Jul
19
Hey hey!
Since my last post I received a text from Noel (one of my team members of the Mountain Madness) saying he was in the area. We met up in Andorra de Vella, where i tried to discover why my headlight and tail light were not working and Alex meanwhile sorted out the food (pictured). We quickly decided that it would be cool if Alex could tag along in the Mountain Madness thing as well and before long the three of us decided to find a place to camp for the night off the beaten track and decided to head for Spain where thing are cheaper than France and more space than Andorra.
Riding 2 bikes and a blue van we headed back into Spain to a town: Sort (and beyond) and eventually found a really nice spot to pitch just off of the main road beside a river discreet enough for us to be able to light a fire.
Today, the three of us packed up camp and headed here to La Molina where the Mountain Madness thing is meant to be held. It was a bit of a repeat of Ripley with the posers all standing around perving over bikes and talking jargon until your eyes rolled out of their sockets. We soon packed up after realizing there wasn’t much to look at, and searched out for somewhere to sleep.
Beyond that, Noel got his bike out of the van and the three of us took a quick spin looking for this cool little unmentioned refugio/hostel half way up the mountain with free wifi and all the commodities that a bike traveler requires.. shower, food and a wandering dog searching for a stroke.
Anyhow most of the good pictures… if not all the good pictures were taking by Noel. And here’s a few. 
Oh by the way, I found the Oakley sunglasses afterall. I didn’t leave them on the bike I had taken them up to Bea’s place and they had fallen under the bed. I had given up on them completely.
Jul
18
Hi there!
Isn’t amazing how you find internet everywhere? 
Anyhow, I was sad to leave my very kind host Bea yesterday, but I was soon distracted with riding with Alex behind . We came to Andorra in an über slow manner. We set off at about 3:10 and arrived about 8:30 (don’t ask!). After changing my head light and tail light (which both miraculously broke at the same time) to discover that the new bulbs didn’t work and refueling; we did a detour via Montserrat where Bea and I went a few days ago to enjoy the road again. Alex loved it and felt he must do a back flip to prove his excitement (pictured), it’s not everyday you ride with a stunt man as a companion.
We stopped in a Lidl to buy some food in a town named Solsona where we sat in the shade of a wall to rest a bit from the heat. The bellowing clouds of a forest fire south of us concerned me but we carried on forward winding up the B road till we joined the C 14. After facing some terrible oncoming traffic leaving Andorra where we found our hostel for the night. I cannot express how happy we both were to come out of the boiler climate of Barcelona to the cold mountain breezes of the Pyrenees just 200km away.
We cooked our dinner in the dorm room and chatted for a few hours getting to know eachother some more.
Anyhow, I did a little experimenting with taking photos from my phone whilst riding and got some good results (pictured).
Jul
17
I felt obligated to see some Gaudí things before I left, even though my Barcelona experience was already good without doing the sight-seeing.
Firstly Bea and I went to the Parc de Guell and then to La Sagrada Familia. To be honest, if I ever want to feel like a tourist I’ll catch an open top double-decker back home and sit on a bus with yanks and hear them yack away about the weather.
Anyhow, two more things ticked off on my list of things, I’ve accomplished.
Today, I’m leaving Barcelona heading nothing to Andorra where I’m meeting Alex (the guy I met in the mist/fog on my way into Spain). I’ll be sad to leave my kind host and this amazing city but I got to keep going. 
By the way those lovely Oakley sunglasses I bought in Porto… they went bye-bye. I’m a bit sad about that, but my fault, I clumbseyly left them on the bike seat outside Bea’s house and they would of vanished anywhere. Oh well, silly me.
Here’s the pictures:
Jul
16
After faffing around yesterday doing this and that, and buying myself a new main jet for my carburettor, Bea and I took a ride upto Montserrat to enjoy the bendies. Now, I’m glad my face was full face, because my facial expression was similar to the day I rode into spain through the Pyrenees and any onward coming cars may have driven off the mountain edge in sheer terror of my demon posessed face.
However, the ascent helped prove a point about the carburation from see level to 1000m in 20 minutes caused the bike to pop a lot. I’ll be at over 2000m in a few days time and so far I’ve not been that high in this bike. I hope this works!
Anyhow here’s a couple of generic pictures of Bea and I taken near the top overlooking the mountains below.
Just to point out, we both got sun burnt and I had a biker tan forming (insides of my legs have no colour… outsides are lobster red).
Jul
15
So I took the plunge and rooooode 500+ km to Barcelona in one hit. I set off at dawn and made better progress than I had thought. The day started off pretty chilly and I was happy riding with my jacket and gloves on, obviously being early accounted for this. I circled the ring road of Zaragoza at around 11am and gave myself a chance to take a break at a truckers’ cafe. The ride was pretty simple and uncomplicated to be honest, however the heat got stiffling by midday and at which point I hit a re-visit of Norway’s: “no-move traffic jam“; where the steady flow of trucks came to a unannounced halt and left me standing on a plain in an oven like climate waiting for something to happen.
By the end of the journey I had to stop a few times (finally in Montserrat) to clean my eyes from the sweat and sun lotion going into my eyes leaving me blind… it was quite odd to have this experience.
Anyhow arrived all well and good at 4:30pm and spent the evening with Bea hanging out with her friends and talking about bikes and stuff.
Jul
13
I had Spanish picnic yesterday with some of my friends from years back. They all have kids except one.
I ate so much that I felt ill…. (17 hours without eating still feeling rough) not to be repeated.
Jul
12
Well I’ve been kicking back and relaxing some since I got here, not been carrying my camera around and spending time with friends and family so not much to tell. However, being self conscious of this, yesterday I took my camera with me out on an average day with my uncle Mariano…
Firstly, we went to drop some stuff off his pick-up to his finca/retreat. Where he has vegetables growing and is planning renovations on so he can live there if he wishes.
Afterward we went upto La Caldera (the boiler/caldron) … where the water is near freezing all year round. For a swim, what else?
(pictured my uncle enjoying his jet wash)
Jul
10
Well we set out for Pamplona centre to live it up about 1 or 2 am and Caravan Place and Gregario de Luxe were playing. We’d never heard of them before but they were great, danced ourselves into a very silly mood and then hit the bars to talk and harass strangers until 9 when Poli had to catch the bus back to Soria.
What a night. *edit* there are 2 pages of photos… at the bottom you can click onto the second page
(photos from Edurne’s camera)
Jul
9
After a fantastic night last night (and arriving back at 10am) I got up at 5pm and packed my things and rode down to Covaleda.
More tomorrow.
Jul
8
Hey there!
After what seems like an eternity of partying in the streets (2 days, no sleep). I finally came back to Edurne’s house in Aoiz to touch base and catch up with some essentials (shower, sleep, shave, proper meal and email checking).
The San Fermín fiestas are verrryyyyyy long. Still on going. Pamplona city centre is pretty large, the people partying are in the tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands). It’s quite hard to imagine so many people dressed in white with red scarfs from all over the world; mostly Spanish, but a huge amount of Australians, and quite a lot of North American and British folk there too. It’s also hard to explain how it’s not about being brutishly cruel to bulls to someone who hasn’t been. I was surprised to find out that the misconception about the customs/traditions of these fiestas couldn’t be more the opposite. When the crowds cheer it’s for the bull and very rarely the man who jumps infront of one. I guess I could write eons worth about how warped the understanding of the Spanish customs are, but I’m just here to say what I’m upto and what I’ve been doing for the past 3 days.
The day after I arrived (Sunday) I went to explore the dam the village has here in Aoiz, with Vidal. The problem with it being in this part of Spain is that owing to the terrorism threats of the Basque people (in particular small villages like this one). A lot of restrictions exist. So Vidal and I had to make it by hook and by crook to get near the thing.
Some photos:
We later went for a drive to some smaller village up near the border with some of Vidal’s friends to some retreat… not sure why but we did it all the same. Very beautiful area in the world.
So on with the San Fermín the Monday started off with the Chupinazo which basically marks the commencement of the fiestas with a big bang in a square with thousands of people crushed together, I didn’t participate, partly because I didn’t want to stand crushed in a square for hours to make sure I got a space to see it a rocket go off. I meanwhile, stayed with Vidal and had a kick-off breakfast at his friend’s house Luis, and followed that up by going into the centre and enjoy the after kick off soak up that thousands get involved with. Basically spray everyone with wine and suchlike drinks over their white clothes. Quite enjoyable. Although I have to point out that I was told not to take my wallet or my camera as there are a lot of pick-pockets. So all the pictures of the event are from my phone. I apologize for the poor quality and lack of plentiful photos.
Quick explaination of the people with pen on their faces… Vidal took some permanent markers with him in the event of (and with experience the actualization of..) sleeping tourists completely K.O.’d on the floor sleeping like the dead… we gave them a work of art then woke them up and photographed them… it is quite special.
