The train trip down from Barcelona to Córdoba started off through almost barren limestone country, clearly well suited to the endless olive and grapes that seemed to stretch to the horizon. Gradually, as we moved further south, the moist Mediterranean air gave way to more fertile agricultural lands, still dominated by olives and grapes, but now there fields of wheat and canola, and seemingly in no time at all we were arriving in Córdoba. With Jean's choice o...

Hola, and welcome to Barcelona. Saturday and not a happy pair of campers. The hotel (Cami Bed and Gallery) is fantastic. 7 rooms, an ideal and quiet location but still not good enough to rid me of this cold, which has now got me well and truly in its grips. So nothing else left for it but to give in and agree to see a doctor. Spanish not being my native language left some room for surprises after I enquired of the hotel staff if there was a doctor close by. N...

Sadly, or perhaps just as well, the rain continued and so we spent the first day unpacking the bikes, so imagine my horror when I unzipped my bike bag and saw the angle of the handle bars relative to the bike frame as can be seen in the photo for this blog. I had visions of the front forks being realigned for anti clockwise track work, but no, just a bit of slippage on the post. All good. Friday saw us out and about along the canals to Vo and home in the rain, t...

The trip over was both uneventful and restful. We both managed to get a reasonable bit of sleep, if sleep is at all possible on a plane and arrived in Venice to rain. Fortunately there was an aero bridge so into the terminal and out again with bags and bikes in tow in just under 30 mins. WAY TO GO

So, after breezing through the airport in Venice, we headed off to Lozzo, where we would spend the next couple of days before setting off for Spain. The trip from the airport was quiet ( yes quiet not quite) an eye opener, more eyes wide open and very little small talk. Due to the rain, the signs along the motorway warning drivers to slow to 80km/hr were apparently missed by our driver, not surprising really as they were just a blur at 140km/hr!! But we arrived...