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It’s Always A Rude Awakening

Daily Stats

Distance 80kms

Time 3hours 55 mins

Speed 20.4kph

Elvation 322meters

Accumulative distance 80kms

Daily Disasters

  1. Forgot gloves left at home
  2. Price too low for a hotel worth sleeping in
  3. I left my bag with money/passport/insta 360 in the resturant
  4. The video I want to upload is taking sooooo long I stopped it and may upload later

Of course I’m suffering a bit of jet lag. I had minimum sleep while flying.  Luckily I fell to sleep fast but woke at 5am. I packed. Then just waited till breakfast at 8.45

Breakfast arrived just before 9.

And I was in the lobby ready to go at 9.15. Because I was in a different hotel than I originally booked it was cheaper, happy days.

Obligatory idiot photo
Out the hotel window

I thought I had packed everything. But much to my anger and surprise I forgot my gloves. 1st day my hands are already sore. Grrrrrrrrrr.

You never know what you are going to get not only by Komoot, but also this region what are called roads sometimes turn out not to be. But I have gravel tyres so am prepared to cope with anything.

My hotel was way on the northern outskirts of Ha Noi and luckily I am going north. The air around Ha Noi is full of dust making breathing a bit unpleasant and stunting any views. My route is meandering close to a motorway. Going repeatedly along small tracks that sort of connect roads, these are sometimes gravel sometimes concrete and often singletrack. This keeps me away from traffic which is very welcome.

Gravel roads
Nice town entrance
Many wall paintings mainly near schools
Temple on a hill.

I bought some cake type things last night for the journey. They turned out delicious and sustained me throughout the day.

I thought I was being clever and finding the hotel on my own. The hotel I was searching for didn’t have particularly good reviews, but I was tired and wanted to stop. I asked a local they pointed to here, so I just went in and stayed. It seems infinitely worse than the one on Bookings.com. Dirty, no sheets, crappy shower/toilet.  Luckily I brought my silk sleeping bag liner. I’m already exploring my lower limit to pay for a hotel, this one is £6.50. Next time I won’t go below £10 possibly £13.

I did go for a pleasant walk in the town and discovered the actual hotel I was looking for.

All the kids are on electric scooters.
This lot about 13 – 15 years old.

Out for dinner at a out 6pm opposite the hotel I saw the hotel owner so popped into that street restaurant.  4 eggs and some rice and stuff later. I’m full and happy. I go back to the hotel completely forgetting my bag. 5 mins later there is a knock on the door and the hotel man with my bag in his hand. Phew.

Don’t forget to follow my daily every 10 minute dots. https://share.garmin.com/acoupleofdaysrideoutta Sometimes it takes a bit of time for the dots to appear, patience.

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Off I Go

Just under a week with my sister, Kate, and brother, Simon, at my sisters house in Huddersfield.

Yep zero pictures of the family only me and Kate. And I cannot work out how to take a frame from a video….. yet.

I forgot my wallet with bank card and other cards left in Glasgow. I was in a bit of panic for the time away but luckily found when back in Glasgow. 

I packed my bike and have weighed it and 20.75kgs doesn’t sound too bad. But there is a chance I will drop that by a bit just to get it below 20kgs, dry weight.

Big box at airport
1st plane
Dubai
Big visa queues at
Ha Noi airport
The joy of seeing my Smart tag locator at Ha Noi Airport.
Ha Noi Airport slightly more mad than Glasgow

I got a sim at the airport about £13 for 2 weeks unlimited data, he said he would extend it for 4 weeks at the same price but i doubt he has done this. I’ll probably be stranded close to the border with Laos and no data. 😬

I messaged the hotel to be picked up. As I waited sat column 11 they sent me a message saying there was very loud karaoke at the hotel so they were taking me to another one. I booked the hotel to stay in a room like this

Unfortunately I got this

I presume its a con but they compensated with free transport and free breakfast.

I spent a good few days in Ha Noi a couple of years ago so I don’t really have a burning desire to go back into town. Maybe just a quiet meal tonight close to the hotel.

I always go out with terrible trepidation to search out my first meal.  But today I walked up the street and was waved into the restaurant  y the owner, he pointed out the buffet. I was sold immediately. 

Dong 50000. That’s about £1.60. Definitely money well spent.

I was contemplating staying another night, I think not, exploring is the name of the game.

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Vietnam 🇻🇳 Laos 🇱🇦  Cambodia 🇰🇭 Thailand 🇹🇭

I thought I’d go as light as I could so I watched a travel/pack list video by the awe-inspiring  Sofiane Sehili a rider of such enviable strength and stamina, the man is beyond belief. He was doing a pack video for his 2 month trip to Thailand and Vietnam. So I thought I would see what he was taking, just to get a bit of pack inspiration. I sat with amazement at the minimalism 😲. Please watch for yourself and see if you could drop to that sparseness. He did have the advantage of going with his partner which does help,  but even so.

I took some inspiration but overall I was pretty low anyway. The Bike, I had decided to take my Open Up it’s about 8kgs. And stuff, 6 bags (saddle pack/frame bag/ top tube bag/2 stem bags and a handlebar bag when full about 10kgs. I’ll give it all a final weigh as I pack the day before I leave.

I have a handle bar bag but when strapped to the bars (of this bike) it touches the wheel. I do have 2 other bags but they are in Greece. So I bought an Apidura bag it’s their race version unfortunately much to my surprise it doesn’t attach to my race aero bars so I sent it back, gutted as it was the perfect size and shape. I did offer my services as a product tester. I’m presuming none of their testers of their race products have race handlebars. I pointed this out in my email. Of course my slightly sarcastic tone may not have gone down well. So, much to my disgruntleness I had to buy a Rapha bag, slightly smaller but fits perfectly on the bars, I did cut off their crap straps and put on some Voile straps.

I have been having problems with my saddle slipping in the rails so I had to purchase a new Thompson seatpost, that’ll be solid (yes know it’s silver and doesn’t look great but there is a long term plan to be divulged way into next year) Saddle wise I have reverted back to my Brookes C15. But seeing as I have not ridden this bike for a month or so I’ll probably be adjusting it every day. And hope my saddle/bum issues do not return. Please let me be able to ride more than 100kms and sti feel good st the end of the ride.

Of course I am using my absolutely spectacular 65th birthday present to myself Stayer All Road Wheels. (Industry 9 hubs, Stayer 45/55 deep rims.) Usually I take a dynamo front wheel but I’m staying in hotels so should have electricity every night. Oh so excited to be riding with these wheels. And they seriously look lit 🔥

I will be using the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H version.  There is always a chance of some off road bits so good to be prepared.

Thanks lots to the guys at the GGCC for putting up with my constant complaining about the weather and general inane jibber jabber. And for giving me an incentive to get up at least once a week and rip me out of my negative apathy.

Credit for the photos 📸  Mark Gallagher, Saif Mulla, Chris Ditchfield and Lesley Tennant. Thanks guys

My schedule until I leave on 1/1/25

  1. Xmas meal with niece in Glasgow
  2. Xmas meal with my brother in Glasgow
  3. Xmas meal with my sister in Huddersfield
  4. Return from Huddersfield on 30/12/25
  5. Pack
  6. Get to the Airport 😬
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And The End.

I met a Latifa from Bahrain, it was my first evening of travelling. She was touring southern Spain in a motorhome. We subsequently messaged back and fourth just keeping in touch with each others travels. On one of her posts she showed her future travel plans, Distance each day,  where staying, price petrol, price campsite. I was severely impressed.  Surely you do a plan approximately like this Latifa asked. I thought for a bit. I chuck all my stuff on the bed a week or so before I travel. I select what I’m taking from that, that’s a bit organised.

Find the cheapest flight, usually it’s to Alicante or Malaga.

Then Komoot plans a route for me. That takes about 10 minutes.  But I followed that route for 2 days then just went completely off script.  I stay at campsites,  or not.

I try to buy 2 or 3 days food but will stop each day for coffee and cakes. 

Latifa said,

That plan is no plan

I like that and it seems to work.

I had a message from Lesley:

It may not have been what you were expecting but you have certainly been on an adventure.

And that is definitely what i enjoy about my bike travels and l spiel out my usual quote that Brett is forever haranguing me for saying 🤮 but:

Adventure begins when certainty ends.

When I explain to people that st the end of my trip I turn up at a city without a bike box or know where I’m going to get one. This is stressful  time for me but in the 30 years I have been travelling by bike I have never failed to find a bike box or a method of putting my bike on the plane that I found adequate.

I like the jeopardy

And this trip Damien of Hors Categorie came good for me. The process this trip was made all the more stressful by everything being closed for a whole day because of the rains. I also got a bike box of different dimensions than usual. The bike easily fitted in but possibly too much space and everything wobbled inside, luckily my sleep mat acted as padding.

Once again my Samsung smarttag told me my bike was in Glasgow on arrival a source of much relief.

I love travelling by bike. The places I go the people I meet.

Happy Days

1321kms in 22 days riding out of 32 in Spain. That’s an average of 60kms a day. I took it easy most of the time sndvi think I was successful in mot being rained on while riding which us a definate bonus.

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The Last Day. It Turned Out

Daily Stats

Distance 96kms

Time 4 hours 42 mins

Elevation 764meters

Speed 20.4 kph

Daily Disasters

1. Taken up a dead end dirt road

2. Didn’t phone the bike shop early enough.

Last night I made a decision. There were rain weather warnings for the whole area. Tuesday was supposedly clear but Wednesday snd maybe Thursday torrential rain. So I decided to book a hotel for 3 days. I still had to find a bike box for the flight home.

Alarm set for 7.30, I woke and slowly got my stuff together. And was out the gate by 9am. The first 20kms was a hilly and through s few towns.

There was Churros, chocolate and coffee.
The classis 3C trifactor. 

Then my route took me on a classic Komoot road detour

First this
Then this a near vertical dirt climb. I decided to return to the road, only a couple of kms back.

Then my route took me towards a tunnel. I found out subsequently that some riders ride through the tunnel but at sbout 900meters long they scare me to death,  so I took the old road detour which turned out to be a beautiful climb

Then just round the corner this view.

I knew when I descended this hill it was near flat all the way to Malaga.

As I got a bit of steam up, I met 2 cyclists who were going sbout my speed so I latched on and drafted them. One turned off and I stuck with the other, he seemed quite content I was drafting him, I did take the lead once but he immediately overtook me. I thought he was starting to flag when 2 young cyclists past us, and my guy put the pedal to the metal and chased then so I chased him. Now we were really flying.

Then I knew it had to stop eventually, we came to a roundabout and all 3 turned and left me. I was a bit worse for ware. I slowed down and stopped to put a bit of fuel into myself.

Only 26kms left. I cruised into and through Malaga. And finally got to my hotel at about 4 or 4.30

I showered and relaxed. My feet were severely thrombing and I had a bit of a headache.

Eventually I ambled to the reception desk at about 5.30. I asked and they had kindly agreed to phone some bike shops for me.  3 no answers and the 3rd call the guy answered, he spoke Engkish and had said he had a bike box. But he closed at 6, not enough time for me to get to him. So I now have to run the gauntlet of the storm tomorrow.  🤞🤞🤞🤞 here’s hoping all will be good.

Link to my tracker here

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A week in Orgiva

The terrible floods and rain forced me to readjust my route planning. I ended up in Orgiva about a week earlier than I had expected. And although I did for a moment think I was going to do an extra loop circumstances guided me towards staying put for a week.

When I set out on my days ride I have absolutely no idea how my saddle is going to affect me. There seem to be 3 default situations.

1. The edge of the saddle rubs against my right hip joint deep in my groin this causes pain and numbness in my gleut and hamstring. Which proceed to stop working so I’m only pedalling with my left leg.

2. I can adjust my position a bit and the pain in my right side is marginally better. But this causes my perineum to impact the saddle causing excruciating pain.

3. All is good. Minimum pain anywhere.

If only the ratio was a rotation of the three but unfortunately it’s more like a continuous rotation of 1 and 2 and once a week I’ll have a good day.

My time in Orgive has been fantastic. I relaxed. I saw my friend Moira, what no photos of you 2 together, no none 🤦. And I ate a lot.

Ride 1

Distance 42kms

Time 2hours 14 mins

Elevation 828meters

Speed 18.9kph

This is a beautiful ride up through Lanjarón. Then dips down around the reservoir and back to Orgiva. This was so painful initially my hip and groin then I shifted position and adjusted the pain to my perineum.

Ride 2

Distance 68kms

Time 3hours 21 mins

Elevation 979meters

Speed 20kph

A lovely jaunt down to the sea. Coffee/cake. And home. This ride much to my great joy was totally pain free.

Komoot did take me over a nonexistent bridge. I arrived home with soaking feet and a popped off boa

But the gorge I rode through was spectacular

My last evening the sunset was something to behold

Back on the road again.

Distance 46kms

Time 2 hours 21 mins

Elevation 712meters

Speed 19.8kph

I aimed to leave Orgiva camping at about 10am and was on the road at 10.15. Too much time prettying myself up.

The first half of the route was the same as the last route. Its a good ride and mainly down hill. I got to have coffee in Velez de Benaudalla. The road rises to its highest point just after at the top a short tunnel and then the descent into Motril. The road then winds its way up the coast through Salobreña and finally to Almuñécar and the ‘Tropical’ Camping. I think this is stretching my imagination of the word and its luxury meaning.  The campsite is nice and the people and facilities are many and varied. But it is next to the main road and the incessant traffic passing. But I’m here for the night and quite satisfied.

I know I took zero photos today.

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Orgiva. Like Being Home.

Daily Stats

Distance 35 kms

Time 1 hour 21 mins

Elevation 234meters

Speed 26kph

Daily Disasters

  1. Can’t remember from yesterday, grrrrrrrrrr
  2. This ride was not arduous e ough to cause saddle problems bet I know they are there.

I rolled out of bed so late and slowly put my stuff together.  The proposed ride was short and mainly downhill. Eventually leaving at about 10.30.

Of course the proposed mainly downhill started with an uphill. Then swishing down. This road is high up (around 1000meters) with views across to the southern mountains with the Alpujhara valley in-between. 

I shouldn’t have stopped to take this on a precarious position. But 😲😲.

I stopped at Pampaneira for coffee. Then the downhill really started. Unfortunately a tow truck was hauling a van which caused a tailback of about 20 cars so the last 6 or 7 kms was slow and in traffic.

I rolled into Orgiva camping. I have friends in Orgiva so I will be staying here for a day or 2.

I thought I was getting 2 small side dishes.
Sorry I only managed half of each.
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Alpujhara Magic

Daily Stats

Distance 63kms

Elevation 1624 meters

Time 4 hours 30 mins

Speed 14.1

Daily Disasters

  1. Saddle is soooooo painful
  2. Mistimed arrival at campsite.
  3. Worst toast snd tomatoes ever.
  4. Forgot to turn my tracker on till half way

They didn’t open the gates till 9.30. I was at the gate ready to go.

The day started bright and sunny,  the blue sky was wonderful to see. Within minutes I had my jacket off and short sleeves were perfect attire.

I thought iknew the road as I’d ridden and driven it s few times, but once again it threw up so surprises

I know they look the same but one has snow but no bike and the other has bike but no snow.
Some one handed descent shinnanikins.

I was hoping to go through Cadiar for coffee and a few supplies but the route turned off 1.5 kms early. I decided to carry on into Cadiar. Where Carrefour supplied me with food. I did stop for some what turned out to be the worst toast and tomatoes I have had so far.

There was a substantial amount of climbing today.  But if course the effort of the climb is offset by the views.

I walked out to this view point.
And captured this video.
No views of beauty.

The climb continued Garmin had quite a few red bits, I just set my gear on the lowest and spun my legs.

Eventually Trevelez came into sight 1600meters up. It’ll be a cool night.

I rode into the campsite and had to wait 40 mins for the reception to open. But tent set up. Once again just as the tent was up it started to rain.

I have been to this campsite 3 or 4 times before. Its good

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Alpujhara.

Daily Stats

Distance 42 kms

Time 2 hours 41 mins

Elevation 966meters

Speed 15.9 kph

Daily Disasters

  1. Rain despite 3 apps saying clear sky
  2. Saddle issues are ongoing. If the pain wasn’t so bad I would be able to cover more distance

Despite its slightly sleazy feeling I slept OK last night. Made my porridge on the doorstep again. And was ready to leave by about 9.30. I popped in for a coffee.

The sun was shining and I was full of the joys of autumn.  Of course another mountain to climb from the go. There were some steep rises over the climb. Peaking at just over 1300meters over about 10kms. But the views were spectacular and I enjoyed the climb. Reaching the top there was no plaque no signs to signify my achievement just the road stretching ahead. There was once again a set of false summits before the road plunged down.

A Spanish cyclist rode past going the opposite way, wearing shorts much to my surprise. He caught me up on the descent and showed me to a cafe in Ohanes but didn’t stop.

I was impressed by this mural as I rode out of town.

My route had a few rises then dropping down into Fondón and my campsite.  Possibly the most laborious of check-ins with me getting more paper than I usually do.

My saddle issues continue.

Despite 3 apps saying no rain I had just enough time to put my tent up/shower before the heavens opened for a good 40min downpour. Luckily the storm has passed and the sun is back.

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The pain from my saddle is way beyond a joke.

I watched last night the devastation in Valencia and Castille la Mancha. I needed no English words from the news to understand the consequences.

Daily Stats

Distance 68kms

Elevation 1463meters

Time 4 hours 3 mins.

Speed 16.9kph

Daily Disasters

  1. My saddle has really started to hurt me. Luckily I’m old enough not to want any more kids coz I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t be able to.

I ambled out of the hotel and set up my bike/bags then sat down to a coffee and toast and jam, I know something different, that’s the kind of guy I am.

So pleased my back brake is working again. But I popped into a bike shop to get some fine oil to lubricate some pivots. The shop guy initially misunderstood, my bad as my explanation was crap. One eventually we got there, unfortunately it didn’t solve the problem, that’ll be another job for Dales Cycles when I get back.

My route today was up then down practically 50% each way. And as I went up I wasn’t particularly of a mind to take many photos, I really just wanted to concentrate on my pedalling. Usually at about 2½ hours my undercarriage starts to suffer, but when I go up the time is reduced to about 40mins that gives me 80mins of crotch hell.

Mear the top I came upon a band of workers strumming the grass and undergrowth.  I thought it a peculiar time to be strumming.

The top had 3 or 4 false summits. Extremely stressful. And as I got close to the top the temperature dropped substantially.  I was down to just my short sleeve cycling jersey as the climbing was hot.

The true summit.

Between Granada (going up) and Almeria (going dowm) districts the road surface was night and day, Granada was so smooth them Almeria…

Not much better than a gravel road.

But the road got better after 10kms or so. This descent was fast and zig zaggy. I really enjoyed it

Way to scary to do any more one handed filming than this.

I rolled down and into my hotel. 🤔 there is s possibility this is a day rate hotel.

I couldn’t stop myself.

Then I had a snooze, worked out my route for tomorrow and did nothing the rest of the afternoon.

Cooked my evening meal on the doorstep.

Link to my tracker here interestingly it’s times like this when there is uncertainty and flooding and disasters that I specifically bought the tracker for. Just so people can check where I am and if I’m moving in the correct sort of direction.