Miles day before yesterday = 0
Miles yesterday = 239
Miles today = 230
Miles so far = 1420
Countries visited = 5 (although that includes Spain twice)
Where are we? - Bilbao
Well, that was a day! Yesterday that is. Our first ever breakdown in years of motorbiking. And of course it was on a Sunday, on the hottest day of our trip on a motorway with no shade - hence the silly towels on the heads. Notice we all had our hi vis jackets on though! But the service we received was second to none. Rob’s front tyre had shredded
- possibly because of a faulty valve but we really don’t know - but despite the occasional language problem we had a tow truck with us within about 45 minutes and a mate of the driver on the phone, willing to come out on a Sunday afternoon to try to fix it. As it was unfixable (is that a word?) he then spent the next two hours sourcing a suitable tyre - not nearly as easy as for a car. But he succeeded and after a delay of the best part of 4 hours (during which we had to find anywhere comfortable to sit!)
we were back on the road - with a brand new (almost) BMW Pirelli Scorpion tyre for the princely sum of €200 - and a couple of extra fifties for their trouble - they spent about 3 hours of their own time. I am struggling to think that Kwik Fit would have gone to the same trouble. At 7.30pm, that left us a mere 120 miles to go to our booked hotel - but the light was good, and the roads clear - we made it in time for a slap up sausage, egg and chips, Spanish style (we crossed the border on the way) and a couple of beers.
So today has been rather unexciting by comparison - but with over 200 miles of driving across some great landscapes, starting on the high plains with thousands of sunflowers for company and ending with a crossing of the mountains in the north. However, if any one is wondering why we are back on the north coast, we have rerouted, due to one of our gang having been unwell (nothing serious) for the last few days. We are returning to the England to carry on as a three. It means an early morning ferry from Bilbao tomorrow but we will restart in Portsmouth on Wednesday - and it allows us to reinforce that the UK is still part of Europe. A tour of Europe including the UK. Not sure where we will go yet but Wales looks nice! It has meant another slightly long day - our second consecutive day of over 230 miles and we have got from Porto to Bilbao in just two days - including a puncture.
On Saturday we went absolutely nowhere - just enjoyed the sights, the sounds and the tastes of Porto - which of course included some port! If you have never been I recommend it - beautiful city, some great places to eat and drink. The most difficult decision is which Port Cellar to visit - maybe try several?
Tomorrow we are back on a boat for 24 hours. I will pick up the story back in England. In the meantime some pics from Porto...
