After our insanely epic day eight we both sleep the sleep of the dead….I never ever thought it would be possible to sleep soundly a full 7 hours on a blow up mat in a tent but just goes to show…..if you climb nearly 8000 feet and ride nearby 80 miles with 20kg of panniers then sleep comes surprisingly easy! Even the ridiculous high pitched squawky bird which went on all night can’t interfere.

We have landed at a campsite in Sanguesa in Northern Spain. Given our broken bike predicament and the fact that nothing is open the easiest decision we have ever made is to take a rest day today. We have found what looks like a decent bike shop in the town and so our plan now is to press our faces against the window at 8am tomorrow when they open, look plaintiff and desperate (which won’t be super hard under the circumstances!) and see if we can get a fix sorted. Until we know if the bike is fixed or not there is no other plan.

So instead we take a day to mooch around the town. There is, as I say, very little open but we do find a small bar where we indulge in some coffee and croissant and we pick up some paninis for lunch later. We also pick up some supplies at the only supermarket that is open (yes we double down on water!)

For lunch we take a stroll up to a statue of the “baby cheesus” which looks out over the town and have ourselves a little “Picnic” (turns out its the same in Spanish as it is in English!)

Given today is our day off maybe now is a good time to share with you some of the things I have made a note of on the way but I haven’t yet posted about .

Apropos of nothing, the first thing to mention is my beard or more accurately the lack thereof. I am by my own admission not an “hirsute” man but ordinarily after a week without a shave I would have a decent bit of stubble / whiskers to show for it…..this week, not so much. I have two working hypothesis both of which I have been mulling over a lot through through the French countryside (if anyone has alternative views please let us know at threemenandatent@hotmail.com). Theory one is that my body is expending so much energy that it simply does not have enough left to be diverting to superfluous things like “beard growth”….this, rightly or wrongly seems entirely plausible to me right now. Theory two, and frankly my favourite at the moment, is that my body has very cleverly recognised that I seem intent on pummelling my down belows out of existence and has therefore assumed that I am no longer desirous of being a “gentleman” and so it has simply turned off my testosterone…again very logical although somewhat “sub-optimal”.

I should also mention, again unrelated to anything in particular that when two men in their “early” (yes early !!) 50s are exhausted and pushing themselves to the vomity edge every day in the pursuit of charitable donations, you need a lot of “reminders” and “lists” in your life. It seems to be a golden thread to the trip and we have a shopping list, of course, but we also have a reminder of things to include in the blog, we have a list of the campsites (with TMAAT names) that we have visited and we have a reminder on the instructions on how to upload to the blog.

There was though a particularly special and perhaps even “meta” moment yesterday when Marc said we should set a reminder to make a list ….which I confess I found profound, confusing and deeply troubling all at the same time.

A few of you have commented that the blog is perhaps not giving you a real sense of the “suffering” that we are inflicting on ourselves in the name of Prostate Cancer Uk. First thing to say is that it is actually a conscious decision on our part not to do that. We don’t want loved ones worrying about us (and for the avoidance of doubt, there is nothing to worry about!). Secondly….what on earth is wrong with you people!!

It is fair to say though that overall we seem to be doing ok physically in spite of the craziness of what we are doing ….both of us have sore knees, Marc has constant pins and needles in his right hand, the toes on my left foot are pretty much constantly numb (so no pain….until I stop pedalling!) legs are sore (although recover quickly) and all of that without even mentioning the unmentionables (damn, now I have mentioned them!). Not sure why it comes to mind right now but my soft apricots have been a revelation.

We are of course now a viral sensation……if that is you consider the front page of the Redditch and Alcester Advertiser to be a “sensation”. Even more excitingly though my amazing wife Jo got through to Virgin Radio today, did a huge and live plug for what we are doing and included details of our website…Marc and I were listening in and yes of course, I cried again!

Finally today, in the second of what I suspect may become a portfolio of artistic representations, I give you “TMAAT cycle in Spain, as the bobble headed man looks on”

You are welcome!