Road to Nowhere (Wednesday)

I refrained from replying with the obvious when a fellow guest this morning asked me if I was an artist? Maybe he’d seen me in the bar last night, but it seems word is getting around that I’m the ‘English guy who does the creative filming around here’! 😆 The owner is quite pleased with that time lapse I did the other day and has put it on their Facebook page, I won’t hold my breath for the royalties to come flooding in, I’m just pleased they liked it. 

I enjoyed this morning’s gentle tootle down from La Raya, apparently the highest village in Asturia, and I had in my head that I was heading south once I arrived at the village of Collanzo, I knew that I’d be going on minor roads and after I passed through the narrow gorge follows the Aller River for a short distance. I noticed a large sign which said something along the lines of moto something not permitted, but gave it scant regard as the road was actually attributed with a number. When I entered the tiny village of Ruayer the road suddenly got very narrow and steep and as I zig-zagged between the houses the tarmac had turned to concrete and became ridged, presumably to aid grip. As I left the other side of the village the road turned to a track. Possibly it’s do-able, possibly not, but being on my own and contemplating the significance of a puncture I decided against risking it. Rachel would be proud, usually when we were in a tricky situation in the motorhome I would say something like “We’ve been through worse than this” or “Have I ever got us into a situation we couldn’t get out of”? She was the cautious one, or should I say, wise one? So it’s quite an achievement for me to tell myself NOT to do something!

I had the GoPro mounted on my chest at this point and therefore you can hear me talking to myself about the conundrum, however you can’t hear the conversation at the Relive app won’t play sound other than its own music.

So it was a short ride out, I returned back to the hotel and basically phaffed until Santiago arrived.

Santiago is just the friendliest of guys and speaks a little broken English, he insisted I took his 300cc Husky motocrosser for a spin, and who was I to decline such a kind offer? Carlos  meanwhile was on the top of a nearby mountain on his 700 Husky. Later on we all met in the bar and it was only then that I got a better picture of them both.

Carlos is 65 years of age with an obscenely amount of black hair for a man sporting such years. He doesn’t speak any English at all, so we conversed mainly through Google translate on my phone. It soon became clear that Santiago has a serious drink problem, “ha” I hear you say, pot calling the kettle black! I have plenty of friends who like a drink and there have no doubt been times when I’ve been an embarrassment to some of you, but I’ve never felt so uncomfortable as I did with Santiago! Both guys paid for all my food and drink, Carlos ate, Santiago drank….. until he basically had to be ushered out. I felt bad about the situation as did Carlos, but he knew what to expect as it’d been two days since Santiago had had a drink, and I think I was maybe the excuse he needed to hit the hard stuff again. Yes I know, many of you may think I’m enough to turn anybody to drink! 😬

Fortunately no harm was done and I had breakfast with Carlos this morning. Before they left for more off roading, (Santiago surprisingly sprightly) we all had hugs, they are lovely guys, both from Galicia, Carlos gave me his number and insisted I contact him if I make it over there next week.

Today’s Ride (Thursday)

This morning it took five miles for the tears to dry on my cheeks, why I should suddenly be overwhelmed with emotion as I walked out of the bar, having said my farewells to the staff, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe it was because they all seemed to connect with ‘the only English guy in the village’, but there was just a mutual good feeling between us all and I will miss them.

It was another chilly start to the day at 5,000’ so I took it relatively gently until I’d knocked off a couple of thousand by which time the temperature had got to ‘decent’ and I stopped to rearrange the luggage on the back, it was moving around too much and I just wasn’t happy. Half an hour or more later I was ready to resume my journey to the north coast for the next four days.

More stunning scenery and several huge birds soaring over me, I suspect vultures, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get decent photos of them.

By the time I reached Ribadesella it was damp, but certainly not enough to don waterproofs, which haven’t seen the light of day on this trip so far!

The forecast is good and I should be on the road about 7am tomorrow for may day’s ride but will fill you in with the details if all goes to plan.