Friday December 12, 2014

I had a good nights sleep and woke up ready for a 70 km day (turned out to be 61.1) but I was ready to go the distance. We were on the road by 7:25 am with the usual directions from the casa owner, “Turn left at the end of the street, turn right at the traffic lights and carry along that road straight” Of course there are usually a few more extra turns to take before we can go straight, but we managed to find our way out of the city quite easily and get onto the road that would lead us to the hotel and our week off.

The wind was a bit of a pain today. It alternated between a tail wind, a side wind, and a head wind. The route was rolling hills with a couple of steeper climbs to go over, we are now heading into the Sierra Maestra Mountain range. There were some lovely little bays, with small cafeterias and beach huts. At one of hourly stops we stopped close to one of the beaches and a fella walked across the road and asked us if we would like to eat in his restaurant – “fish, lobster, shrimp, chicken – good food” Ralf looked at the time it was 9:30 in the morning. He said” I don’t think I will be eating fish and lobster at 9:30 in the morning”. The fella shrugged and walked away.

I felt great, my legs were strong and my tummy wasn’t doing cartwheels. I was even singing along the way – the Sound of Music, of course. Ralf on the other hand didn’t have the legs, the rhythm nor could he get the gearing right as he climbed the hills. To indicate how bad he was feeling I beat him up three of the hills and left him standing whenever I took the lead. I had to wait for him to catch up quite a few times. Now this is going to sound really mean, but it felt good to be stronger than Ralf for a change. Usually he is as strong as an Ox and loves hills.

We arrived at the hotel at 11:30 and were able to check in early. After settling in to our room, we had a wander around the resort to recce the place and then had lunch. It has internet, but the computer is old I am not sure I can use my USB stick to update the blog.

After lunch I picked a book from the “library” and we sat by the pool, relaxing. Tough life, but someone has to do it.

Dinner was good with a wide variety of choices and vegetables. We watched the show, they were as bad as I remember them.

One of the interesting things at this resort is a large jigsaw puzzle in the lobby. Everyone gathers around it and adds a piece of two to it. You get chatting to your fellow guests and it is quite an ice-breaker. We are not sure if a guest has bought them, or the hotel puts them there.