Monday 24 September 2018

313 The ride home.

24th September 2018  Miles Today,  200  Total Miles 3,121
We set off for the 300km trek to Bilbao. We had originally intended to get the ferry at 3pm today from Santander, a further 100km down the road but asked to move to the next day as it was just too tight and did not allow for any hold ups. We would have needed to be there by 2pm. We were lucky to be able to postpone our boat by a little over 12 hours and 100km closer. This does however mean we get back to the UK almost a day later.

With the GPS having no map we set off on a compass bearing of 280 degrees and it worked out just perfect and put us straight on the motorway that we were looking for. The shock was the wind. We left with our chin guards up and as we exited the built up area the wind caught our helmets and tried to rip them off. It seriously caught us by surprise and sadly that was the shape of things to come for the next 150(ish)km. It was horrible and we were riding lent over all the time. We kept the speed down to about 60mph and it just made the journey longer and more tiring.

What did surprise us was that it was relatively cool. We were expecting it to heat up like the previous day but it did the opposite and ended up, as we approached Bilbao at 18 degrees. The day previous it had been 36 degrees. We were cold, for the first time in over a month and had to close down all the vents in our jackets. I even stopped to put a jumper on.

What a difference a day makes - as they say! Respite from the heat at last.
 
We arrived at our hotel that was also a Spa at around 3:30 pm and did nothing. It was out of the way and rather than go out we ordered a takeaway and went to be early to catch the boat the next day. 


25th Sept 2018 
Back in the UK. The boat journey was uneventful but it was good to see the British coast again. A sore but and a relatively short 220 mile, 4 hour trip back to Gt Yarmouth and time to relax. 
 
Leaving Spain ....

Portsmouth at last.

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