I’m less than 100km from the border and 111km (ish) from the city of Andorra La Vella. Where I’ll stay a day or two before crossing the spine of the Pyrenees and head down into France. Until then I’m busying myself trying to find places to stay in Toulouse via couchsurfing. A friend I made in Amiens said that she had contact’s down here so I’ll attempt to see what I can see .

Aside that I biked up a mountain yesterday, strangely it wasn’t so bad, that sounds odd but seriously I was amazed how easy it was to travel up for 10km on 4-5% slopes. As long as you keep your pace no matter how slow that becomes you’ll eventually get there. I know that now, it’s not a problem the mountains don’t worry me any more, they are more a nuisance that’s stopping me from reaching France.

When I get to France I know it’ll be a shock, I know I’ll need to work hard, something very different to biking hard, I’ll have to study a lot, and it’ll be difficult. But I also know that the rewards will be great and the problems surmountable. Just like the mountains, I have to just keep going, eventually I’ll get there.

Andorra is only a few nights away, a mere 340km away, however, it’s a hell of a lot of up. If my Michelin map is to be believed I’ll be travelling to the heady height of 2407m above sea level at the highest point based on me being around 334m at present that’s 2073 meters or over 2 km of up.. Not that this even close to accurate because it would assume one straight hill leading directly to Andorra, I’ll be going down and up all the way across valley systems.

I’m guessing that the number of vertical meters climbed over the next few days will be well in excess of 5 kilometres. Strangely that doesn’t freak me out. It’s just a case of keeping on pedalling till I get there. I am looking forward to getting to that summit, though, it’ll be certainly one of the highest points (if not ‘the’ highest point) of my tour. Once I’ve done that I think nothing will be beyond me, I already feel like that, but after that I’ll know.

Well off to do some much needed laundry. Tomorrow I’m off to Huelva then it’s just 242 km to go! Hah! no problem

135km no problems! I actually went higher than Agreda on the way to Soria so I’m not so phased by the journey ahead anymore. In fact I’m just looking forward to it, the hills, the challenge nothing seems to far fetched all of a sudden, just want to get to my destination, improve my French to an intelligible level (there are courses in Toulouse to help me get started).

I hope this wave of optimism lasts, but at present I feel unstoppable!

I’m near Soria now (110km) had a few nights rest as the next leg will be facing an old nemesis “Agreda”. The first time I went there I really suffered, it was the hardest bike ride of the tour no question. So I’ll be interested to see how it goes in the next few days. I’ve deliberately made sure that I tackle it differently and I’m approaching from the south side. But I know there’s a lot of climb in the way.

Aside from that I’ve started applying for work, honestly only sent one application to a place I’d really like to work but I’m now going to hunt for runner ups . So today is about relaxing and building up strength before heading off. Kind of worried but also pretty relaxed about it all. I will be in France when I planned to be, then in Toulouse I’m hoping to find month intensive French courses.

Wish me luck

well I’m back to Spain , Which is a strange feeling But I have a lot to write about. Portugal was a fantastic place for those of you haven’t been. There are similarities to Spain but enough differences to make it well worth the trip.

The Pousadas de Juventude (Official Youth hostels) in Portugal are clean cheap and pretty well situated in most cases. So I’d definitely use them. English is spoken almost everywhere apart from the smallest villages and it doesn’t take long to get yourself understood. The food is cheap compared to everywhere else I’ve been so far (I’ll miss that). But now I’m back in Spain I’m focused on Andorra, a stepping stone to France.

My plan is to apply for work for the ski tourist season, but to improve my chances I’m determined to study and get to an intelligible level in French. As the season ends in April it gives me an excellent opportunity, 7 months of being in France, studying, working and preparing for the next leg across to Italy, Slovakia, Croatia and so on till I reach Greece then I go to Turkey and work my way up the East side back up to Ukraine.

That should take me the year to finish in my reckoning and also should be cheaper than this first leg of the tour, I’ve learnt a lot about what I need, my bike, my limits and how to budget. I think those will only improve.

The main focus now is getting to Andorra and then working out where to couchsurf in Toulouse, plus applying to everyone I can to get a job. But even without the ski work I’m confident I’ll find something somewhere.

I have had an awesome time so far and I know that the future just holds more fantastic experiences. So I’ve had enough of worrying about things, or regretting decisions now I’m just focusing on the future, the next km and enjoying life. Hopefully I’ll see some of you along the way!