Last night we did go to Buffalo Grill as I hoped. There wasn’t one within walking distance so we had to go in the car, which was not so bad as it meant that we could fill up with fuel at the same time to save doing it in the morning. To be honest I had suggested Buffalo more for The Cyclist than me and so I ordered a chicken salad, however when it came it had 4 half bread rolls with melted goats cheese on top but no chicken. The Cyclist was questioning whether I had not read the menu right so I kept quiet. When I paid at the till, I asked the guy if it should have had chicken. He said yes. I to.d him that it was lettuce, tomato and bread Fin. Sans Poulet. He gave me a 10% discount off the whole bill so I am glad I mentioned it. I also told the Cyclist to emphasise that I am not going mad as he suggested.

The plan was to leave shortly after 7am but I was so whacked after hardly any sleep the previous night I just couldn’t get up when the alarm went. I. Fact it was 6.40am when I finally got out of bed. The result was a start at 7.10am and a whole lot of grief from The Cyclist about early starts. So e of the stages are so far from each other we will have a long transfer at the end and still have another 1.5hr car journey to finally get to the start. So after a few hours of the same discussion I have today promised that I will ensure that we get on the road for 7am for cycling or before if we have still got a drive. I let out a sigh as I write as this will not always be easy. The heat is more tiring than cold and I am ok with early starts if I have an early night. Or if it is a one off. Every day for 3 weeks will be tough. It is the lack of sleep that gets me not the early start. But I have been reminded a number of times that I made a ‘promise!’

The motorway in Spain ran along the Bay of Biscay and was as lovely as I had hoped. There was cove after cove with tiny little beaches or estuary beaches. Some busy some very secluded. Unfortunately the Spanish motorways had no pull ins like Italy so that you can stop and for me, take a photo. However The Cyclist will have to ride along the little coast road west of Santander on Stage 19. That road runs even closer to the edge of the mountain cliffs so I will hopefully get the chance to show you just how pretty it is. Also the further west then south we got from the two big P&O Spanish ports, the more unusual our number plate must have looked. Every car that went past had a good look in.

The temperature was about 26C until we got to the bit where we had to turn inland. The was very low cloud and rain threatened but as we got further it jumped to 30C. It has been a long long car journey and very worrying for me as I think about the driving here, but it sure was in interesting and pretty journey. We are back up in this part cycling the mountains before doing the last stage to Madrid, and we can now see why it always rains here. It is like this little mountain range has clouds stuck over it. Still we are near the sea tonight. That should be nice.