This time last year: May 19th, 2007 Saturday 10:30pm.
Cycle Europe Day 4: Barcelona - Gerona, 64.8 mi.
Got confirmation that there would be room at Gerona for tonight. Was going to come here anyway and there was already availability that was un-bookable. 120 hours ahead.
Alberg Pere Tarres locked me in! Didn’t open the garage door until 20 minutes later. I thought she said 2!!! Map of Barcelona was very handy. Charted my path the night before. Only problem was that there were too many traffic lights. Stop, go, stop, go, go, go!!!
Only 2 wrong turns and one bike push uphill all day. The bike push was up a hill that looked short but steep. Caught me at a time when I was quite exhausted. Roads today reminded me of the trip between Karak/Bentong to Sekinchan. Winding ones, highway ones, town ones. A bit of everything. Arse hurt toward the end of the journey, going to see if it will last till tomorrow.
E-mailed Perpignan youth hostel to book a night, waiting for reply. SMS to David Bozon too but the ‘cinema’ called. Some Hollywood movie, I suppose. “LOCK YOUR PHONE’S KEYPAD!!!” Could use his place as an extra day’s rest after hostel stay.
Right, going to check e-mail in the morning for reply. Pack my stuff anyway. Hill climb tomorrow. Best case estimate was 1.5% average gradient. Remains to be seen. ~ 290m climb. Half of Penang Hill, I can do “84″ of Penang Hill. We’ll see.
Had dinner with Nicholas from Edinburgh. Anglo-Swedish parents. Panini with cheese, onion, tomato and ham. He’s vegetarian though. Hmm… saw him doing yoga as well. Very very soft spoken. Can hardly hear him. Nice chap, I suppose. Wouldn’t talk about work but he’s in the bicycle business one way or another. Walks very fast. Maybe he’s a cyclist. Don’t think so. Maybe.
Played ping pong with Antonio and Camil (Camilia?), French studying Spanish. I’m a bit rusty though. Wasn’t really good to start with either. A good 1.667 years since my last game? They had a concept for round-robin. 4 players rotate to each take a swipe of the ball. Miss and you’re out! Remaining 2 play best of 5 to win ‘one life’ to be spared the axe in the next round-robin. Antonio was the best.
Already sleepy since dinner. Still a bit hungry though, not filling enough. Have some bisgedi…
Day 4 Accounts
Lunch €2.67
Orange Juice €1.29
Hostel €17.30 Gerona
Orange Juice €1.00
Dinner €4.50 Brazilian Somelias
Total €26.76