Thursday 6th February 2025 Santa Rosa to General Pico
Still not getting used to this 8pm opening time for the restaurants, even later last night, not till 8:30, I nearly fell asleep in my pasta!, just managed to pay the bill and get up to bed and rest these little legs

Not everyones cup of tea, but it’s mine so a little respect for “The Munich Air disaster”, one great Team and always will be, just little dates that stick in my head.

Left room the after the delights of porridge and vanilla yogurt no chocolate, must have said something last night, think it was the thought of lugging the baggage down about 400 yards through a maze of corridors, thrown the quartermaster / chef off track. Just ready to ride off and the ever observant check in guy wanted a few details, I duly obliged with a made up passport number and address, he seemed happy so all good, I did not want to be rude, but all the gear was packed, so all’s well that ends well.

Off we go, into the silent, slightly, misty fresh morning, now I am getting into poems! something to think about, as we follow the road out of town. The mist get a bit heavier, with the sun not burning it down, makes for a quite leary first 20 odd miles, lucky the road was not that busy. But still glad to turn off, onto a quite flat road, not sure of the road number, but it’s tarmacked, and not foggy, so all good. We are on this most of the day, so just get into the rhythm and push along. The only poems I know are something about If (Kipling I believe) and a load of daffodils (Wordsworth), so spend my time pedalling thinking sure I can come up with some smart words to describe the scenery, as we ride through the countryside, with fields of sunflowers constantly next to long flat road, with patches of cattle grazing and looking at the brightly coloured cyclist riding through, thinking what are they doing.

Enough of the fancy words, put that in the same bracket as shopping not my forte, so we just ride the long straight road, singing a bit occasional chat about the wildlife, mainly birds as they flutter out of the hedgerows or swoop over us, Bingo always on the lookout for new finds.

Finely come to the junction with circa 20 ish to go, both need a rest, but weary of going too much off course, settled for the coach station in the little village of Metileo, they had ice creams and a cold drink, all good for the moment. Then went in with the toasty order, the lovely girl said afraid not, none left, so had a packet of crisps and a beer, now that is a song! ” Two packets of crisps and a pint of lager”

Made the last 20 miles a walk in the park, as we knew we had a place to stay, a little AirBB just outside of General Pico, we soon found the place, Bingo, sorted the digs , I was dispatched to get some provisions, beer, it’s what I am good at, duly done.