We generally have brekkie at 8am and are legs astride the beasts at 9am. This morning was no exception. The SS18 winds along the coast and what a coastline it is, the odd chance you get to look at it. Spectacular.
Along the coast we stopped at a bike 'shop'. Grizzly had prepared something in English for the receptionist to translate (she spent time in Dublin) but she wasn't around this morning, so no translation. After a couple of minutes gesturing with some guy/mechanic, he decided to abort the mission. The bike started ok but now we're thinking it could be a wiring problem.
2 hours in, we were still retracing our tracks. Before long we hung a right inland. There was some big old hills to cross and with hills, comes lots of tight and twisty roads. Challenging to say the least. Grizzly hates them. Ssh! Don't tell him, there's more to come over the next 2 weeks.
Once down the other side, the temperature hit 37.5! Our first scheduled stop, a McDs, for a drink/comfort break, and to get out of the heat. Our second stop a few hundred metres, our fuel stop. Another non event. This time the machine wouldn't accept our cards. No matter there was another a few kms further on.
It was after the fuel stop things got really warm. I now know what a rack of ribs must feel like in a Texan smoker, as Ginny's temp guage reached its highest I've ever seen it, 41.5 degrees. There was no hint of her overheating though, even when slow moving. 🤔 We even had the smoke to go with the heat, as the verge was smouldering as we waited at some road works. There's lots of black verges.
As we covered the last 20k or so to our overnight stop, the temperature gradually came down, to a more bearable 32. Our Italian chum Lorenzo says there has never been a June like it. That's global warming for ya.
We arrived at our hotel complex about 4pm. It was closed or at least looked closed. I expected loads of people drinking on the terrace, frolicking in the pool. Bugger all, only a gardener, who told us the hotel WAS open! Out of nowhere came a young woman and chap. They opened reception and checked us in. Her English isnt great but with GT to translate, she wanted us to choose dinner options. We are in the middle of nowhere, so no option but to eat here. The whole place is very weird, like Hostel or the Bates Motel. It's as if they have just opened up for us. 3 or 4 staff and us. Creepy. If there is no blog tomorrow, we may well have been murdered, so someone report us missing!
I found myself singing the words to Hotel California!
The beach is only 300m away. There's Snoopy's Bar, like the hotel, shut down. We can only assume this is the effect covid has had on the area. There were a few people on the beach but not many.
We crossed over a creek and saw a terrapin and also what looked like an otter. Hard to tell from a distance. Grizzly might have a close up shot, to confirm.
Dinner, was as we expected, just for two. A penne pasta course, followed by chicken and salad. Very tasty. Washed down with, yes you guessed it, a few beers.
Back in the room, I was reminded of the tv series, An Idiot Abroad, Grizzly the Karl Pilkington to my Ricky Gervais. Several times this trip I have been assaulted by mozzies. My arms and legs are covered in red blotches from their bites but can I get this bald headed chimp to understand you don't have the doors/windows open with the lights on? Can I f*ck!
If I'm not murdered by the creepy gang or eaten alive by the mosquito in the room now, then tomorrow we shall be moving on to Andria. The weather shows no signs of breaking, so another scorcher.
Ciao
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