Runs in the Nadine Dorries by election?

That’s bound to leave a nasty taste in Dorries’ mouth, and not for the first time.

Bumped into a German couple doing the route last week. It runs about 20km from where I live in Southern Cataluña. They were at a local outdoor shop buying replacement shorts as he’d worn his into holes. They were riding south to North ie starting in Portugal and planning to ride back to Germany, they’d been on the trail about 2 months so taking it steady. I rode a few km with Angus Young last summer, he was pretty knackered by the time he got here.

I’d go with Cambrils on the Costa Daurada. Cheap 2 hr flights from Manchester to Reus, 15 minute transfer. Chilled non chavvy resort with plenty of nice restaurants and Port Aventura just down the road if you like roller-coasters or Roman city of Tarragona for culture. 20 minutes from where I live so I should know.

Scrub that, didn’t see it happened in Feb.

Tell me about it! I’m taking the train to the start of a 450km gravel race on Friday. The start is in the centre of Barcelona and I’m travelling the hour and a quarter from Tarragona with my bike for the extortionate sum of €8.05 welcome to the People’s Republic of Cataluña.

Lucky you, at least it’s bike related, for the last week I’ve been getting 2/3 of page advertising the oxygen thief singer Pink roller skating in a supermarket. Must stop drinking absinthe.

Wrong post, bloody forum jumping about.

It would be a mistake to think the situation in Madrid means that the whole of Spain is broken. Here in rural Cataluña I’ve not had an issue in the 7 years we’ve lived here. Last year I had a bad off on the bike, went to a&e, had a full examination, cleaned up and dressed lacerated knee, 4 x rays on shoulder,elbow,knee and ankle various checks on concussion etc, all within an hour of turning up. Continuing problems with my shoulder have meant a course of physio and finally cortisone injections. All foc on the public health system. I’ve also had an operation to alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome and ongoing treatment for tinnitus. The local hospital is fully equipped with MRI scanner etc, I’ve visited several times recently and never waited more than 20 minutes beyond my allotted appointment.

Espresso for €2? that’s city prices, in our village Espresso is still €1 Cortado €1.30 and Con Leche €1.50 my BiL in Cornwall searches all over for coffee and cake for less than £5 when he’s out riding. Here in Cataluña we struggle to get the bill up to that.

You’re welcome

Been following this with interest having worked for a brand that has a less than flawless warranty reputation, a shop that was an exemplar of “the customer’s always right” even when they blatantly weren’t and many years ago had a very good experience with the company currently being flamed,I find squirrelling the means by which one can compare the industry response behind the members only pay wall a bit of a dick move. It seems to be the way of things these days, from political misdemeanours to clickbait headlines, you have to work hard to find the truth.

Welsh is a wonderfully prosaic language, the word for oven or bakery is popty, the word for microwave is popty ping (actually an urban myth) but ironing translating as smwthio is correct.

Much appreciated, I did find a solution, my bil lives in the west country and as he’s a keen cyclist he’s a relatively frequent visitor. It’s odd that you become quite popular when it’s in the 20’s in February ;)

I own a Rohloff because I don’t live in Spain! 🙂

Strangely it does actually rain in Spain and when it does the trails are really claggy and kill dérailleurs pretty quickly. I’ve done several bikepacking trips through the Basque country which would have been very hard work without a Rohloff.
Kevin, rarely a day goes by when we’re not made acutely aware of the shitstorm that is brexit but not posting a stamp sized piece of paper and a grub screw is just nonsense.

Clearly non of you SJS fans live abroad. I own a Rohloff hub which is largely unheard of here in Spain. I needed a paper gasket which is slightly larger than a postage stamp and a new grub screw to do an oil change. Sum total £3.50 and weight of 20 grammes at most, couldn’t get them locally. SJS wanted £20 for a courier, I phoned them and said I was prepared to risk them not arriving if they put both items on an envelope, put a stamp on and stuck it in a letter box. They wouldn’t entertain it.

Disturbingly, those photos put me in mind of the showstopping comment by Shaun Lock on Cats Does Countdown when Rachael was showing off her ski mask and helmet. RIP Shaun.

Evri have just proudly sent me an email announcing that the £300 Garmin gps I ordered last week from wiggle was delivered at 11.30 this morning, attached was a photo showing the box sitting atop the recycling bin surrounded by empty cans and milk cartons in full view of anyone passing and likely to get piss wet through. What is up with these people? How can I make wiggle aware of thjs?

Sorry if you meant this as a humorous post,

Chapeau.

On a similar theme, I wanted to order a £2.99 paper gasket for my Rohloff hub which is about half the size and weight of a postcard. As usual SJS Cycles were the only stockist but wanted £24 to send it to me in Spain and wouldn’t budge when I asked them to simply put it in an envelope and treat it as a letter,I would take the risk. Been dealing with them for 20 years but no longer.

I’ve got a Canon AE1 SLR complete with a range of lenses both fixed and zoom from 28mm to 200mm with flashes, filters etc which I’d happily sell for cheap but as I’m in Spain, getting it to the UK is probably more costly than it’s worth.

There’s a (possible) urban myth about the Estonian lorry driver that had a delivery to Gibraltar,some days after punching the destination into his GPS, he arrived slightly confused at Gibraltar Point near Grimsby. You would have thought crossing the channel and driving on the left would have raised a few suspicions.

Firewood is sold by the kg around here, last year it was €0.12 per kg for 150 year old logs and roots, this year I’ve paid €100 for 21/2 tonnes so half price which should easily last the 3 months or so we light the fire, it’s our only source of heating. Being olive wood it is quite slow burning, sometimes living in the middle of an olive growing area of southern Cataluña has it’s compensations.

We would be happy to discuss renting our house in Cataluña, the weather in the last 4 weeks has been perfect, mid 20’s and no rain. There’s lots to do locally, hundreds of km of bike trails. 15km from beautiful beaches and nature reserves or historic castles and villages. PM me if you’ve interested.
Casa Tomillo, Costa Daurada

From a less shouty era, just heard one of the original presenters, Sue Baker, has died.

If you decide on Granada, be sure to pre-book tickets for the Alhambra, they often sell out so entry on the day isn’t allowed. I’d thoroughly recommend the Alhambra and I’m not one for paying to get in anywhere. Córdoba would be my second choice having done exactly this a few years ago during the Semana Santa (Easter) festivities. We subsequently did Sevilla and Cadiz and I much preferred Cadiz.

Going up in leaps & bounds in Southern Spain (maybe all of Spain).
Shell over the road from where we’re staying was 1.859€ when we got here last week, now 2.0299€.
Cheese is pricey too as are fish & chips. 23€ for large cod & chips, a small cod, & mushy peas.

Bear in mind that the banner price for fuel in Spain includes a €0.20 subsidy so the price you pay is lower, obviously it doesn’t say anything for the movement in price. Here in Cataluña we pay €1.50 odd Inc the rebate. As for cod, chips and mushy peas, eating this on the shore of the Med, you deserve everything you get! There is much better locally sourced seafood available rather than one that is caught in the northern Atlantic. Lubina, sardines, prawns, tuna etc best value is a good paella but avoid the tourist areas, they’re generally a rip off.

STR I’ve messaged you.

I understand why phones seem to be the answer, but that wasn’t the question.. I tried my best to use my phone yesterday but despite doing the shake n’vac to turn the camera on and the volume button shutter release, the bright sunlight made composing the shot impossible, the screen is just too dark. I had another look online and Sony seem to have a decent range available. Prices seem to take a big jump if the camera features WiFi, is this a worthwhile option? Guessing transferring shots to a phone or tablet wirelessly makes them more visible without fiddling about with SD cards.

From your kind responses it seems to boil down to a choice between the Olympus which is more than I can justify, the Fuji which isn’t very good and staying with what I’ve got and learning to be less ham-fisted which is unlikely. As I mentioned waterproofness isn’t that important as I live in a dry part of the world but keeping dust out is. I just want to be able to pull it out of my bar bag or back pocket, turn it on using a glove friendly button and shoot half decent shots in good light with the occasional panning action shot without a variable time lag. Not too much to ask is it?

Most androids have functionality that when locked if you double tap the power button the camera app opens and then press volume up or down to take the pic.

My phone opens the camera if you shake it twice, I have visions of doing this on the bike and the phone slipping out of my hand and disappearing onto the road with a smashed screen.

Yes, the Olympus is a nice camera but double the budget is hardly a tad. The waterproof features are not a biggie but dust and impact are. Just finding by the time I’ve buggered about with my mobile, the moment has passed and cannot really work it with gloves as fingerprint or touch screen controls pretty well everything.

Our village vet requires all owners to wear masks as a Covid prevention measure but only accepts cash as the card provider charges such a large commission but this is rural Cataluña so anythings possible.

Good time of year for whale watching, shame your departure time means the Bay of Biscay will be at night.

Go on push the boat out and order yoursel a Chuleton. Can’t beat a big lump of cow.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Don’t worry, not much has changed since you left.

The bit of the Camino de Santiago that you’re likely to be walking is a part of the Eroica Hispania, the 180km route starts in Haro then through several hilltop villages to Logroño and on to Santa Domingo de la Calzada, mainly on gravel tracks. I restored a Peugeot bike to do it last year only to have the event cancelled on the eve due to the organisers forgetting to get a police permit. This time of year is fantastic in La Rioja when the vines start to go golden brown.