I don´t know how I can write today down,- we´ve done 7 times yesterdays distance but the road´s been much better.
The smell of rotting figs wafting heavy in the thick breeze, rolling bruised with approaching thunder after us, pushing us onwards.
After posting a letter, stocking up on tobacco, water and caffeine in Celorico da Beira (even, shamefully, finding out the price of a hostel!)
We´d hardly left the town in the pissing rain when we headed doen a littledirt track in the hope of finding a little bit of field to pitch up in- but ahead was a little asbestos covered shelter with open sides and straw on the ground.
Farmhouse was visible, though, and we were in full view of the track, so Graham took me to ask ´Nos podemos dormir aqui?´
Once all 3-plus generations and the dogs had come out to look at me, they enthusiastically agreed that although it was the other farmers barn, it would definately be absolutely fine for us to sleep in there.
Which is why me and Hannah were so suprised when as we were setting down to cook a nice meal, to the tune of thunder and tuneful churchbells, a car pulled up and a policeman got out.
Shit.
I cautiously approached him- "Boa tarde Senor..."
He asked if we were planning on sleeping here, and I gabbled something about having spoken to the family... He must have seen the panic in my eyes and he laughed, told us it was fine- he´s just locking the gate and what time would we like it opened by in the morning?
I laughed with relief, got a friendly pat on the back and wished good luck and good night.
I´m expecting to get woken up by curious kids or rats so I better get some shut-eye. Goodnight! x
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Monday, 30 August 2010
Hello again
Today I said goodbye to many- friends for a day, friends for life, a way of living that I´m yet to find outside of a festival.
Inspiresd, inspiring, beautiful souls, that connected feeling you get at a festival like this.
So much to learn, so much informaation, ideas, ideologies, beliefs, plans and realities to gather and sift through and pick the best bits from to talk about and build upon; read up about and act upon. Contribute to as well, hopefully!
I´m sure I´ve learnt more at festivals than I ever could in the same amount of time in any other situation- school, travels, reading, meditating... so many ideas bouncing around, workshops, talks fom some incredibly wel informed and enthusiastic speakers from around the world on a ridiculous renge of subjects.
I didn´t think it was possible to find workshops so close together on Óvercoming Self Sabotage` ´Tantric Dance´´Healing with raw Food´ ´Lucid Dreaming´and Astral Travel´ ´Who am I and why am I here´´Art Drugs and God (given by a man called Android Jones :P ) ´The Holographic Human Body- a quantic transducer´ ´Trance-forming lab´ ´Create your own mandala universe´ The list goes on. Those are just some of the ones that made me giggle.
Oh, oh and the music! The dancing! The beautiful location, immense lake, the pretty lights and steal-your-heart decor and art.
I don´t know what else I can tell you until I get home and see your faces, where I look forward to making you all green with envy when I eventually stagger back.
Now I sleep in a sweet-smelling cedar forest, an empty space pounding in my ears in time to the missing psy-trance beat I´m accustomed to.
Chris has flown home and we lost Mary bright-eyed and beaming to a beautiful Israeli man from a comunity in South Portugal. Who knows where she´s ended up but I know she´s at least 2 inches off the ground <3
So we´re back to the original 3, 2 of whom arte kindly cooking a meal, accompanying chatter and smells of which are washing over me like the most caring of lullabies-
I was sick for Utopia (the after-festival-festival) and still can´t face food.
Hopefully I´ll be stronger tomorrow and we´ll cover a bit more than today´s measly 7(.4) km.
Inspiresd, inspiring, beautiful souls, that connected feeling you get at a festival like this.
So much to learn, so much informaation, ideas, ideologies, beliefs, plans and realities to gather and sift through and pick the best bits from to talk about and build upon; read up about and act upon. Contribute to as well, hopefully!
I´m sure I´ve learnt more at festivals than I ever could in the same amount of time in any other situation- school, travels, reading, meditating... so many ideas bouncing around, workshops, talks fom some incredibly wel informed and enthusiastic speakers from around the world on a ridiculous renge of subjects.
I didn´t think it was possible to find workshops so close together on Óvercoming Self Sabotage` ´Tantric Dance´´Healing with raw Food´ ´Lucid Dreaming´and Astral Travel´ ´Who am I and why am I here´´Art Drugs and God (given by a man called Android Jones :P ) ´The Holographic Human Body- a quantic transducer´ ´Trance-forming lab´ ´Create your own mandala universe´ The list goes on. Those are just some of the ones that made me giggle.
Oh, oh and the music! The dancing! The beautiful location, immense lake, the pretty lights and steal-your-heart decor and art.
I don´t know what else I can tell you until I get home and see your faces, where I look forward to making you all green with envy when I eventually stagger back.
Now I sleep in a sweet-smelling cedar forest, an empty space pounding in my ears in time to the missing psy-trance beat I´m accustomed to.
Chris has flown home and we lost Mary bright-eyed and beaming to a beautiful Israeli man from a comunity in South Portugal. Who knows where she´s ended up but I know she´s at least 2 inches off the ground <3
So we´re back to the original 3, 2 of whom arte kindly cooking a meal, accompanying chatter and smells of which are washing over me like the most caring of lullabies-
I was sick for Utopia (the after-festival-festival) and still can´t face food.
Hopefully I´ll be stronger tomorrow and we´ll cover a bit more than today´s measly 7(.4) km.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Final update for a while
We´re there! Or here, or somewhere.
About to dive headfirst into the festival, where I shan´t emerge for some time.
The last few days have been splendid and feel like weeks, but I haven´t written them down due to excess fun.
I may or may not update you- let´s see if i find a moment to scribble!
Anyway, don´t worry about me for at least a fortnight, mum, I´ll let you know when I´m out of the festival, O.K?
Love you all lots x x x
About to dive headfirst into the festival, where I shan´t emerge for some time.
The last few days have been splendid and feel like weeks, but I haven´t written them down due to excess fun.
I may or may not update you- let´s see if i find a moment to scribble!
Anyway, don´t worry about me for at least a fortnight, mum, I´ll let you know when I´m out of the festival, O.K?
Love you all lots x x x
Friday, 13 August 2010
Friday the 13th! total kilometres: 7
Wow wow wow
I´ve had less time to write the past few days, we´ve been rolling into camp late after long siestas to try and escape the searing heat of the mid-day sun - which doesn´t seem to cool off till about 8pm most days!
We´ve been making good progress and passing through some incredibly beautiful places, spent most of our day on wednesday by the river in Ledesma, when it really was too hot to move.
Yeasterday we made amazingly quick miles down diddy little bumpy roads to Fonte...., for lunch, finishing the morning with a whooshing descent with a daunting backdrop of bruised sillhouettes of the looming mountains we´re approaching on the horizon.
Such a contrast to see these dramatic shapes after days and days of corn and flat, but the beauty was definately tainted by the knowledge that we´re going to have to climb them at some point- the image of that relentless, exhausting climb to Reinosa at the beginning ofg our trip flashing up in my mind.
But straining with our laden steeds into the main plaza of Forte we caught sight of 2 grinning, sunburned faces above colourfully dressed bodies beneath straw hats-
Mary and Chris pointed out their equally heavily laden bikes leaning against a wall-
"Boom?"
"Of course!"
We had a delicious tapas lunch together and spread out our battered maps an the hot plastic table, to compare our route so far and discuss our patchy plans for the next few days.
Turns out that on top of being really lovely, they´ve been advised to visit a really beautiful area with loads of good swimmimng spots- all the roads and rivers are wiggly squiggly on the map so we guessed it´d be hilly- but we´ve got ages and we´re really close now so we headed off together after lunch.
It´s lovely to look back whilst cruising and instead of seeing 2 golden bodies and well loved bicycles speeding along I see a much more substantial gaggle of 4, and I know that we´re all doing the same thing, going to the same placew, we´re all eating together and sleeping under the (shooting) stars.
What an amazing bunch, I feel so lucky.
Every day is filled with beauty, every evening with indulgent luxury.
I don´t know what I had in mind when I set out on this trip, gruelling, deprived, harrowing challenge maybe, but lavish meals chocolate fondue on the roadside meteor showers instead of real ones river bathing massage songs & scenery seems too good tp be tyrue right now; the festival at the end (middle?) of it all seems almost like a bonus rather than the purpose of the adventure.
And O.K., we´re not htere yet but we´re pretty damn close; (We´ve got 4 days to get about 150k) but this is really seems like it´s ben easy.
Not just easy butfun, exciting, horizon-expanding, educational, beautiful and addictive. ( I keep thinking of places I want to cycle to!)
The look of horror on people´s faces, when y9ou tell them you´re taking this kind of journey, can sometimes almost be enough to put you off- but all it says to me now is how much our modern, fast ways of travelling have taken away the focus from the journey and made it all about the destination, reducing our power as individuals to get where you want to be.
Flying on planes and even getting on trains gives your "A" and "B" a seperateness; makes the places imbetween seem unimportant and not worth bothering with somehow.
But people need to remember that they can get from place to place under their own steam - and that it´s a joy, rather tahn an inconvenience or a bother, like waiting for a delayed train, sitting in a soul-less departure lounge or choking in a traffic jam.
I´m thinking of a passage in my inspirational housemate Babs´ book, Babs to Brisbane, where she reminds us of what flying is- the taming of the skies in a massive conquering of an element, through humankinds innovation and incredible skills- which has been turned into a boring, reluctant removal of journeys, which most people take for granted and yet despise. Not to mention the C word...
Today we left our glorious riverside spot and headed towards that squiggly bit I mentioned. Now I´m writing by candlelight after eating a gourmet meal on a proper table by another wide, smooth-flowing river.
We came here by winding country lanes embraced by incredibly licheny trees and rambling stone walls.
Those looming mountainous sillhouettes gradually emerging from the shroud of distance, their fields and forests and rocky faces becoming perceptible and altogether less intimidating with each stroke of the pedals.
I kept expecting it to somehow get ´worse,´harder or something, but the good company, berautiful scenery, conversation, smiles and excitement of the approaching festival kept any altitude worries at bay, and before we know it the mountains stretched out beneath us and we´d found this perfect spot in thes waterside oak woodland which we´ve made our home as the local bathers have trickled away with the light; our only company the cows with their twinking bells adn the stars with their twinkling laughter... (Do the cows with bells on mind? Do they feel more important?)
I´ve had less time to write the past few days, we´ve been rolling into camp late after long siestas to try and escape the searing heat of the mid-day sun - which doesn´t seem to cool off till about 8pm most days!
We´ve been making good progress and passing through some incredibly beautiful places, spent most of our day on wednesday by the river in Ledesma, when it really was too hot to move.
Yeasterday we made amazingly quick miles down diddy little bumpy roads to Fonte...., for lunch, finishing the morning with a whooshing descent with a daunting backdrop of bruised sillhouettes of the looming mountains we´re approaching on the horizon.
Such a contrast to see these dramatic shapes after days and days of corn and flat, but the beauty was definately tainted by the knowledge that we´re going to have to climb them at some point- the image of that relentless, exhausting climb to Reinosa at the beginning ofg our trip flashing up in my mind.
But straining with our laden steeds into the main plaza of Forte we caught sight of 2 grinning, sunburned faces above colourfully dressed bodies beneath straw hats-
Mary and Chris pointed out their equally heavily laden bikes leaning against a wall-
"Boom?"
"Of course!"
We had a delicious tapas lunch together and spread out our battered maps an the hot plastic table, to compare our route so far and discuss our patchy plans for the next few days.
Turns out that on top of being really lovely, they´ve been advised to visit a really beautiful area with loads of good swimmimng spots- all the roads and rivers are wiggly squiggly on the map so we guessed it´d be hilly- but we´ve got ages and we´re really close now so we headed off together after lunch.
It´s lovely to look back whilst cruising and instead of seeing 2 golden bodies and well loved bicycles speeding along I see a much more substantial gaggle of 4, and I know that we´re all doing the same thing, going to the same placew, we´re all eating together and sleeping under the (shooting) stars.
What an amazing bunch, I feel so lucky.
Every day is filled with beauty, every evening with indulgent luxury.
I don´t know what I had in mind when I set out on this trip, gruelling, deprived, harrowing challenge maybe, but lavish meals chocolate fondue on the roadside meteor showers instead of real ones river bathing massage songs & scenery seems too good tp be tyrue right now; the festival at the end (middle?) of it all seems almost like a bonus rather than the purpose of the adventure.
And O.K., we´re not htere yet but we´re pretty damn close; (We´ve got 4 days to get about 150k) but this is really seems like it´s ben easy.
Not just easy butfun, exciting, horizon-expanding, educational, beautiful and addictive. ( I keep thinking of places I want to cycle to!)
The look of horror on people´s faces, when y9ou tell them you´re taking this kind of journey, can sometimes almost be enough to put you off- but all it says to me now is how much our modern, fast ways of travelling have taken away the focus from the journey and made it all about the destination, reducing our power as individuals to get where you want to be.
Flying on planes and even getting on trains gives your "A" and "B" a seperateness; makes the places imbetween seem unimportant and not worth bothering with somehow.
But people need to remember that they can get from place to place under their own steam - and that it´s a joy, rather tahn an inconvenience or a bother, like waiting for a delayed train, sitting in a soul-less departure lounge or choking in a traffic jam.
I´m thinking of a passage in my inspirational housemate Babs´ book, Babs to Brisbane, where she reminds us of what flying is- the taming of the skies in a massive conquering of an element, through humankinds innovation and incredible skills- which has been turned into a boring, reluctant removal of journeys, which most people take for granted and yet despise. Not to mention the C word...
Today we left our glorious riverside spot and headed towards that squiggly bit I mentioned. Now I´m writing by candlelight after eating a gourmet meal on a proper table by another wide, smooth-flowing river.
We came here by winding country lanes embraced by incredibly licheny trees and rambling stone walls.
Those looming mountainous sillhouettes gradually emerging from the shroud of distance, their fields and forests and rocky faces becoming perceptible and altogether less intimidating with each stroke of the pedals.
I kept expecting it to somehow get ´worse,´harder or something, but the good company, berautiful scenery, conversation, smiles and excitement of the approaching festival kept any altitude worries at bay, and before we know it the mountains stretched out beneath us and we´d found this perfect spot in thes waterside oak woodland which we´ve made our home as the local bathers have trickled away with the light; our only company the cows with their twinking bells adn the stars with their twinkling laughter... (Do the cows with bells on mind? Do they feel more important?)
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Monday
So we wake up reluctantly and slightly stiff in a hastily chosen roadside field, grumble half conscious at each other for a min until someone pipes up-
"So what shall we do today then guys?"
"I dunno, how about a nice bike tride?"
And so the cycle begins again...
We completed 93km yestyerday so didn´t quite hit the 100mark, but after drinking a couple of glasses cerveja too many at lunch (i.e., a couple!) and cycling throuhg the heat of the afternoon, which was to be reckoned with, it was all a little too much.
We left the relatrive bustle of Carrion de los Condes after 8 with the intention of finding a charming riverside spot to freshen up and bed down, but whenwever we slowed or stopped were assaulted by swearms of greedy mossies- this wasa enough of an incventive to push our tired bodies an extra 15-20k before hastily whacking up the tent, as far away from water as we could.
We´re making up for it now though- we´ve spent the hottest part of today lunching, lyinng and cooling off by the Valderaduey, whose valey we´ll be following as far as Zamora.
We have left ye olde faithful N611 which has served us well as far as Osorno la Mayor, and have started the journey West.
This road, though, is just as big, quiet and well mauintained as the last though, with ionly a couple of cars passing an hour. It´s quite surreal really, especially with the villages we go through being all but deserted- like a zombie movie where everyonés disappeared.
But now we´re speeding across this plain getting some miles out of the way so that we can enjoy the mountyains a little when we get closer to Boom.
Don´t really want to arrive too exhausted!
As a leaving present the Info crew gave me a hilarious book called the meaning of Liff- which creates imaginary definitions for all the funny sounding place names; matching them up with those things that don´t have words for them.
and I was wondering if you can help me think of a definition for Castroponce?
Get your imaginations out, prize for the best one :) Love, and moere update to follow, sorry i´vwe been slack x x x
"So what shall we do today then guys?"
"I dunno, how about a nice bike tride?"
And so the cycle begins again...
We completed 93km yestyerday so didn´t quite hit the 100mark, but after drinking a couple of glasses cerveja too many at lunch (i.e., a couple!) and cycling throuhg the heat of the afternoon, which was to be reckoned with, it was all a little too much.
We left the relatrive bustle of Carrion de los Condes after 8 with the intention of finding a charming riverside spot to freshen up and bed down, but whenwever we slowed or stopped were assaulted by swearms of greedy mossies- this wasa enough of an incventive to push our tired bodies an extra 15-20k before hastily whacking up the tent, as far away from water as we could.
We´re making up for it now though- we´ve spent the hottest part of today lunching, lyinng and cooling off by the Valderaduey, whose valey we´ll be following as far as Zamora.
We have left ye olde faithful N611 which has served us well as far as Osorno la Mayor, and have started the journey West.
This road, though, is just as big, quiet and well mauintained as the last though, with ionly a couple of cars passing an hour. It´s quite surreal really, especially with the villages we go through being all but deserted- like a zombie movie where everyonés disappeared.
But now we´re speeding across this plain getting some miles out of the way so that we can enjoy the mountyains a little when we get closer to Boom.
Don´t really want to arrive too exhausted!
As a leaving present the Info crew gave me a hilarious book called the meaning of Liff- which creates imaginary definitions for all the funny sounding place names; matching them up with those things that don´t have words for them.
and I was wondering if you can help me think of a definition for Castroponce?
Get your imaginations out, prize for the best one :) Love, and moere update to follow, sorry i´vwe been slack x x x
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Honey on your peach?
It´s Sunday morning and I´ve just woken up on the bare forest floor on the shores of a vast reservoir outside of Aguilar de Campoo.
It is silent but for the faint lapping of the calm water, some stirring out of sight in the wood, and Nick´s soft snoring.
The 3 of us fell asleep here after another divine evening of delicious and wholesome campfire grub, chocolate, chats and after-sun massage.
We gave ourselves an easy day yesterday too, only 37km of rolling foothills where the momentum of each descent carries you most of the way up the next bitesize climb.
Vastly easier on the legs and the spirit than the day before.
Today we´re going to try and cover a fair few miles; the landscape´s flattened out a little and while getting over the mountains didn´t kill us they definately slowed us down plenty.
Let´s see if we can hit the 100k mark.
Despite a little acheiness, though, we´re all surprised at how comfortable we´re feeling; no saddle sores or blisters, and nothing a good rub won´t cure.
We told our friends we´d see them at Boom either liberated, energetic and healthy, or broken.
I know it´s only the start of day 4 but I´ve got a good feeling.
Can I just say the stirring out of sight ventured in sight and was a red squirrel!
I don´t think I´m just siding with the underdog when I say they are so much lovelier than the grey ones, it was so fluid in its movenent and almost black it was so dark. There x x
It is silent but for the faint lapping of the calm water, some stirring out of sight in the wood, and Nick´s soft snoring.
The 3 of us fell asleep here after another divine evening of delicious and wholesome campfire grub, chocolate, chats and after-sun massage.
We gave ourselves an easy day yesterday too, only 37km of rolling foothills where the momentum of each descent carries you most of the way up the next bitesize climb.
Vastly easier on the legs and the spirit than the day before.
Today we´re going to try and cover a fair few miles; the landscape´s flattened out a little and while getting over the mountains didn´t kill us they definately slowed us down plenty.
Let´s see if we can hit the 100k mark.
Despite a little acheiness, though, we´re all surprised at how comfortable we´re feeling; no saddle sores or blisters, and nothing a good rub won´t cure.
We told our friends we´d see them at Boom either liberated, energetic and healthy, or broken.
I know it´s only the start of day 4 but I´ve got a good feeling.
Can I just say the stirring out of sight ventured in sight and was a red squirrel!
I don´t think I´m just siding with the underdog when I say they are so much lovelier than the grey ones, it was so fluid in its movenent and almost black it was so dark. There x x
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Day 2. 67km.
67km may not sound like much.
I´m going to try and attach the graph showing the topography of todays route. It very nearly killed me.
I was tod this morning that you wouldn´t want to attempt what we´´ve just done without some serious training for weeks. But we had to get over the mountains at some point and there´s a general feeling that the hills will ease off after this as we head into the baking plain of Northern central Spain.
The road we´re using is a kind of heaven for cyclists- it used to be the main drag from North to Central Spain, but they´ve built this massive motorway pretty much alongside, so it´s a great big and smooth road but with almost no traffic.
The motorcyclists dream as wel, it seems, as we are passed by fleets of them at great speed often.
This place is stunning, I´ve got to say beyond words as I´m too tired to dredge up worthy words to describe it. I took some pictures... If I can advance technologically enough you will see. Will that do?
Sorry loves I´m pooped
drained
spent
drained
finished
exhausted
tired
sleepy
kaput
zonked
I´m going to try and attach the graph showing the topography of todays route. It very nearly killed me.
I was tod this morning that you wouldn´t want to attempt what we´´ve just done without some serious training for weeks. But we had to get over the mountains at some point and there´s a general feeling that the hills will ease off after this as we head into the baking plain of Northern central Spain.
The road we´re using is a kind of heaven for cyclists- it used to be the main drag from North to Central Spain, but they´ve built this massive motorway pretty much alongside, so it´s a great big and smooth road but with almost no traffic.
The motorcyclists dream as wel, it seems, as we are passed by fleets of them at great speed often.
This place is stunning, I´ve got to say beyond words as I´m too tired to dredge up worthy words to describe it. I took some pictures... If I can advance technologically enough you will see. Will that do?
Sorry loves I´m pooped
drained
spent
drained
finished
exhausted
tired
sleepy
kaput
zonked
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