July 18, 2011

We’re ready to leave nice and early on another bright and sunny day morning, but when we go downstairs there is absolutely nobody there – everything is in darkness.  The front door has been left unlocked but that doesn’t help as our bikes are locked in the hotel garage.  We hang around in the lobby for a while – the man running the hotel had asked us last night what time we wanted to leave and so we expect he’ll turn up soon.   He doesn’t.  I ring the ‘phone numbers on the hotel business cards – no reply.   A neighbour tells me that the owner lives in a flat on the top floor of the hotel – I go and bang on the door but there is no response.  We wait around some more, but our early start is doomed.  We wonder if we will ever get away and start to look around for a way down into the garage.  Eventually we do find our way down and are able to open the garage door from the inside to get the bikes out.  We load up and leave with still no signs of life at the hotel.

The sun is already hot but, thankfully, the wind is light.  The first 30 km are along a quiet, undulating road before we join a main road which we go along to help speed up our progress, even though the cycling is not so pleasant.  The gradients on the main roads tend to be more gradual and the road surface smoother.  We are very hot, but making good progress when we reach an unexpected obstacle – the main road is closed for resurfacing for the final 20 km.  I look on the map to check the road that the diversion takes.  It will make the final stretch 40 rather than 20 km long – not a problem when you are in a car but not welcome when you are on a bike at the end of a long day.  I check the map again for a better option and see a back road which will get us where we want without adding so much distance.  It takes a while to find it and the surface is very rough but better than an extra 20 km.  However, the surface gets worse and worse until it becomes cart-track.  We hope it will turn back into a proper road again soon, but unfortunately, it doesn’t and we bump along for nearly 20 km. 

We ask around in Iznalloz to locate our bed for the night and with sinking hearts find out that there isn’t one.  The only option is to cycle to the junction at a motorway and stay in a motel.  It sounds like a grim end to a hard day, but actually it doesn’t turn out to be that bad – then again, by this stage of the tour, we are not that choosy.