Up before the alarm to a wet Saturday morning.
TaiChi.
Pack.
Get the bike. 24euros for the parking. Ouch. Mind, it was dry and warm. Plus there seemed to be lots of rowdies late at night near the hotel. 24euros is cheap for peace of mind.
Rode over to the hotel and loaded up.
Settled the bill.
Rode out, in what was now heavy rain.
First stop some 10mins away was BMW. Yes they do service bikes, but not on weekends.
BMW have built an unintelligable website. So the only way to be sure is to show up.
Was a shame to drip lots of water on the showroom floor.
PS: BMW could do nothing about the rain. I did ask 😉
Next stop Amurrio.
Took a while to persuade TomTom to keep me off the highways.
Worth it. Temperature stayed around 3degC, and the rain poured down. Not good to be on the highway, with the added windchill. Not even with the added protection of the Givi windshield.
Would have been a pretty ride without the rain. Even with the rain, on a section of twisties, the view was outstanding. There was sunshine in the valley. Just not up in the mountain. hahaha
And there was “smoke” everywhere. Those low hanging clouds that make the hills appear to be on fire.
Pulled into Amurrio not knowing what to expect. I really had chosen this spot at random.
Seemed a nice mix of new and old.
Checked into the hotel, whilst standing on the door mat. I was dripping profusely.
Upstairs in my room, hung jackets and over-trousers up to dry. Lots of room to do that in 🙂
Reminded me to send an email to FirstGear and ask about my replacement jacket.
Went downstairs and had the set lunch. Nothing special. But filled the gap. And whilst I drank the whole bottle of water, I only had a glass of wine 🙂
After lunch, went for a stroll. Luckily could borrow an umbrella. Rain became heavy again, as I stepped out of the door. But as usual, if you carry an umbrella, the rain will stop.
My walkabout found a theatre. Tonight at 2000hrs gospel singers appear on the main stage.
Checked out the train station.
Nice mansion nearby.
Then back to my room to dry out my socks. And plug in my route for tomorrow.
TomTom failed again. Does not know of the Bilbao ferry terminal. Then again, neither the ferry company, nor Google show the address. Bing found the Portsmouth location.
Checked my email. Has an address. Plugged the postcode into TomTom, and it found a location. But no ferry.
Shifted the TomTom map around till I found a warf. Set that location as Sunday’s destination. How do I know it’s the right one? Matches Google’s map, and, TomTom has a dotted line leaving the warf with the label Portsmouth/Bilbao. Yea gods. How can TomTom show the ferry route, but be unaware of the ferry terminal.
DDD.
Guess I may have an adventure tomorrow.
Took a nap.
Then dressed in my dried gear and off to the theatre.
Scored a front row seat. Cheaper than Lviv opera!
Nearly fell over when I thought I spied Nancy in the front row. But was a Spanish lady with a similar hairstyle.
Good show. Base player was the standout, IMHO.
Gospel music always puts a smile on one’s face. Such happy energy! With a sing-along at the end 🙂
Walked home.
Updated the blog, whilst watching ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’.
Bilbao tomorrow.
In the rain.
Good job I grew up in the UK, where being cold and wet was normal. Maybe that’s why we like out beer “warm”. hahaha
G’nite All.