pn76

The Bohinj community captivated us. Seeking somewhere away from the crowds of popular Bled led us there, and it fulfilled in spades the chance to be outdoors, as Úrsula put it, “if the weather’s good!” A generous offer to leave our gear there until the afternoon meant we’d be freely able to get to Bled. A decade or so before, I explored the area on the shoestring budget restrictions every twenty-something from NZ usually does. Those travellers still sat in the park, eating a picnic lunch from Mercator. Bled was misty grey, much like Bohinj, which I’d done a muddy circuit on foot of that morning. The young campers were again spotted, Slovenian cubs and brownies, gathering for perhaps the next physical challenge at an outdoors camp. We say Dobra dan, and they say ‘helloo, I’m ... read more

Waking up to rural smells and sounds, and a gorgeous day, we were definitely in a village. Fuentespalda has a history we got the lowdown on upon chancing on an older resident, possibly the village crier, that afternoon. Virtually throwing herself verbally on us, the long history of the Ermita atop the hill, the legend written of the trumpet protecting the village, and the decision to never speak a certain dialect, was explained. The alternate name is Fontdespatla, and local signage is duo-lingo. La Picosa, a peak at over 1000m, took us a good few hours to climb beforehand. It was exactly the muscle-work change our thighs needed, rewarding us with a birds eye view of the nearby turquoise embalse, and dramatic craggy mountains to the east. A cool 6C morning and warm 18C afternoon fit ... read more

Waking up was guaranteed on Easter Friday when there’s loud drums, the rhythm repeated and echoing through the narrow old town streets. Another parade moved through to mark this day. Blue and purple were the theme colours here, and folks were out on their Sunday best. By mid morning more people were milling around, and come check out at midday, it was heaving. As luck had it, the bakery opened again that ran out of bread the day before. It was grainy bread and pan o chocolate for P2 and the cycle journey to Merida. We planned our route with bikes resting outside the Santa Maria convent, the police ever present, as they’d been stationed for the last 24 hours at our top street corner. Car after car came through, trying a hairpin band, to then ... read more

Kindly our Burgos host let us leave our gear whilst we scooted off for a few days of exploration before returning later in the week. Forecasting a mix of snow, rain, wind, cloud, sun and thunderstorms, we’re feeling more than a little intrepid and quite at home! The night-before-research into this three day jaunt first had an 80km path, that crossed several B roads and then entered La Rioja province on the LR113. Zero degrees at 8am upon sunrise was likely to put our departures back, to comfortably ride. So with the big back pack packing out of the way and panniers loaded up, we finally set off at 11, with energy to burn. Navigating out of town was trying, but soon we’d gone off piste, not quite as planned, trying to cut some distance on ... read more

The cycling mojo and general respiratory health had started to reappear for P2. Pumped with all the health giving nutrition we found from the Mercadona fruit and vegetable section, we’d decided to do a day trip to Ullastret; that required at least 60km return, and getting up early, of note to P2, on a Sunday morning But, it’s so easy to get out when it barely rains here, and the sun is up (although for any local Spanish / Catalán clocks, they tend to a general delay). So, the streets are wonderfully quiet! Ullastret via the C66 on a Sunday morning, by passing Go and with no stops allowed, we put the hammer down to be there by opening time, 10am. Yet any traveling without photos was impossible, as a distinct view over Sant Joan de ... read more