Day 2 of Sightseeing in Dublin – 28 May

This morning we had to change hotels, to the Arlington hotel, where all the  riders will be tonight. Plus this morning is the first riders meeting.

Leaving the hotel I was amused by a sign about Gin.

At the meeting we got to meet the other riders and listened to the rules. We have 4 Greggs doing the ride! As well as Shirley and Dan and Michele and Tony, I also know Gregg and Laura who did the South American Colombia to Cusco. The meeting was meant to be 9:30 to 11:00am but it ran over as Gergo, the tour leader, was spouting the entire European cycling rules chapter and verse. At 11:15 I left the meeting as I had planned to meet Shellbe to do some more site seeing.

We went to see an exhibition in Stephens Mall featuring the potato famine, but when we got there we found it was £45 to get in and see a few photos so we decided not to. During the Potato famine 20% population was killed (over 1 million). The potatoes were no good to eat because of potato plight. Largely because of the potato famine the population  today is half of what it was in 1840, which was between 8.2 and 8.5 million. According to 2017 statistics the population is now 4.749 million. We did have a look around Stevens Green mall, it had an interesting layout.

We walked around Trinity College grounds (University ) but didn’t go into the library where the books are stacked from ground level up to 4 stories. We wanted to go and see the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript which contains the 4 gospels of the New Testament done by monks, but the line was huge so we decided not to.

We did go to Stephens Green Park, where instead of ducks in the lake it was mostly seagulls, and despite it being duckling season there was not a single duckling to be seen. I suspect the seagulls!

We walked through the town and stopped and had a cup of tea at a book shop that reminded me of the unity book shop in Wellington, on the way we saw a few buskers. There was a man playing spoons, we probably left just before the Morris dancers!

We went to the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland, established in 1198. I had seafood chowder which was like vegetable soup with hunks of salmon. It was nice but nothing like the chowder I am used to. Shellbe had goat cheese salad. Shellbe got a text to say her flight was cancelled, and despite trying she couldn’t get another flight and ended up having to stay another night.

 

 

Shellbe came out for dinner with Brett, Tony, Michele and I to a really nice restaurant called the Elephant and Castle restaurant. I had a really nice chilli burger. Then Shellbe went to an airport hotel and I did a last re-organisation of my bag, ready to start the ride tomorrow.

Day 21: Rest day in Heidelberg (23 June)

I enjoyed lying in, feeling a bit tender after yesterday’s ride, so am very pleased to have a rest day to recover.

At breakfast we were told that Graham is ok, but has a broken bone in his face and will most likely not be able to continue riding. Graham is going to be discharged from hospital later today. Caught up with Yvonne, and she is feeling much better.

After breakfast we looked at getting the hotel to do the laundry, but it really is only an option for people who just want a couple of items done. I worked out to get mine done it would have cost €70! So off we walked to the laundromat. To do both of ours at the laundromat it cost us €18 combined. I always take my iPad and do a bit of of catching up with the blog.

Rest Day chores

Laundry price list from the hotel

This morning before breakfast, I had a messenger call with my 11 month grandson Jasper, and daughter Tracey. Jasper was very excited to see me, and kept trying to get into the iPad where I was. The day after I get home is Jasper’s first birthday celebration.

Walking through the city I noticed the number of apartments that have trees and shrubs on their balcony.

Shrubs on apartment balconies

I have also noticed the increased rate of smoking, the cigarettes on display, cigarette advertising, and also there are a number of cigarette machines on the street in the villages and cities. I was a bit surprised as was thinking children could use these, but apparently you have to put ID with proof of age in before you can purchase.

Street cigarette machine

After doing the laundry we had a drink at an outside cafe with John W, and then decided what do to for lunch. John wanted pasta, and Brett and and I decided on a picnic. We had a lovely lunch with a baguette roll, blue cheese, brie, small cake of dark chocolate, and a Bordeaux wine (we actually wanted a rosé, but there was no chilled wine to be had, so settled on the red). It was very relaxing to just sit and do nothing for awhile. Then back onto catching up with emails and the blog.

At 6 pm we went down to the hotel bar for a beer, while we waited for a couple of Brett’s friends from a previous tour, who we were going out for a meal with. As we were having a beer, Graham turned up looking bruised and battered. Graham has no memory of what happened, but there was no car involved. Graham suspects he hit the curb the wrong way.

He remembers coming to and having two locals helping him up. They asked him if he knew where he was and he said no. They then said “You’re in Germany, doing a bike ride from Athens to Amsterdam” (They got this off his riders plate on his bike), and he said “Don’t be stupid, why would I be doing something like that?”.

Graham is not sure what he will do as he has broken a cheek bone around the sinus, and is not allowed back on a bike for a couple of weeks. While a group of us were talking to Graham, Janice came in and I took a photo of him and her “The concussion twins”.

Graham and Janice – the concussion twins

Also in the bar were Tim and Judy, also from Wellington NZ.

Just then Brett’s friends arrived. They met on the Aussie section of 2014 Trans-Oceania. Lydia is originally from Townsville, Queensland but is now living with Joachim in Germany. Joachim is German. Lydia is working as a Librarian and Joachim works in IT. They are both keen marathon runners and triathletes. John W also did this ride, and came for dinner. We went to a really nice Thai place, I didn’t get the name. I had tom yum soup – it was nice and spicy, and green curry which was very nice.

Then back to the hotel to pack and get ready for another 3 day stretch.

Introducing

Janice is from Townsville Queensland and this is her first TDA ride. She is retired, she worked as a student advisor counsellor at the University. Janice’s partner was going to come on the ride, but couldn’t get a health clearance to do it, so is doing the pilgrims work in Spain instead.

Tim and Judy are from Wellington NZ, they have 3 children and a labradoodle and a poodle. This is their second TDA ride. Tim is an actuary and Judy is a mother. They are heading off to Cuba for another two week ride after this trip.

Tim and Judy

Day 5: Split to Sibenik

88km, 800 meters climbing and 800 meters descent, with no hill more than 80 meters in total

Not sure how it will go with riding, my arm feels better today than yesterday but is still very sore. I took 2 Panafon and an anti inflammatory, and headed down for breakfast.

Breakfasts generally consist of some sweet cereal, even if it’s rolled oats it’s full of little chocolate bits, so I stay away from it. Generally scrambled eggs or omelette , yoghurt, and a range of cake, meat, fruit, cheese, and bread and rolls, some days a toaster and juice. I generally have a yoghurt and toast if there is a toaster, or bread and cheese if there isn’t. Black tea is hard to locate, but thankfully I have a box so I bring a couple of bags with me each morning.

After breakfast we had to bring the bikes down the stairs from the 3rd floor which was a bit of a challenge with my arm, I had to carry the bike on the other side and stop after each flight.

At 8am we left in a convoy, only a 7km one today. Getting on and off my bike is difficult but possible, and I can use my brakes. My arm is uncomfortable – 4/10 on the pain scale but compared to sitting in a truck most of the day it is doable.

Riding along, having trouble getting on and off the bike and braking, I was thinking about my friend Wendy who had a very nasty accident a couple of years ago, which has left her with very limited use of her right hand – I had a small insight into her world.

A town called Marina

Thankfully the riding today is easy, fresh legs, and no big hills. Before I know it we are at lunch. Beautiful spot for lunch, jaw dropping view, amazing harbours, clear blue water, sandy beaches. Every turn is more beautiful.

 

Lunch stop

I found it a bit difficult going through the towns with the traffic lights, having to get on and off my bike, and the last few km had a couple of climbs but then a descent to the hotel along another promenade. We stayed at the Hotel Jadran, not as flash as the one in Split but pretty nice. The hotel is very dated, another place that would have been grand in its day. The carpet is worn but the room is small, clean, and comfortable.

There is quite a lot of noise outside which turns out be a basketball tournament which goes on until about midnight.

Before dinner we walked up and down the promenade looking at the boats and ships. They are all in beautiful order. They range from small to charter boats to ships.

Sibenik Waterfront

Tonight I had dinner with Brett and John and Walker, both who rode with us on the Trans-Europa. John rode from St Petersburg to Barcelona, and Walker and his wife Carol joined us in Venice and rode to Lisbon.

Dinner was a vegetable soup, over cooked fish / over cooked chicken / mushed vegetables and cold chips, and a really nice lemon and strawberry ice cream.
Plus we shared a couple of bottles of chilled red wine, can’t remember the type.

 

I went to sleep with the loud music blasting.

Day 24: Thursday 8 Dec – Haast to Lake Hawea

128km to ride – climbing 1,465 meters and 1,100 down

Today the weather was fine and not to cold. My biggest concern was my bike may not get through the next two days. When I am riding with Brett he doesn’t have to look behind to see if I am with him, my bike has been renamed Tick Tock, it clatters and clicks and rattles along.

A sign we saw leaving camp this morning

Today we have to ride through the Gates of Haast which is quite steep, but the ride is pretty much an uphill gradient all day. The first 50km it was quite cool in temperature as we were going along the river with lots of overhanging trees.

Cloud clearing along Haast River Valley

When I got to the Gates of Haast I got  up 400m of the 1km steep hill before getting off and walking, till it flattened out a bit. There was a “loss of brakes” run off with an uphill, but with the winding and steepness of the road I would suspect vehicles would go off the road before they got to this point, unless the breaks had only just failed. Part of the way up the hill I made the mistake of looking over the side – bad move it was really steep and the river was a very long way down.

Gates of Haast (Photo credit: Michele’s Facebook page)

Lunch was at 61km, when we got there the two TDA staff were in the van, which was unusual, normally they are sitting outside. The reason quickly became apparent: the local population of insects had also arrived for lunch. Luckily I had sprayed with Bush Man’s repellent before leaving camp this morning, but other riders got very badly bitten. After lunch it was about 2 km to the top of the hill, then some nice down hill.

Climbing, climbing, climbing (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Gates of Haast

At 81km we stopped and had a drink, 47km to go. I set off thinking “Ok another 3 hours to camp, that’s not bad” but actually it was endless. It was only 3 hours, but it was hilly, there was a head wind, and every corner you came around you could see another hill stretching away in the distance.

We were riding through some stunning beautiful scenery and I was not appreciating it at all. I ran out of water and ran out of any enthusiasm, after a number of hills I started muttering to myself about “f****in hills”.

I found at camp most riders had felt the same, that the day was hard and endless, which made me feel better. Riders who got to camp before us also ran out of water so the lunch truck went back to give water, neither Brett or I saw or heard it go past. I was just totally focused on pushing myself to keep on riding to camp.

Made it to the top of Haast Pass

Once I got to camp and was no longer focused on the the tarmac stretching endlessly into the distance, I noticed the stunning scenery. Lake Hawea is beautiful. The campgrounds were stunning, right by the lake with lots of trees and a great big open fire. We had a cabin so headed off to shower and change.

Lake Hawea (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Today we had Jim from Timaru come to visit and stay for dinner. Jim has done a couple of TDA rides so was keen to catch up with Brett, Walli, Ray and Ursula. Jim bought a big box of cold beer which was appreciated by all the riders.

We also had Phil, Anne and Graham join us and stay the night here and a couple of nights in Queenstown. Phil is the rider who was injured in the South American ride (he came off his bike going down hill and had a bad head injury). Phil is making steady progress but has not been able to return to work (ICU nurse) and gets tired very easily. Anne and Graham are two of his good friends who are driving him to and from Christchurch to see everyone.

It was great to see Phil again. Brett and I had caught up with him in March in Christchurch where we had met Anne and Graham (we stayed at Anne’s house). Sue and Chris were on the South American trip so they were pleased to meet up with Phil again as well.

Phil Kissel and Jim Pearce joined us for last night celebration dinner.

South American Epic 2015 reunion! (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

As it was the last night in camp TDA had put on some wine and cheese followed by another amazing meal by Yarnez.

Nice place for wine and cheese (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Yarnez pulled out all the stops tonight: steak (all options from rare to well done) with burnase sauce (yellow stuff) plus asparagus, salad and then a baked Alaska! Unbelievable. (Editor’s note: I think Mum means béarnaise sauce ) 

Yarnez’s Baked Alaska surprise

After dinner we were handed out our trip riding tops for photos the next morning. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the last riding day already.

Gorgeous views from the campsite (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Sunset over Lake Hawea (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Day 19: Friday 2 Dec – rest day in Westport

It was really nice to not have to be up at 6am. I got up about 8am, made some tea and toast and marmalade, and back to bed. I got up again about 9am – first job the washing. Luckily when I went to the wash house there was a spare machine. Whilst I was waiting for it to wash I sorted out my bags. Then as it was such a great day and lots of pegs in the wash house, I hung it on the line.

Then I headed into town – a 5 minute walk – to get a few things: inter tube for bike, washing powder, and a new book, then lunch at the Port Side Bistro. I had a really nice pan fried turbot fish with salad.

On my way to the Port Side Bistro I walked past a lady selling Christmas raffles. As I walked past she called out “Kaye!” and it turned out it was a family friend Elizabeth Kydunski who I had not seen for years. Elizabeth and her daughter are living down here and later tonight she has the opening of her mosaic work at the Art Hotel. It was great to catch up and we promised to call in later tonight to the opening.

In Westport looking up to the mountains (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Then I went back to the motel with the mission to catch up with the blog. At 5.15pm I caught up with Brett, Michele and Tony for cheese and wine, and then we headed off back to the Denniston Dog again for dinner.

On the way to dinner we went to the Art Hotel in Westport to see Elizabeth’s exhibition . It was very interesting, some glass that Elizabeth had bought back from Japan after the tusamami all different colors, plus art driftwood and the main focus of her exhibition was a mosaic presentation of the 12 stages of the cross from Christ being arrested to rising again.

At dinner I had chicken liver pate and a Denniston dog pizza (chorizo, jalapeno and cheese) plus a glass of Gatekeepers Shiraz. Justina was riding past, she had been to Cape Foulwind to visit the seals so she joined us for dinner. It turns out she is currently working in Switzerland but is actually from Poland.

Back to the motel  to pack and get ready for the next three riding days.

Next three days of riding (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Day 12: Friday 25 Nov – Eketahuna to Martinborough

A much easier day today – 110km with 850 meters to climb, 1030 down.

I set off looking forward to be riding in familiar territory once I got to Masterton. On our notes we had 60km to ride to Masterton but the sign at Ekatahuna said it was 20km down SH2, clearly we were going to be following the more scenic route!.

Masterton for Coffee

It was quite a good ride, lots of hills but generally you could get up most of them for free. We did like a figure of 8 before coming into Masterton. Some of the riders view is that we were a bit short on the planned kilometres for the ride, others were of the view that the plan was to keep us off the main roads.

I stopped in Masterton for a coffee and had a cinnamon scone. 5 km later was the lunch truck. Not surprisingly having just eaten a scone I wasn’t hungry so I didn’t stop for lunch

The ride took us the back way to Martinbrough past the back of Gladstone. I did think about calling into the Gladstone Pub, as it has very nice food, but rain was looking imminent so I kept going. At the Gladstone turn off we went on to the route where the Martinborough Charity ride goes  (one of the Lake Taupo lead up rides). It is much easier going this way to Martinborough rather than from Martinborough to Masterton.

Figurines on the way to Martinborough

Even though my notes said 110 km, in my mind it had morphed into 120km so I was surprised to get to Martinbrough more quickly than expected. I said to Brett the camp must be out of town awhile, and he of course had no idea why I thought that, until I said I was working on 120km.

We arrived at the Top 10 which is 800m from the town center, and the rain that had been imminent all day started to bucket down. I was pleased to have a cabin. Sadly the cabin has no toilet, but is close to the shower and toilet block.

After a shower we headed off up town, first stop was the micro brewery for a tasting paddle and a food platter. The lack of lunch was starting to kick in.We shared two tasting paddles between four of us. Eight glasses on each paddle, starting with a really nice crisp red apple cider. Usually I don’t like cider but I did like this. Then we worked from lager to black / stout. I did not like the stout but I really liked the one before it, called a wee Scottish porter.

Beer tasting, with Tony and Brett (Photo credit: Michele’s Facebook page)

After that we went to the wine center and did a wine tasting of a wine called Armitash? Need to check the name (Editor’s note: Don’t panic guys, Kaye emailed me a few days later – the wine was Ashwell). Then to the 4-square for some snacks and back to camp.

Dull, cloudy and grey sky (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Dinner was smashed potatoes with chilli con-carne on top and salad. Michelle and Tony and Brett and I produced the same bottle of wine for dinner: Squawking Magpie Syrah (from the Hawkes Bay gimlet gravel area).

My friend Julie, who lives in Featherston, arrived as we were finishing dinner. We moved pretty quickly to the cabin as it was cold and blustery weather. It was good to see Julie and catch up with all her news.

The weather tomorrow is not looking great but I am feeling pretty excited as I get to Wellington tomorrow, and I will get to catch up with my  Wellington based children and my three grand babies.

Others camping in tents tonight (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Day 1 -Monday 14 November

Auckland to Miranda Hot Pools – Climbing 1,000 meters and down 1,000 metres.

The weather was fine but windy – luckily a tail wind mostly. I was up at 6am and packing bags. It was a bit of a worry finding out about the earthquake, thankfully my family and friends are all ok. I didn’t really have anything to put in my rest day bag as have managed to fit everything into my every day bag, including the pillow.

Bags all packed: Almost everything for the next month is in my daily bag on the bottom, the permanent bag (which we only get on rest days) is on the top and is just about empty

We all had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then set off to navigate the Auckland traffic! It was rush hour but luckily it was coming the other way.

It was a nice surprise to find Peter from NZ who did part of the South American trip is joining us for the first four days.

We made it out of Auckland ok after stopping at numerous traffic lights. First stop was at 41k for coffee, then 51k for for fresh Cleveland oysters. Brett and I shared some nice fresh oysters with a squeeze of lemon, yum!

Oysters!

Lunch was at 66k, by 61k I was feeling pretty hungry and had a 4k climb. I got cramp in my calves and had to get off my bike, I walked a bit and got back on and got cramp again! Then when I got off my bike I could hardly walk either, so I hobbled to the top of the hill doing a mixture of walking and riding. Thankfully the cramp did not return after that. When I got to lunch I did not stay too long as I did not want to cool down and start to stiffen up.

From lunch it was up hill and I struggled a bit, feeling annoyed that I had not trained more but then luckily we got down to the Firth of Thames and it was pretty flat all the way to camp.

We are staying at Miranda Hot Pools camp. It has nice amenities including a hairdryer in the toilet and shower block. Plus of course the hot pools.

My first job was to put up the tent. You would think after putting it up for five and half months in South America this would have been a breeze. Sadly not so. It took me awhile to work out which bit went where, I was pleased it was not pouring with rain. Then after a shower I had a nice soak in the hot pool, followed by a rest before dinner.

There are four TDA staff compared to the 12 on the South American ride, all are new to me, including I am pleased to say the cook. We had a lovely meal of fresh salmon, asparagus, and a fresh salad of kale, capsicum, pineapple and tomatoes (could have done without the pineapple but at least it was fresh) plus couscous which normally I leave but it went straight down tonight. All the plates and cups and cooking gear is really clean, much more hygienic than the previous trip, fingers crossed it continues.

This ride started in Darwin and the group rode down to Sydney then flew across to Auckland. Sue, who I rode the South American ride with, has done from Darwin and joined us in Auckland.

Other riders I have ridden with before are:
Walli from the Trans Europa Epic
Michelle, Tony, Chris, Linda, and Peter – from the South American Epic
Plus Brett who has done both rides with me.

I headed off to the tent for an early night. It’s meant to start raining tonight and rain for the next two days, so I have rung ahead to the next place we stay, the Welcome Bay Camp and Hot Pools, and booked their last remaining cabin for tomorrow. It’s not so bad to pack up a tent when it’s raining, or put one up in the rain, but it’s pretty miserable if it’s raining at both ends.

One of the riders is tracking her rides with “Strava” which is quite interesting to see – here is the clip of today’s ride.

Day 74/164: Rest Day Two in Cusco

I slept in again, had breakfast and then went off to have a massage I had booked at 10am.

Along with general exhaustion I have
1. A really sore neck on the left hand side, I can’t even turn it
2. Altitude sickness, still really breathless and have coughing fits
3. Gastro related to the altitude medication, or the anti inflammatory medication for the neck
4. My bottom lip has big cracks in it even though I have been constantly covering it with lip sun block
5. A pressure area on my butt, thankfully the skin is not broken
6. Asthma, related I think to the altitude.

All in all the three rest days are badly needed. A number of the riders have organized tours to go to Machu Picchu but I decided not to. I was really conflicted as I am so close but in the end decided that I need to look after myself if I want to manage the whole of this ride. Sue went with a group of 7 of the riders, up on the early morning train, got to the main gates and was inside for ten minutes and collapsed. Sue was taken back to the hotel they had booked there and slept for 18 hours (which equates to a USD $750 sleep). Four of the other riders who went have also come back unwell, mostly with gastro related symptoms.

The massage (80 soles) was great, the masseuse really knew her stuff and spent ages on the left side of my neck and back. I had lots of knots. She would work on them for a few minutes and then do another area, but kept coming back. As I left I could already feel the difference.

Next off to get my hair cut and buy some sandals, mine have finally fallen apart. As I was walking up the street looking for sandals a pleasant seeming young man stopped me and asked me if I was from New Zealand. When I said yes he said “Wellington?” which I of course said yes. He then asked if I wanted anything for my hike, which is why most people come here. When I said no I am biking he changed to ‘did I need shoes, Lycra etc’. I assured him I had everything I needed. So then he asked me if I want some Charlie, blow or clean cut. I was a bit stunned and found myself shaking his hand saying ” I appreciate you asking but I am ok”. Weird, so I figure Charlie is heroine? Blow is cocaine? But ‘clean cut’? Crystal meth? Any ideas?

I managed to find some sandals finally in my size, a number of shops had sandals I like but not big enough to fit my feet. After this I had some lunch, bought some really warm multi colored socks, and went on the city bus tour. It was raining to start off with so I sat downstairs, but as soon as the rain stopped I moved upstairs, better for taking photos.

We went up quite a steep hill and I jokingly said to one of the other riders “I bet we come out this way”. No need they assured me, the main road leads straight out of Cusco.

View of Cusco from the top of hill

We stopped at a statue of Jesus that was donated to the people of Cusco by the Palestine government in recognition of the shelter given to the Jews in the second world war.

The Jesus statue

After this the tour went to an Alpaca clothing factory. I bought a dorky looking, but really warm hat. Hopefully the socks and the hat will make a difference at cold camps.

On top of tour bus in Cusco with my warm hat

We saw some Inca ruins that were a ceremonial centre and temple to the sun called Saqsaywaman.  The rocks were fitted together, some weighing up to 130 tons. The Spaniards took a number of the rocks from here for buildings in the town.

Photo of Saqsaywaman in Cusco

Another view of Saqsaywaman

Sun temple in Cusco

On the tour I also learned that 70% of the adult population in Cusco work in the tourist industry, and the average monthly wage is $750 soles.

After the tour I saw two of my favorite riders Shirley and Dan from the USA sitting in a boutique beer bar so I joined them for a beer.

Brett, Shirley and Dan at a boutique beer bar in Cusco

I could not stay long as I was meeting Rebecca, a friend of Kelly’s, for dinner. Rebecca comments regularly on my blog, and has been travelling through Peru the same time as me, but only arriving in each place just after I left, so it was a good chance to catch up.

I met Rebecca in the lobby of my hotel and we headed off to a Peruvian restaurant “The Andean Grill” that was recommended when we went past on the tour. It was quite nice, I had fillet migon again, was nice had garlic in the sauce. Rebeca had lomas saltardo which is a Peruvian spiced stew. We traded stories about all the different places we had been. Rebecca has been on a number of Intrepid Tours all over the world. It was a good evening. Rebecca heads off next to walk the Inca trail.

Earlier when I had arrived at the hotel after the tour, I was greeted by the news that Eriberto, one of the full tour riders, was throwing in the towel and heading home the next day. “Too cold and too hard” was his reason. I was quite startled as he is one of the better riders and had given no prior indication that he was even thinking of doing this. However he is very cheerful about it and has booked his flights and will be home where he lives near Venice in less than two days, he tells us “drinking good coffee, red wine, enjoying fresh pasta and being warm”.

After dinner I went back to the hotel I tried skyping my son Dan, but the connection was really bad so I will try again tomorrow. Off to bed, last rest day tomorrow.

Water fountain in Cusco

Interesting mural in Cusco

Small boy who waved and called out whilst on tour bus in Cusco

Thursday in Cartagena

I ended up staying awake until really late. Bit of a time zone problem still, so was a bit later to breakfast. Met up with some of the riders from yesterday, plus some who had arrived since breakfast yesterday. Traded a few stories about who knew who, what rides people had done etc. Met one rider who did the Trans-Europa last year – this was the one I did in 2012. I caught up with Brett at breakfast who did the Trans-Europa the year I did. Great to see him and catch up with his news. Brett has done 3 more rides since the Trans-Europa, and is on track to be one of the first – if not the first – to complete the “7 Epics” (the company has 7 big rides they call the epics).

At breakfast a small group of us decided to walk along the shore to the old city. The water was warm but not nearly as warm as the hotel pool. I have not gone swimming in the pool as the water is as hot as a bath. Half way to the walled city my new hat decided to unravel and fell apart completely. Sue took some photos as I modelled different ways of wearing an unravelling hat. It disintegrated completely just as I got to the walled city.

My hat unravelling (photo copied from Sue’s Facebook)

All the way along the beach there were hawkers trying to sell us fruit, drinks, sunscreen, sun glasses, shady tents to use when on the beach, and ice blocks. Once we got to the walled city, this was replaced by hawkers trying to see t shirts, paintings, hats, sunglasses, and food of every description.

After wandering the outer walls we made for a square, and sat down for a cold drink. We had a constant stream of hawkers. Mostly all very good natured but the occasional one was a bit OTT. One of the young riders Rob (approx 23 year old) said about 10am in the morning he was offered drugs, cigars and prostitutes.

Square at Walled City market where we stopped for a drink

After the cold drink we went to the gold museum and to the Navel Museum then the clock tower. After this we needed to get back to put the bikes back together. It was too hot to walk back again so we hopped into a taxi.

It took a while to put the bike together, so after this it was time to retire to the bar for a cold beer. Afterwards a group of us went up the road and had pizza. Mine was very nice: anchovies, capers, cheese – what’s not to like.

At the Gold Museum – Example of gold works made by 15th century inhabitants of Cartagena

Clock tower in the walled city

Cathedral de San Pedro Claver, in the walled city.