jow99

[jow99]

Dreary weather weekend 🙄

Saturday morning it was grey and it had definitely been raining. Added to this was a forecast for strong winds which had me deciding that a ride was not in my radar. After a little dithering Jose decided to head out and meet his gravel group. Glad he did as he had a good ride. Meanwhile I walked up the Carrefour for a couple of things and mooched around at home.

Saturday afternoon was all about watching others cycling and the Madrid Open. In the evening we met Marjolein and Martijn for dinner. Given the chilly conditions we trooped off to Cal Galan, which never disappoints.

Sunday dawned as forecast - wet and grey. This is the day of the local running races. At least it’s not hot, but I personally hate trying to run at pace in the rain. This is one of the few years we’ve been here for it but of course neither of us was in any condition to enter. We were entered and all set to go in 2020 but Covid put paid to that. I would like to do the 10km year as it looks like a nice course.

A day spent at home apartment from a brief trip out to pick up some provisions and have some morning tea. It really was a day for being in your pjs in front of the tv.

We spent the afternoon end evening watching the cycling and a movie in Spanish. Now I’m off to bed to read. Unfortunately the weather looks pretty horrible for the whole week. 🤞all this rain will help with the drought.

[jow99]

Jose’s ride Saturday

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Wet runners on Sunday

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Home and a new tv 🎉

Thursday dawned grey and cold so we were in no rush to head outside. I had a chat with Mum and we finally ordered a new tv. Jose had been dragging his feet and I now realise it’s because he was hoping to talk me into a 40” tv, which he did 🙄

We then headed out for breakfast (I’m promising my waistline and gut the last bad breakfast for a while) and on to do the grocery shopping.

The afternoon was spent doing a few chores around home and Jose getting stuck back into studying for his drivers license exam. Late afternoon we headed out for a walk which we cut short because the wind was really chilly. We’ve been spoilt down south 🥶

While we were out we had a vermut and then headed back to watch the highlights of today’s stages of the tours of Turkey and Romandie.

Friday dawned brighter but we were a bit housebound waiting for the tv to arrive. In the morning I headed out for a few more groceries. Thankfully the tv arrived as I was making lunch so the afternoon was spent getting it up and running and watching the Madrid Open.

Later Jose got us connected to English Eurosport so the evening was spent watching today’s stages of the tours of Turkey and Romandie. We did briefly head out but the weather was pretty chilly and the sky looked pretty threatening.

A new tv and dodgy weather is not a great combination. I can see me turning into a couch potato 🙄

[jow99]

Thursday breakfast and the new tv. You can see the makeshift screen for the nebula in front of the fire 😂

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Final preparations

Monday dawned grey again. Not sorry we’re about to head down south, though Jose has been reading they have dust from the Sahara down there.

Today was all about final preparations, washing towels, etc emptying the fridge, final packing. Jose also did some study for his drivers license and I also did some admin.

Given the high humidity the washing was not drying so we’ve left a fairly full airer inside. At least it should be dry by the time we get back.

It’s felt a bit surreal that we’re about to head off for 2-3 weeks because all we’re taking is a back pack each and we’re not packing up the apartment. This year we’ve decided to keep it off the market until late July. The money is good but the lack of stress is also nice.

We were packed and ready to go early so we decided to head over to the port where we had a drink before meeting Stephen who was giving us a lift to Girona.

Once in Girona we checked into our hotel and then walked over to the train station to check out the trains for the morning. Chore done we wandered back into town for some dinner. Now we’re sitting up in bed watching Spanish tv, something we haven’t been able to do since we got back 🙄

From tomorrow we’re on the new blog https://www.tumblr.com/janjmoz

[jow99]

And we’re off

[jow99]

Grey weekend

Saturday morning I got up around 7am but kept checking my watch because it was so dark. The sky was grey and pretty much stayed that way all day.

Saturday morning Jose met his gravel group and I met up with Stephen for an explore of the gravel path ways. We were supposed to be doing the ride he did with Jose last week but I think we took the scenic route 😂

Anyway we had a lovely morning, 2 coffees at Yari’s and about 5kms later another drink at Rustik - another cyclists haunt. Very relaxed. We arrived back in town in time to meet Katharine and Jessica (their daughter) for lunch.

Meanwhile Jose was also enjoying his gravel ride though it was definitely more serious than ours. Given we’d been quite relaxed enjoying a drink before ordering lunch, Jose arrived in time to meet us for lunch. We were amusing ourselves watching the “Moths” get under way. Moths are yet another vessel revolving around a foil. They looked pretty tricky to get going.

We left the port around 3:00ish and cycled home for showers and to watch the end of the Tour of the Basque Country. Late afternoon we wandered into town for a drink and to buy some bread for Jose. In the evening we watched the highlights of the Femme Paris Roubaix.

Sunday morning dawned worse than Saturday, you could barely see the rocks in front of us. After a birthday call with Mum we headed out for our regular Sunday breakfast. I noticed a peculiar blue up on the rocks of the pebbly beach next to us. Then we noticed a whole bunch of what looked like blue medusas in the water too. Never seen that before here, didn’t even know we had stingy things up here. Being in a bay most things pass us by.

After breakfast we returned home to do some chores and wait for the fog to lift. Eventually the fog lifted and we jumped on our bikes to go to Tessi as we had a couple of things we wanted to get for the Camino.

On the way home we stopped for coffee and cake before returning to L’Escala for one last stop before picking up some rotisserie chook for lunch.

Sunday afternoon was spent watching Paris Roubaix (very exciting) and then we headed to the beach for drinks with Marjolein and Martijn. We’ve barely seen them since Charlie left so it was nice to catch up.

The evening was spent watching a movie on the nebula.

[jow99]

Jo’s ride Saturday

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Jose’s ride Saturday

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Foggy Sunday morning with medusas on the beach

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Sunday’s trip to Tessi

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It’s warming up 😎

Tuesday morning I headed out early and met Marjolein and her Dutch friend, Linda for a ride. It was forecast to hit 21 degrees but I have to say at 8:30am my fingers were not loving fingerless gloves 🥶

I turned early not wanting to set my recovery back. It was a lovely ride and a lovely day and I had 41km on the clock when I pulled up at home.

Jose meanwhile met the group and went much longer (74km) and much more climbing (Els Angels). I did pass them as I was heading home 👋

Thursday afternoon we started booking our trains and buses ready to head down to Almeria and finally start our Camino. We had the cycling on and saw the devastating crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. We’ve lost a bit of enthusiasm for the race now 🥲

In the evening we wandered into town for a drink and a bit of shopping.

Friday dawned like a summers day. We met Nigel and Becky (Welsh friends) for coffee down at the beach and we were in t-shirts. After coffee we did some grocery shopping before heading home for some more research ahead of starting the Camino next week. I have set up a new blog for the Camino and I’ll switch to that next week - https://www.tumblr.com/janjmoz

It was such a lovely day we had lunch on the balcony, our first time out there this year 🎉 After lunch we headed inside to watch the cycling, though with much less enthusiasm. Having said that, by the end we were as attentive as ever.

An early evening stroll into town for a drink before heading home for nibbles and nebula watching.

[jow99]

Sunrise and Jo’s ride Tuesday

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Jose’s ride Tuesday

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Where have all the tourists gone 😉

Tuesday morning I had planned to go for a gentle ride but I was coughing so much I decided that was probably unwise. Jose did head out to meet the group and about an hour later I headed out for a walk.

It was surreal how much quieter it is now all the tourists have headed home after Easter. It was a glorious morning so I headed around to the port where I picked up Stephen and Willow and we walked back to Riells for coffee. Katharine joined us after she’d finished her morning exercise ritual.

It was lovely sitting in the sun looking out at the ocean and sipping on our coffees - it’s a tough life. I made it home not too long before Jose in time to do some baking before he was home for lunch. He had a good day too, though much tougher than mine 😉

The afternoon was spent watching the Tour of the Basque Country. Early evening we wandered into town for a few bits and pieces before settling in to watch a movie.

Wednesday morning dawned beautiful again. Jose had a morning Executive Committee meeting and I headed out to my Spanish conversation group.

Around midday we met up with Stephen and Katharine for a drink before heading to a restaurant I’ve heard good things about but we’ve never managed to get to.

The restaurant is called Klova i Kava and is very nice with great food. The reason we had never been before is that it is out on the road leaving L’Escala. We would have to cycle to get there, which now that we’ve been we may well do in future.

Stephen dropped us off a bit out of town so we could walk off some of our lunch. When we got home we settled in to watch the Tour of the Basque Country.

This evening we strolled into town for a few errands and then home so Jose could study before a movie.

[jow99]

Jose’s ride Tuesday