Well tried to stay awake for the football, made it to half time, not a great game, in my humble opinion, woke up in the middle of the night for the customary hydration / piss break or whatever they call them these days, still nil nil, waste of a piss break in my mind.

Possibly made worse by going down the town, well village, watching the locals drinking the “Vallina Sidra natural” produced from the local orchards, the bar man comes around holds the bottle over his head, closes his eyes then pours a touch into the glass, first lot got all of the floor. then repeats the same procedure every time the guys wants a drink, pretty strange, but good to watch, especially when the guy taps his fingers, off it starts again!

Another deserted start, no-one there to wave us off again, maybe missing the home life! Always do and so nice to catch up, bit of true life stuff always brings you back to earth. Sandra & Courtney, sorting some sort of party in the garden this week, another new-fangled idea to dress up and have a drink. “Baby Shower” Best of luck and I hope the weather is great! Have a great time.

Us, just putting one foot over the pedal, making steady progress, always good to see the different personalities, yesterday the guy was so helpful, this morning, different kettle of fish, more like “Manuel from Faulty Towers”, not nice to me horrible, but mate he was hard work, trying to get him to understand, we need the bikes out, finally after a frantic phone call he understands, all good in the end, but a little frustrating to loose half an hours of cool riding (not a film).

Finally get going, as we know a big 5 miles climb is waiting just around the corner, sure here she comes, me arguing with myself, thinking I would be so much further up here by now, if that twat was any good, just a little game to take your mind off, little elements that hurt so much, to be honest it was a breeze, not so easy for the rest of the day though.

Climb after climb through some wonderful coastal scenery, sometimes a bit difficult to take it all in, when you are blowing a little bit, but always try to, with wild deer prancing all over the place, they look far more elegant than me, just keeping slightly out of the way, with a lovely sneaky eye on us, makes it all work.

Stopped in the big City of Gijon, lovely waitress practising her English was adamant that we spoke English as she served us, always played the cards and got an extra biscuit & little tapas with the coffee.

All fuelled up, or so we thought, we tackled the rest of the day, along the little farm and country tracks, pretty vicious climbs, only sometimes accompanied with a welcome Cafe. Then hit the heartland of the Spanish steel works industry mile after mile of eerily quiet steel mills, once the driving force behind the Spanish industrial heritage, thankfully it did look like there was still a little evidence of works, but mostly just derelict mills, without the sound of long gone toil, of this long gone industry, so reminiscent of the UK’s manufacturing industry.

As we came out of the industrial works, with still a couple of hard hours riding to go, we came out with flying colours (in true House fashion), only to find a nice little cafe in Muros de Nalón to rest the weary legs. Ccool beer and a plate of tapas, great tradition in these parts serve all the weary travellers with a Tapas. Bingo and I had a nod of the head, tough ride, understood by all.

Just a little ride down to Cudillero, the steep descent only means one thing, how do we get out of this in the morning, worry about that then! little sandwich in the communal kitchen, well it is now, then out for some supper, very early night tonight, need these legs fit and proper for the mornings.

Good night sleep tight, I will, two tired guys.