Oh thank God!! It’s the last day before the rest day…..allejulah! It is so very very needed.

We managed to grab a proper meal on the campsite last night (and by “proper” I mean not pasta or pizza and it is so unbelievably welcome). We have a good conversation with two guys on the pitch next to us who it turns out are also cycling to Santander (clearly that’s a thing?). Perhaps it’s our egos getting a little inflated but they do seem quite taken aback when they hear that a/ we started in London, b/ we aim to finish in Tangiers and c/ we cycled 113 miles today! Regardless we do rather covet their light weight chairs (oh to sit on a chair right now!)) which we snap a picture of in the vain hope Amazon might deliver here.

We know today is less miles but more climbing and so allow ourselves a bit, but not much of a lay in, and we actually head off about 8 am saying goodbye to our fellow cycling travellers as we go. The countryside is definitely changing now, for the better IMHO, and it is much more rolling and interesting…..there is much less of that draggy, grinding relentless pain that 100 miles or more of a long, flat pull across the countryside gives you. The weather has been our friend so far but the clouds ahead look just a teeny tiny bit worrying.

It’s a measure of yesterdays horror that on the 20 mile point we’ve already covered more climbing than we did in the whole of 130 miles yesterday. That’s not to say it’s always easier (in fact there is one hideous 15% climb which will not easily be forgotten) but it doesn’t mess with your mind in the same way.

We grab the now customary croissants and pain au chocolat at a boulingerie and then a few miles later we pullover and feed our faces with lots or additional jam and some fresh coffee.

We make such good progress today that at the insanely early time of 1230 we grab some lunch from the supermarket. A few more miles later we pull over and have another little “pique nique”. (It’s not as bad as it looks although I should say that many beetroots were sacrificed for the greater good.)

Our plan today was to get to a campsite part way up into the Pyrenees, take our rest day and then on Sunday make the big climb over Porte Larrau and drop down into Spain. When we are within 10 miles of finishing our day we spot a problem.

There is a short (very short I might add!) discussion about whether or not the fact that our chosen pass is closed actually applies to us, but clearly it’s too much risk to cycle another 10 miles and, more importantly, over 1000 feet of up only to find we have to turn around and come back down. We take a good 15 minutes at the side the road considering what to do with the first step being I phone our planned campsite who confirms that the pass is indeed definitely closed. When I ask why she suggests something vague to do with terrorism or Covid or maybe both. Regardless we know from experience that mountains are not to be messed with when you are cycling and there is no point trying to continue with our “plan”. Our decision then is to cycle due East (not the way we want to go!) to the base of the La Pierre Saint Martin pass (which apparently is open) then find a different campsite for the night, and take stock. It’s about 10 miles in the wrong direction so not to be sniffed at and in fact we reject the first site on the basis of …well just no thank you! We find another nearby in the tiny village of Aramits and decide it is “acceptable”. We also decide that regardless of what our new plan is we need to wash our things and so that is what we are doing right now whilst writing and working out our “Plan B”. I foresee a difficult decision. We do need our rest day but we risk adding a lot of miles and a lot climbing right now…..TBC!

Final update for all you #onlydanfans is that he is still rowing his way through his own frankly insane challenge….what an amazing effort Dan, I mean it’s not cycling to Africa but still!