Tag: Barcelona

Day 1: Barcelona to Calella

Complete ride stats here

I eased into my cycling extravaganza with an easy little 90 km jaunt in temperature up to 37 degrees. Child’s play, I know.

Okay really though, I am a jelly-doughboy now. I was sweating out of orifices I didn’t even know I had, my thighs are a very sexy sun kissed (read: rash) red, and I have wounds on both knees. Don’t worry! I survived.

Set up looking hawt.
Still looking super fresh before leaving the hotel in Barcelona. Yes that is the glistening of sweat on my upper lip already. Setting up the panniers really got me goin’.

I started nice and early out of Barcelona at 8 am and had to adjust a bit to riding with the extra weight of the panniers. This came to a head later in the day when I tried to begin pedalling after a break on a slight – very slight – uphill and fell over because my cleat was already clipped in. This is where one of the knee scrapes developed. Note to self: do not try to start on an uphill, or even a flat surface, and especially not after kilometre 75 of the day.

Everything went quite smoothly out of Barcelona. Luckily there wasn’t too much traffic as it was still early and I could follow other cyclists commuting to work to try to figure out where I could ride / when to cross the street. Without this I am sure it would have taken me double the time.

I stopped for a coffee in La Roca de Vallès and for lunch (featuring stolen hotel sandwiches) in Mataró. Despite refilling my water bottles from fountains in both of these places I was feeling pretty dehydrated and started getting the first ticklings of a headache shortly after lunch.

Lunch in the shade!!
Refilling water from a fountain – Spain (Catalonia) has a good water fountain set up!

May the little baby jeebus bless my dear mother for leaving me with electrolyte tabs – after adding one to my water bottle I felt quite a lot better and the headache faded as I rode on.

Not a lot of people were out and about in the towns I rode through because of the heat. There was also a haze over the sea whenever I could get a glimpse from up on the mountain roads. Forgot to take a photo. But I did take a shot of a very cute little town up high in the hills.

I don’t remember where this was… but definitely somewhere between Barcelona and Calella…

Upon arrival at my three star hotel in Calella (I don’t know who decides how many stars hotels get, but I am questioning whether or not it should even have any associated with it’s name) I showered the sweat, blood, and tears off my body and made my way to the beach. Ahh, the beach in Calella. Certainly lovely scenery. Masses of human detritus sprawled out baking in the sun. The water littered with people bobbing around like buoys lost at sea. Pasty white Brits abound! Okay, I am being too harsh. By North American standards, Calella is beautiful. It is rather the collection of economical tourist offerings that have tarnished it’s purity. Guilty as charged. I also forgot to take a picture at the beach. I will make up for this by taking lots in Calella de Palafrugell (a much more serene spot that I will ride to tomorrow).

Mandatory post-ride cerveza and olives! Ahh, the olives here are so amazing.

I am sitting in my 0 star room now and am absolutely knackered. I think I will hit the hay early today for a fresh start tomorrow. Here’s hoping for cooler conditions. Hasta mañana, Calella de Palagrugell!

DOTD

Sad to report that I saw very few dogs today and the one that had the most potential for photographing / touching was seen when I was without phone. Instead I will post COTD: crab of the day.

Dalí with a crab. Photo from the Dalí Museum in Figueres last week.

Back in Barcelona

As we bid farewell to young Tomithy in Girona this morn (he has now returned to the land of tea and crumpets), we prepared for our own journey back to Barcelona. Immediately upon arrival my parents and I pounded the pavement to visit what seemed like every bike shop in Barcelona. Eventually, the perfect bike and pannier set up was found at Probike. I am super excited because it is a Specialized and quite similar to my bike back at home in Vancouver so it feels just like ‘riding a bike’ – yikes, could not resist. Photos and details to come once it’s all set up.

How joyful I am that I have a bike to ride for the next couple of months! (this is from the old walls around Girona)

Following the busy day of bicycle acquisition I actually rode my new bike home through rush hour traffic in Barcelona. No idea where I was going and it certainly was interesting to navigate the roads. I do think that Barcelona has very good cycling infrastructure and an ample number of dedicated bike lanes, however, without knowing which streets are one-way and which have multi-directional bike lanes it is kind of tough for a new cyclist. I think if you wrapped yourself fully in bubble wrap while learning over a few weeks it would become more comfortable. And invest in a bell.

When I made it back to our hotel and reconvened with my parents we reminisced over the enjoyable holiday we have had as well as the successes of the day.

To celebrate we took a Tom selfie.

Also of significant note today was the purchase of a SIM card. For those who are not aware, this is a little plastic chip that you insert into a phone and it makes magic happen via the internet. Of course, like most things I do, this feat was not without serious complications. First I spent nearly an hour in a Vodafone shop waiting to be served. Next, I paid 20 euro for a SIM card and 15 GBs of data later to find out that I can only reload it by going IN PERSON to a Vodafone store each month, queuing up and waiting again to pay 20 euros. Apparently it is too difficult for an international cell phone provider to allow humans to use plastic cards called VISA to load credit onto their phones. Ah well, I do love a challenge.

Now, you may be hoping that the SIM card story is over, but alas, it is not. Once I got over the blow of having to manually update the thing every month I carried on waiting for the data to arrive to my phone to start using the various features that require internet. Eventually after refreshing the screen every few minutes, restarting the phone, taking the SIM card out, gently massaging it, performing reiki on it, whispering sweet nothings into its ear, and returning it inside of the phone – all to no avail – I gave up trying. It was only after one and a half gin and tonics that my mom proposed we switch the SIM card into her cell and see what happens. And lo and behold – hello data! Upon this miraculous discovery I figured my dear mom would suggest I simply take her phone and she replace hers when she returns to Vancouver in two days. Oh how mistaken I was – I was faced with flat out refusal. Okay, fine. I guess I will just put the god forsaken SIM back in my Dad’s old phone and give up on ever being connected to anyone ever again. But wait, returning the SIM to my Dad’s phone and it works… someone please explain this to me.

In summary: I have a functioning cell phone with data. Yet to be sorted out: syncing it with my apple ID and shrinking the text down from extra extra large (sorry dad).

DOTD: Dog of the Day

This is a feature very close to my heart. I will do my very best to not only take a photo of a cute dog each day, but I will try to touch at least one dog per day. Ideally I will take a selfie with a dog. Today I got to touch a little Cavi (cavelier king charles spaniel) just like my old Winnie.

Note that is my hand touching the face of a dog.
This is the dog a bit further away.

Tomorrow will be my final full day in Barcelona and I have some last minute shopping and prep to do before I head out on the 28th. Looking like it is going to be a hot one!