So here we are on Groundhog Day part three then, although I am going to hazard a guess that Sanguesa is a lot lot warmer (it is down right hot today) than Punxsutawney Pennsylvania!

We are as confident as we can be that the right part has been ordered, that it will arrive today and that that means we can be on our way again.

Unfortunately it is not to be. Despite the online shop very clearly guaranteeing delivery today, when I login early in the morning to track the package it’s been updated to say it’s now due tomorrow!!

It’s a big blow which initially neither of us take very well. It means that even if we assume we are able to finally escape Sanguesa tomorrow (and it’s starting to feel like that might never happen) and we skip any further planned rest days we are still going to be at least a day behind. It also guarantees that every day from here on in is going to be monstrously tough.

We try hard to resist the urge to start re-planning, making contingencies and second guessing ourselves. The fact is that until we know categorically that the bike is actually repaired it’s all too uncertain and it will only make us more unhappy. We just have to wait…..something both of us are I admit struggling with.

I will be honest I am not super good at sitting still doing not much at all at the best of times but when there is a flight to catch and over 700 miles to cycle between us and it….well it is fair to say I have got major itchy feet!!! Pretty and interesting as it is we are both basically done with being in Sanguesa…..it’s definitely a bit of worry when the locals start greeting you by your first name and they do the universal mime for “bike still broken then I take it?) It’s really a measure of our deep level of boredom that we decide to go on a longish walk and play a childish game of “I spy nature”…..within 30 seconds we have done cat, dog, fish, bird, tree and flower” and the game is over (for the record I won!!)

We decide instead that we should go hat shopping in what is really the weirdest shop in town / possibly Spain. That obviously goes about as well as you would expect but it does lift our spirits. We also toy with the idea of buying the set of plastic sausages but, despite my argument that you just never know when they might come in handy, we agree that they are an unnecessary extravagance.

We have bumped into a few “peregrinoes” since we landed here, people (or pilgrims as I think they call themselves) walking or cycling the Camino de Santiago de Compestela. A Belgian guy turned up at the campsite (where we now live apparently!!) last night, cycling on his own from home to Santiago…..you just have to admire that stamina and commitment. He also had an even nicer chair than the one we coveted all those nights ago in France. It’s all I can do to stop Marc making an Amazon Prime purchase there and then his logic being ….”there’s no problem getting it delivered…we will be here FOREVER!!!!!” ….and it’s hard to argue.

In a desperate attempt to alleviate the boredom we decide to video ourselves and ickleDan taking the tent down and then putting it back up again (I do feel that properly conveys our mental state right now….we urgently need to get pedalling again).

Final update for the day is to give massive, massive kudos and congratulations to @DanHastie who whilst we have been cooling our heels in downtown Sanguesa going stir crazy has been finishing his epic rowing challenge. With barely a bead of sweat on his (occasionally, in the right light) perfectly formed visage he has rowed a mind boggling 240km since we set off on 30 April all in support of Prostate Cancer Uk. Huge congrats Dan….what an achievement….donate, donate, donate everyone!!!