfume – does that mean you will turn into a ginormous hissing acid dripping body ripping mother insect, or even worse – into Devine!!!
    TOTP didn’t get much more deviant than that except perhaps for Tiny Tim

  4. I apologise for the slow blogs. The Internet is nearly non existent. Yes we can sometimes get wifi but the connection with Telefonica is like BT 20years ago. It can’t take the traffic so never works. I am on the stairs at a god early time to do this as we have to leave at 6.30 for a 1.5hr jaunt to the start. Today is Weds and yes I will catch up with my blogs. Lots to show and tell you all. X