Author Archives: jhalstead1

Today I decided to man-up and do it. This was despite the forecast for continued rain. I couldn’t wimp out 2 days in a row, and today’s route was supposed to be quite short.  Well, it rained all day – sometimes a constant drizzle, sometimes torrential. There was thunder and lighting on the tops, thoughContinue reading “18th June 2013”

I didn’t feel too good today. Also my knee was bad. And there was rain forecast. So I wimped out and took the nice new road to Sabinanigo…22km of tarmac with minimal ascent over 48km of track and 1000m of ascent. But the road was nice, it had a 2.5km tunnel which was interesting andContinue reading “17th June 2013”

Yet another WOW day in the Pyrenees. I had expected a boring day on tarmac, but the route was through THE most spectacular gorge. Now, I know many of you may be suffering from gorge fatigue, but this one really is even more spectacular than the others. It’s deeper, and narrower and thank god cooler.Continue reading “15th June 2013”

My stay in Campo was very restorative, and I was looked after very well at the hotel Cotiella. The lovely manageress was even patient enough to have a whole conversation with me in my poor Spanish. When I started out today, I had thought I was in for an easy day – only 30km. ButContinue reading “14th June 2013”

Wow – I have just had the best and the worst day. I thought it was going to be shorter than yesterday, but it turned out to be longer (55km) and harder (over 2000m of ascent). 2 old war wounds in my left knee started to give me pain, and it was the hottest dayContinue reading “12th June 2013”

Well I had my first day biking in the Pyrenees and it was brill. It was hard, the off-road was tough and I had to carry the bike and trailer at one part of the ascent, but it was so much better than all that tarmac through Valencia. And the view from the pass madeContinue reading “11th June 2013”

Today I finally make it into the heart of the Pyrenees. I am at Cabdella, a tiny village which sits on an east to west bike route across the Pyrenees. My journey here was through the Pyranean mountains in constant rain, so there are no photos I’m afraid, but here is one I took theContinue reading “9th June 2013”

I have had a day off in Lleida yesterday, and spent it writing my book and doing maintenance on the bike. I bought 2 new tyres which will give better grip off-road than the rubbish ones I have now. I fixed 2 slow punctures I found in my back tyre, caused because the current tyresContinue reading “8th June 2013”

The ride to Lleida was VERY long. Along the main road it was an easy 70km but the traffic was quite heavy and it was too hot to keep my helmet on. So I turned off into the hills to take an alternative route. It was very quiet and picturesque but long with many climbsContinue reading “6th June 2013”

Today was a long ride through endless orchards. I followed the River Ebre most of the day (see above) and the vegetation was just incredibly lush, especially after Valencia: There were some interesting bits but I have captured them all on the video diary.