lots of k but a little progress... :)

Well crikey I could tell you all about my time in Bristol (which I have written about but am not going to copy in at this point...) but there aren´t enough colourful words to describe it, compared with today. From looking out of the front of the ferry this morning at the dramatic range of mountains shrouded in blessed thick clouds, to the shoal? flock? pod? of dolphins rushing and leaping in the waves of their endless playground... Taking Graham Blue my bike onto Spanish soils for the first time (well Spanish tarmac...) and getting used to Spanish roads and traffic (they are actually way more considerate here towards cyclists, rom what I´ve seen so far- plenty of space when overtaking, shouts of encouragement on the gnarliest hills...), cooling off topless in the azure and quiet bay at Liencres, checking out the similarities (or more importantly differences) between Spanish Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, with some help from Elena... Me and Nick and Hannah took about 2 hours getting out of Santander, dawdling down every cul-de-sac and going round roundabouts several times each, but eventually found our way onto a gorgeous coastal road through Liencres to Boo, and eventually to Torrelavega where I had already arranged to meet Elena, from Couchsurfing.org, and Nick and Hannah have gone on to find a spot to set up camp. I´ll probably join them camping after today- we´ve decided to travel together for the time being, as we´re at the best place to cross the mountains and we can always sepeate at a later date, so we´ve split the load a little and shared maps and food and guarded each others bikes and things. I keep wondering how different this´d be if I was still alone- arriving in this city with unfamiliar sights and roads and language... It´ll be easier when I´m more used to it I´m guessing. Anyway it´s 2am by my body clock and I´m exhausted, sunburnt(!) and still rocking after the ferry crossing so I´m off to surf this couch :) PS: Today´s distance travelled- 47km. Hmm.

Ferry musings

I´m perched in a litte nook on the windowsill right at the front of the ferry, where no desperate loudspeakered ´entertainment´ hassles me and the seat is comfier for not even trying to be comfy - the sky is hazy blue and I´´m squinting through my eyelashes from the sun (you know when it goes all rainbow blobby?)

I think I anticipated the fear of actually being on the journey so much in the time leading up to setting off that I´´ve got no room left for anxiety- I feel a little drunk and spacey, from lack of sleep and the rocking of the boat, and slightly timeless, having explored the ship quite thoroughly, watched a film, snacked all day...

My time in Bristiol was good if busy- the harbourside festival, where i saw some pretty faces I´ve not seen in a long while and some fireworks and had a good laugh, did some work setting up and taking down from the Invisible circus´´s Swing Thing, it was Ash´´s birthday on Monday which was a fine occasion indeed- overall it was hard work remembering to get prepared for the trip.

This morning I remembered a few essentials, but after a little disagreement with my alarm at 5:40 didn´´t have quite enough time, but I´ve got a good feeling and even gooder friends and I´´m fully looking forward to the journey ahead. The pass I´m thinking of taking is as high as Snowdon on the day I arrive, but I´m only planning on doing about 30k and I´´ve got acouchsurf organised who seems really lovely, so I´m not worried.

In fact I´m REALLY EXCITED!! And looking forward immensely to travelling for at least some of the distance with Nick and Hannah, who are also cycling to Boom, and just happened even to be on the same ferry!!

I´d be out of my mind with boredom already if they weren´´t here and it´´s lovely to have someone else with the same plans nearby.

We´ve been discussing routes, I think we´ll definately cycle together for the first bit- it makes sense to share each others company, slipstreams and luggage; but I´ve also come to terms quite well with travelling alone and may split off for parts of the journey, if purely for thesake of feeling I have. It´´d be good to give them space to travel as they´´d intended, too, and I´ll have more time to write if I´m not socializing :P