Camino, Spain May 2008

.... a ten day cycle trip, Spanish Camino with Gabriola cycle (gck.ca)

May 23 (Fri) Was raining quite hard (not the Spain I was expecting),... so 6 or so of us took the ¨free¨ bus to a big commercial shopping centre, where there was a big Decathlon store (sports store a bit like MEC, but much flashier). Since the rain seemed relentless there was a big interest in rain-wear, but I was more interested in the general stuff, so bought a super bright neon yellow breathable jacket and some compression top and pants at what are very good prices. Barb (who, with Les owns a bike shop in White Rock BC) said prices were half the Canadian level. Also bought a bell (to warn the pilgrims of my approach), and some interesting sports cereal bars at 6 for 1.5 euros, incredible.

Met the 20+ other cyclists at 5:30 PM Friday,(...most seem like strangers to each other) at the rendez-vous. My roommate. John Albright, is a champion cyclist (pursuit rider) from the 70´s, ... various medals (team and individual) in pursuit in track pursuit in Canadian Nationals. Ana did a good low key overview introduction. We´ll be cycling out tomorrow. Most of the group have rented mountain bikes so they are off to pick up their rentals. I am the only one with a road bike (other than Ana), so it will be interesting to see if I can cope with the camino (pilgrim's path) or may have to take the closest regular roads

May 24 (Sat)

First cycling day to Castrojerez and amazingly it wasn't raining (except for a couple minutes) and it was say 50% sunny. It was only 42 Km on the camino, but because of the previous rain it was very muddy in sections, and so after 10 Km I switched to the road, longer, 51km.... I was the first one in. When you are walking through 4 inches of oozing mud, I don't care what kind of bike you´ve got, its not very good. Where its not muddy, the rough gravel surface is OK for my roadbike, maybe not great but good enough.

Today I was happy mainly because the weather changed a bit ... fair bit of sun, but not very warm, say 15 at the max.... not the Spain I imagined. I was expecting it to be more sunny and warmer than France, ...not so. Maybe in the south of Spain it is, but not in the North.

May 25 (Sun) second riding day, to Carrios de Condes only a 48K ride, where we stayed at a monastery converted to hotel, ... rather posh. Kind of a short cycling day to my liking, but the sun came out and I fell asleep on a plaza bench at the destination, ...Ashley got a kick out of waking me up by jabbing me in the ribs. The town was celebrating corpus christi, with a half kilometer of flowers decorating the road,... much like in San Miguel in Mexico. A basic Perigrino dinner (pork, etc) for 9 euros

May 26 (Mon) no breakfast, other than a peanut butter sandwhich from the truck. A 76 Km road ride to Mansilla, and zero sun and a bit of rain (where I stood in the shelter of a barn's eaves)... so I appreciated my new tights that I bought at Decathelon, Burgos.

May 27 (Tues) a 72km tride to Astorga, the weather cleared up, turned sunny but still cool. Stopped in Leon after 18Km (pop 500,000) for half hour, had breakfast, and went into the cathedral, just popped my head in for 90 seconds. Was the first to arrive in Astorga and shared a BBQ chicken in the restaurant beside the hotel, while they prepared the rooms. The sunny weather helps my disposition, .... big time. Srong armed Barb Rainville Calgary into buying her flight to Bilboa on the Internet, and she saved almost 100 euros, ... but in the end I think she thought I was trying to pull a fast one.... was very timid about the Internet, was always looking for an excuse to get away, the bathroom, dinner arrangements, any excuse to avoid the Internet. Ashley and Dave appreciated it though

One thing about Camino, is a large part of the satisfaction maybe comes from the religious experience (not for me), or for me maybe the historical significance, because the riding itself is a bit plain, a bit like through the Canadian prairies (.... not that I've ever done that), impressive but kind of the same, although it might change when we cross into Gallacia. So far the distances have been easy (70K and flat) and a lot of the customer base seems to think that's a lot. The Camino on the first day had oosy mud due to rain , about 2 inches for long stretches, so Ive switched pretty much to the road, although they tell me the Camino gravel+stone is drier now

May 28 (Wed) a 700M climb to go over the Montes Leon range, at 1505m to get to Molinsecca. For some of the group its a bit of a challenge, but I´m kind of used to it. Cold, maybe 8C (even lower) at the top and drizzly. In theory the scenery is dazzling but at this temp and wet,.... it's really not pleasant. Stayed at a huge private home converted to Bed and Breakfast, where the common room was once a barn for horses with a huge fireplace high roof, and rough stone floor. The breakfast was laid out buffet style (the only included meal in the whole trip) for self preparation. I cooked my own eggs, a first, ... were good.

May 29 (Thurs) a short 30+ Km ride to Villafranca, 50% on Camino , and the sun did appear ever so briefly. Saw some Canadian flags on backpackers. We see about 100-300 per day walking, and you never see USA flags, but Canadian and Australian flags are seen occasionally. Europeans don't seem to show flags much, and Americans are probably ashamed/scared.

May 30 (Fri) a 65Km VillaFranca to Samos, the place where there was a monastery and a kind of old fashioned hotel, day when we crossed into Galacia, and climbed to 1335m, cold and drizzly ... had lunch with Ashley Ana Camila, excellent lemon mousse .... sun came out a bit, just a bit.

May 31 (Sat) a 62 KM ride to Portmarin, kind of a nice place on a lake. Tried Les´ laptop, without success. Tried Ana's ASUS laptop and it worked fine for a while, ... was the first night when I didn't have dinner, having had a pizza at 3pm. There seems to be an exhaustible interest in 'happy hour', but I find them rather tedious, .... maybe that´s a function of not drinking, ... lots of women talking about shopping or silly stuff, ... Peter seemed to bring a more elevated 'tone' to Happy Hour.

June 1 (Sun) a 65 K ride to Aruza, a "nothing" place the Suiza hotel....my route was a bit farther than the Camino because I took the highway 540 over to the 547 which added 6 km. Had lunch , garbanzo bean soup, with John in the hotel and there was sun for the happy hour and we sat outside. Barb from Calgary left a day early for her daughters graduation in Victoria. No dinner again, not really hungry, .... and read the travel book on South Africa. Used my Skippy peanut butter to good advantage in the morning, as a supplement to breakfast, which are otherwise pretty skimpy (toasted bread and coffee).

June 2 (Mon) a short 40 K ride to Santiago, and although I started and finished on the Camino I found the short section that I did on the Camino really quite hard, and switched to the road. Met some Montrealers in the tourist office, pleasant conversation in French. Packed my bike with ease, and because Ana reminded me about taking off the derailleur, .... made the box closing much easier. Had lunch with Sue Alan Laurie Theresa. Walked to the bus station just be sure my Internet ticket and passport were all that were needed, seemed fine. Ana had a long story about some conflict with her air ticket, so is ending up taking the bus (with Camila) from Burgos to Paris, 14 hours, partly I think to avoid the excess weight charges. Gave Ashley an envelope with a $100 tip, .. because she did a great job for 3 trips, and told her she made it "fun for me" .. she did.

June 3 (Tues) took the bus to Bilbao (to avoid excess luggage charges by air. through away my air ticket), turned sunny, actually enjoyed the 12 hour trip, lots of scenery, choice of Hotel "Bilboa Jardines" (over Internet) 57E, ... was great, very central.

June 4 (Wed) Lufthansa to Frankfort, no trouble checking in bike, Air Canada to Toronto, ... AC did a great job, served delicious lamb. When home: weight: 181 pounds, exactly the same as when I left Apr 25.

1690 km total km for the three trips

"Rating" the recent trips, scale of 10
Provence I... Apr 27-May 7 .....8.5 ..... lots of sunny warm days
Provence II ... May 9- 23.......... 7.0
Spain Camino May 23..June 4....3.5 .... Note A

Note A not a bad trip, could have been an 8 , but low rating mostly due to the crappy weather, mornings 12C rising maybe to 18C, 90% cloudy, occasional rain ... and it has a lot to with expectations, I expected Spain to be sunny and 30C, ... and it wasn't).

Provence, May 2008

Two French trips (Provence)and
a Spanish trip, following post
with Gabriola (gck.com) April 25 to June 4/08
..... click the links in My Agenda (next post down) for specifics

April 25 to May 7 2008
It was an Air Canada flight over; via Munich to Marseille, then 150 Km on the train to Monpellier. THE BIG PROBLM was that my luggage + bike didnt show up in Marseille, ... and I ve been on trips when some have gone the whole trip and their luggage NEVER shows up. Fortunately at 11:20 PM .... was fast asleep ....and the front desk woke me up to tell me luggage was at the front desk..... I guess I slept better knowing that. Also on the positive side, I didnt have to schlep? that luggage onto the train and then to the hotel, Lufthansa (Air Canadas points partner) did it for me...... kind of a good thing. Looks like a good group of 19 cyclists.
April 26 (Sat)
Lufthansa from Munich to Marseille.... then the train to Montpellier, about 100 minutes, then a cab to the hotel, (didnt know about the tram). Met Ana in the lobby, and was mostly anxious about my absent luggage and bike. Took the local tram into town to see what was going on .... place is hopping
April 27(Sun)
Set up my bike (30 min) .... faster than taking it apart (90 min). Took the tram into town and again for dinner with Doug Ashley Francois etc .... Ashley took forever to decide her menu choices (5min with the waiter tapping his foot) I asked her if .... "pregnancy brought on indecision".
April 28 (Mon)
First cycling day to Vezenobres, about 75Km, stopped curtesy of Francois efforts and had a good lamb stew lunch, and waiter seemed pleased to have us.... eg came out wondering if we really meant to leave a tip.
April 29 (Tues)
Onto Orange about 75 Km. Finding a lunch spot turned out to be difficult, but after separating from the main group had lunch with Richard and Janet, .... pretty darn good. We took a gamble that there would be a crossing of the Rhone on the most direct route, there wasnt, ...... so a bit of a detour to get around, ..... and Janet wasn't too happy. Richard said: when she gets witin 20 yards let's leave, I cant stand her wrath"
Apr 30 (Wed)
A break day in Orange ..... an unusual rainy day; .... so we went to see the soldier memorial in the Roman amphitheatre, roughly 500 troops..... quite impressive but it poured, looked for the internet, ... skies cleared, had pizza for dinner. Took the 13 min train to Avignon, spent a couple hours and came back, ...worth the visit .... the papal palace and the pont.
May 1st (Thurs)
Onto Apt about 70KM, nice flat vinyards to start, ... then scenic hills into the three quaint towns, I only went to the first, Saplet?, and a group picnic lunch on the way, curtesy of Ashley and Ana. The group seems to like pack riding altogether (.... strange, in my opinion), ... but I dont. Met 2 Backroads guides, .... girls, and they agreed their prices were pretty hefty. Had dinner in a brasserie and although they called it a filet mignon, it was excellent pork tenderloin and with appetizer and veggies was 9.50euros, .... what value. The cook came out and jokingly hit on Ana (La Mexicaine), and reluctantly sold Francois/Doug a jar of homemade sauce piquant, after much pleading
May 2 Fri
A rest day, in Apt so went with Bill and Shirley to Aix en Provence on the bus. Bill and Shirley seemed to really like it, and the bus trip (2 hours) was not onerous at all, .... quite pleasant in fact. Spent at least an hour in the Aix Decathalon, bout two tubes, cap, and bright lime green shirt for 6.90 euros
May 3 Sat
A ride to Isle sur Sorgue, to a modern type French hotel, kind of nice.... bamboo covered terrrace and a Super U next door bought some gin tonic (only using symbolic trace amounts of gin) ... went to town for dinner by the river, faux fillet, tarte citron, ... about the best dinner so far, 14 euros.
May 4 Sun
Rode to St Remi 50Km with a stop in Les Baux, although I didnt go in to the castle/ramparts (since Id been there recently) was a near perfect day ..... rode pretty much on my own.
May 5 Mon
A 50 Km ride to Uzes, via Pont du Gard. Sunny and probably into the 30.s C in the sun
May 6 Tues
A rainy day(first since Orange), so a good day to have a day off, .... although we have a winetasting at 4:30 and a group dinner in town. Spent 4 hours in the internet.... The dinner seemed to confuse people, Bill especially, ... I guess because it was a 4 course set menu. The owner-staff was not not particularly friendly, nor helpful
May 7 (Wed)
Rode 89 km to Montpellier to a airport "efficiency" hotel (bathroom so small is like a airliner). This was the only day of route-difficulty, ...... took 90 extra minutes to find the hotel, .... none of the locals seem to have a clue about the surroundings. Rory and Rennee left at 7PM and I complemented Rory as a great roommate because he was perfectly silent sleeper, also a practical, non-pretentious guy, and seems to have a good joking rapport with Camila. Dinner at a Mexican restaurant for 18, heavy on the protein... I liked it, but it wasnt everybodies cup of tea.
May 8 (Thurs)
Another holiday-day in France, ...not sure why. Spent time in Carrefour (immense WalMart-like) and researched my train trip to Burgos join the Camino trip on May 23..... 30 euro discount if bought 10 days early. A group of 12, most from the first group went to the Medditerranan seaside marina in taxis ... many had excellent paella, for13.50 euros incl wine and dessert
May 9 (Fri)
A day off in Montpellier as the second group begins to arrive. Bought my train tickets today from Montpellier to Burgos, Spain on May 20th, about 10 hours on the train (3 different trains, overnight in Bordeaux)., and trains are pretty high speed, for 76 euros, quite cheap having bought 10 days in advance and qualifying for "loisir =vacation" class.

Decided to take an 8 day gck.com kayak trip July 16-25 (I'm with gck cycling now) in the Queen Charlottes.... everybody says they are great even though the probability of rain is high..... those are the trips where everybody has got to take turns of provisioning and cooking dinner for the whole group, .... not everybody would like that formula.
May 10 (Sat)
First cycle day with second group, to Vezenobles, turned out to be nice weather, ......unlike forecast. A guy called Peter Harrower, 57, fell a couple times, and got admitted to hospital and more tests for Sunday. Ashley, after this experience, said she could become an ambulance driver. Dinner (chicken and fig sauce) in this was the best, for the second time, of the whole trip, .... and I told the proprieter so.
May 11(Sun)
Another nice day to Orange, was able to ride shirtless,..... except it rained toward the end. It was a slightly different route than last time, and maybe marginally better. Dinner, a stuffed chicken leg, was good.


May 12 (Mon)
Took the 35 minute train to Arles, famous for the roman colliseum, 100AD, kind of a 50 percent cloudy day. Im not sure what the others are doing, probably resting. Today is another work holiday, Pentcoste (whatever that is) the third holiday in the 2.5 weeks Ive been here..... in Canada it takes half a year to get three holidays

May 13 (Tues)
A pretty close to 90km cycle to Apt, and the weather turned out pretty fair, some sun in the AM. The hills after lunch (sandwhich in Venesque)were pretty easy grade, and since I was almost there by 2:00. Eight of us ended up at Le Palais (same as last time) and had a pretty good dinner, ... this time with live music. I saw Peter H (earlier admitted to hospital in Vezenobres) cycling during the day, so I guess he's not too badly off.
May 14 (Wed)
Anther rest day and rather than climbing Ventoux (Jim and Rick did it), after shopping at Leclerc (bought a lime-green safety vest), went to Aix again on the bus,..... more as just something to do. Theresa got sick on the bus and decided to go back from Pertuis (half way).

May 15 (Thurs)

65 Km Ride to St Remy, really motored along and got threre by 12noon... kind of silly since you should stop and smell the roses. Went to dinner with Penny Doug Ana Ashley Camila, ... a better than average place. Booked my Jun 3 flight online from Santiago to Bilboa June 3, with Spanair.

May 16 (Fri)

A rest day in St Remy, went for a short ride to Millaine ( wrong direction by mstake) and then Les Baux, .... but returned when it started to rain. Had dinner with Jim at a Chinese Veitnam place where the service was slow Bruce and Lee checked out when we still didnt have the main course , ... but the food itself was delicious
May 17 (Sat)
Ride to Uzes with a brief stop at the Pont Gard, when it began to rain. It was a heavy rain. Had dinner in the same Italian restaurant as last time, the waiter remembered us (... not sure thats a good thing)
May 18 (Sun)
Nice sunny weather day in Uzes. Cycled alone to Nimes, about 58Km, was quite a big city compared to Arles. Camila organized a ping pong tournament, and Camila and Alan 220+pounds, put on a syncronized swimming show.... not bad. Went with Doug Ana Penny to the Uzes square and had a cook it yourself (pierreade) dinner, on a hot stone, ... kind of fun. Camila,11, who likes to complain about Rory (from the first trip) and says that now she's a "small woman" (her words) she doesnt appreciate his playful attention. Camila in a candid moment however, said Rory was "buff", ... quite a compliment, for a guy who wears white pants (photo proof available).
May 19 (Mon)
Cycled to Montpellier, 77 Km and Doug was quite concerned about his written directions to the hotel, ... went fairly smoothly compared to getting to Premiers Classe. Jim had a minor fall and managed to rack up more than 100Km having got lost. Went to downtown with 5 others, strolled the Montpellier sites ... they liked it.
May 20 (Tues)
Train 4.5 hours to Bordeaux, quite a pleasant ride. With two heavy cases, it's quite a chore to go down/ up the staircases to get to the right track, but 3 out of 4 times, when I left one case at the top (to carry the bikecase) someone else actually carried the other,.... I was impressed. Staying at the Ibis hotel overnight, and onto Burgos in the AM.

May 21 (Wed)

Train to Burgos Spain was fine, and very few passengers on just 2 train cars, compared to the throngs in France .... I was the only one to get off in Burgos. I had a four course meal on the train, ... quite good, .... and the only other diners while was eating were the train staff, ... cremea de verduras, and a kind of beef bourginon, vanilla pudding, and a beer. Then in Burgos, the taxi was only 5 euros, the Hotel Espagna was well situated near the Cathedral, and its bloody well raining (.... shit!, ...... should have stayed an extra day in Bordeaux). It was hard to find dinner at 7:30PM so had a Turkish doner (shaved chicken), ..... was very filling and pretty good.

May 22 (Thurs)

Had breakfast in hotel and met Les (owns a bike shop) and his wife Barb, then went ambling the streets of Burgos, and bought a collapsible umbrella (... so the rain must be bad). Met Ana and Ashley at 5 PM , who seem to not had an easy time flying to Burgos via Paris and Madrid, and missing the bus to Burgos. I was horrified at the huge charges they had to pay for their excess luggage, so Im thinking of throwing away my Spanair ticket and just taking the bus from Santiago to Bilbao on June 3, just 49 euros and takes 12 hours.