Im now within easy striking distance of Santander with a choice of 55 miles with 3500ft of climb or 70 miles with 2200ft. Weather forecast is good. Ferry is delayed by 6 hrs which is a pain as it arrives too late to pick my hire car up but i managed to change the booking and reading the t&c it seems they are going to have to find me accommodation as i can no longer get home that night.

Looking forward to getting home now. Its been a long time.

Bollox. Nae chips!

Fortunatly i have pasta

But more importantly do they have beer?

yes

But I’ve a nasty feeling ive effed up and they dont have a card machine in the bar. Im on my second beer and only have a couple of euros cash

Do a runner?

Phew. 3 euros and i had enough. Just. Leaves me with 60 cents🙄🤣

Waits for the exciting new episode of tj’s travels “banged up abroad”

🤣🙄

Its certainly the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness here. Thick mist filling the valley and all the trees leaves turning and laden with berries. Ive never seen so many sloes. Ruddy cold tho. Not much above freezing last night.

I’m feeling a bit misty eyed at the thought of this tour being over. I’ll need another safely life affirming and beautiful thread to dive into for regular solace.

Thanks for the thread @tjagain
Thoroughly enjoyed following your trip. Safe home!

TJ another thankyou for the thread. It has made for happy reading on the train into work each morning and let me dream of maybe, just maybe, one day getting to do something similar. Was great to of met you all those weeks ago and added an axtra layer of inerest for me in your tales.

Safe trip home and say hello to Edinburgh for me.

Phew. 3 euros and i had enough. Just. Leaves me with 60 cents

That was worth 50p when you left the UK, now it’s worth a quid, result!

*blushes*

Its been good for me as well. Ive never done any blogging or anything similar before and I am still surprised that folk are interested.

I have got a lot out of the threads on here as well. Support and chat in the lonely times. Helpful advice and laughs and of course its a huge ego boost as well.

Has it helped my recovery? Yes and you have been a large part of that. I am now able to sing” the wild mountain thyme” without turning into a blubbering mess before the end of the first verse. Thats an indication of the healing that has taken place. I still miss Julie terribly as well but the pain is further away than it was. Not small but far away 🙄🤣

The sun has broken through the mist now which seems apt. I shall get packed up and move on.

 Not small but far away 🙄🤣

(Sorry, couldn’t resist)

Enjoy your last couple of days. I’d probably choose the longer, flatter route.

reading the t&c it seems they are going to have to find me accommodation as i can no longer get home that night.

TJ arriving shortly on board armed with a copy of t&c’s, must sell my shares in Brittany Ferries before the collapse.
Enjoy your last ride through the Merindades, shame the Engaña tunnel isn’t reopened yet, it will soon be possible to ride along a Via Verde straight through the Cantabrian mountains in this 7km long tunnel that was dug for the I’ll fated Santander Mediterranean train line. Have a read up on the history, it’s fascinating.

Tj, since you’ll be back in the Uk soon, with a bit of time on your hands, I thought you might like to consider:

BBC Question Time coming to Musselburgh 13th of October … here’s how to be in the audience (sorry, not sure how best to link – just Google Question time Musselburgh).

I’m sure everyone would love to see you in full flow on there 😏😀😂

Edit: actually, get two tickets and I’d happily sit with you 😀

Thread of the year. The photos have been great and helped us take the trip alongside you.

Your honesty along the way has made me laugh and cry in equal measure.

They use the sloes to make patxaran, make sure you try some

Effed up again. I let my food supply run out and its taken until now to buy some. Oh well. Old smelly cheese fine ham and salad sandwiches now.

Bikepawl. I have. Its deadly stuff. Did something funny to my legs 🙄🤣

Thats probably the best days riding all tour. A climb of 1800ft but I got up it with no huge problem s and a descent of nearly 3000ft. Wèeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Fab weather and views. Im supping a beer right now.

More to follow when i find somewhere to stay

😁

I think thats the best days riding I have had all tour. The climb was 1800feet to the top of the pass at 4000 ft but with sunshine no headwind and a gentle gradient combined with stunning scenery it was not too hard and the descent was 3000 feet of fun.
Near the top there was a lovely picnic area by a river and i thought Julie would have loved it. So i chucked her ashes ( i mean scattered with all due reverence) in the river and sang the wild mountain thyme. Thats the last bit i have with me and it seemed right after a picnic of bread and cheese

Wonderful scenery today. Reminded me of Yorkshire somehow with all the dry stone walls.

Sunny all day as well but not baking hot. Just a great day. One of those days we do this stuff for

The spot i chucked the ashes

Random scenery on thecway ip. Reminded me of Yorkshire

Beautiful just beautiful, I’m tearing up a bit now. Such a brave thing you have done., well done Jeremy I know exactly the feelings of grief and also joy of the stuff you did together.

I’m just back from the West coast of Scotland where Carolyn and I spent so many happy times.

The descent

Mr overshoot. Indeed. I had a wee sniffle myself.

A pal gave me a good tip to deal with these moments. Rather than thinking ” oh no we will never do this again” or ” Im sad she is not here” say out loud ” what great adventures we had”

Resets your thinking in a cbt style and flips it back to happy memories. Works for me

How strange, there’s a guy coming the other way next week, landing at Santander then spending a month riding along the Camino del Cid from Burgos to Alicante. He’s been asking my thoughts on a route from the ferry and I advised going over the road you’ve ridden today,you must have stayed in Espinoza de los Monteros last night? The tunnel I mentioned runs from Vega de Pas through the mountain but is currently blocked by a roof collapse. You can pick up the Via Verde del Pas tomorrow that takes you nearly to the ferry.

I stayed a bit the other side of espinoza.

To for the via verde tip.

You local?

Not really, I live in Southern Cataluña but organise a cross country bikepacking trip every year. This May we went via the sources of the 3 longest rivers in Iberia so were cutting back to Bilbao through the Merindades. We stayed in Espinosa on the last night having ridden from the source of the Ebro. I have a plan to do a coast to coast along the Santander Mediterranean rail line but it’s not 100% complete yet, there’s a few missing bridges and the Engaña tunnel is in a dangerous condition. There’s so much to explore here, we’ve been here 7 years and only just begun. I was late to your blog but glad you enjoyed the riding in Spain.

Riding here is good but too many mountains fir an okd fell🤣🙄

What a day TJ. And that looks a lovely place for her.
One day I’m going to be lobbed under a tree, next a stream, and someone will hopefully think of me kindly as they do it.

(And that descent!)

Riding here is good but too many mountains fir an okd fell🤣🙄

Ahh you can always fall back to an e-bike 🙂

There have been times on this trip I wished I brought my ebike 🙄🤣 but not many. Headwinds are a killer. However also I know range anxiety would have also got to me and also the whining noise of ebikes would annoy. Also ebikes are cheating 🤣

Slightly weird hotel last night. One lovely but harassed looking woman appears to be the only staff. Cheap tho at 40euro B&B. Dinner was poor.

Last days riding today. Got a via verde all the way and the weather is fine and even though I am out of the big mountains the scenery is good.

However my body is really creaking now. Good job its only 30 odd miles to Santander with little climbing. Tweaks in my muscles all over and arthritis playing up. Im glad I decided not to go further south.

Mixed feelings though this morning. Im glad to be going home but sad its nearly over. I’ve basically been on the move since May. With a couple of weeks at home between the Scottish test ride and the main ride and 3 separate weeks staying with folk en route.

My brother has just retired and taken his motorhome to Greece.
It’s still lovely and warm there.
Slight detour on your way home?

* checks map*