2 MID-LIFE CYCLISTS IN A MOTORHOME: December 2019

Sandstone sculptures at Bolnuevo

December 2019.

Los Urrutias

1st December. Glynn decided to start the month the same way he ended last month.....with a puncture!! His rear wheel this time so nice and messy and we still haven't remembered to take some wet wipes to get the chain oil off his hands!! Puncture fixed we completed a lovely ride around the Mar Menor to Los Urrutias. It started off cloudy and a bit cool but as soon as the sun broke through it warmed up beautifully. A very nice 55km ride to start the month.

6th December. After a few days of enforced rest owing to heavy rain and showers we were keen to get out on the bikes again. The lovely hot sun made its appearance again yesterday and quickly dried up any remaining signs of the rain. We did a nice ride to San Cayetano along the canal before dropping down towards the Mar Menor and Lo Pagan. The canal path wasn't too bad after all the rain and it was a very pleasant 50km ride.

Traffic jam on the canal path again

7th December. Keen to catch up on his target Glynn suggested another ride today. It was cloudy but pleasant so we decided to take the canal path to San Miguel. A big mistake!! There is an area of the canal path in that direction that is solid dirt rather than tarmac so all the vehicles that had driven thorough it since the rain had churned it up in to a quagmire. In hindsight we should have turned back but we stupidly decided to carry our bikes over the muddy bit so that we could carry on. Our bikes and shoes ended up caked in mud and I managed to twist my calf causing immense pain. We spent ages trying to clear the mud out of our cleats before carrying on to the Nuthouse for coffee. We sensibly decided to avoid the canal path going back so headed back via the Torremendo road and did a lovely 55km loop. The sun finally made an appearance when we got home so after cleaning the bikes (which took ages!!) we decided to chill for the rest of the day.

Enchanted Landscape

10th December. We've enjoyed a couple of very relaxing days just pottering, visiting the local market for some vegetables so I could make a butternut squash soup and doing a quick 40km ride to help with a Glynn's target. We enjoy watching A Place In The Sun on television and last week we watched an episode that was filmed near Mazarrón which showed some amazing limestone sculptures. We decided to have a day trip out in search of the sculptures today so I made a picnic and we set off. The route took us along the edge of the Sierra de la Muela and the view as you drop down towards Puerto de Mazarrón is stunning.

Bolnuevo beach

We carried on towards Bolnuevo and came across a huge parking area that sits immediately below the sculptures. There were a few Motorhomes taking advantage of the permitted free parking as the parking area was also opposite a stunning beach so what a great place to stop. If we ever pass this way in our motorhome we will definitely be staying overnight and enjoying the beautiful setting. The sculptures are known as the "enchanted landscape" and are limestone formations that have been sculpted by the wind over millions of years. We took some photos and I climbed up to stand next to the sculptures to show the immense size of them.

Enchanted Landscape

It is clearly a very popular site as there was a steady stream of people arriving to take pictures while we were there. We sat on a bench on the edge of the beach and enjoyed our picnic in the sun before heading back to Puerto de Mazarrón for coffee and to explore a couple of the beaches there and the marina. We then drove to Isla Plana to see the naval boat that was guarding the waters there before taking the road right through the centre of the Sierra de la Muela. We stopped halfway up so that I could take some photos looking back down to the coast as the scenery was spectacular. It was a really lovely day out and we finished it off by watching the Royal Variety performance on television.

View from Sierra de la Muela to Mazarrón

12th December. We did a lovely 70km ride yesterday round the Mar Menor to Los Nietos and then Glynn went to 'walking football' as he had been roped in by one of the badminton players to join in. We had hoped to return to jive practice but in spite of being able to cycle relatively pain free I couldn't dance as the twisting motion was too painful so we had a quiet night in. Today I had another physio session and he recommended a day of rest so Glynn set off on a solo ride adding another 45kms to his total. It was Election Day in the U.K. We have been lucky to be able to escape all the pre-election circus that has dominated social media and the news but we were looking forward to hearing what the outcome for the UK and Brexit would finally be after the issue has dragged on for so long. After stopping up way past midnight it became obvious that all the pre-election predictions were correct and Boris won the day.

Amazing sunset over Constitution Square

15th December. The amazingly good weather has continued after the rather wet start to the month and over the last two days we have spent a really nice evening in Torrevieja watching the traditional Christmas carol concert that is held in Constitution Square every year and enjoyed a lovely 70km ride along the Mar Menor. Today we were feeling energetic and decided to do a bigger ride. We set off towards Lo Pagan and carried on all the way round the Mar Menor to Mar de Cristal. It was a cooler day, perfect for cycling but it rose to a very pleasant 24° by the time stopped for coffee. Another 80kms to add to Glynn's target. The donations have continued to come in and he has had to raise his target many times since his original one of £150 was passed so soon after the challenge started. His new target is now £1000 and it's not looking like it's going to be difficult to achieve it which is amazing.

Mar de Cristal

22nd December. With some very windy days and my calf still hurting I have done little over the last few days other than a few short walks and some baking. Glynn has been out on his own a couple of times and added over 100kms to his target. Today we decided to cycle to San Cayetano and then up to Campoverde. While we were out the wind became really strong again and was quite dangerous so we cut the ride short and settled for doing 53kms. Glynn was now hopeful of reaching his 1610 kms (1000 miles) before Christmas. We enjoyed a quiet evening in and decided to watch the first episode of Killing Eve. What a brilliant drama and Jodie Comer is outstanding so definitely one to watch if you haven’t seen it yet.

23rd December. With very little wind and an abundance of sunshine we headed out on the bikes again today. After cycling to San Miguel we carried on and headed round the Embalse de la Pedrera before stopping at Torremendo for coffee. We then decided to head back on the hillier main road rather than the flat canal path and it was a fabulous ride of over 100kms which means Glynn only needs 61 kms to complete his Cycling Down Dementia challenge. To try and help my calf I decided that I would start doing some yoga stretches every day and to be fair I probably don’t stretch enough considering all the cycling we do. I had found a 30 day yoga challenge on Darebee website where you just hold one pose a day for 60 seconds. Me being me it seemed way too easy so when we got from yesterday’s ride I did all 30 stretches one after the other. Today those deceptively simple stretches came back to haunt me as I felt like I’d pulled every muscle in my body which Glynn thought was hilarious and he took great delight in poking me every time he walked past me!!

24th December. While Glynn headed out for a ride I got busy part roasting the potatoes and slow-cooking the beef ready for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner. I also made some fat-head sausage rolls (that probably won’t mean anything to you unless you follow a low carb-high fat way of eating). Whilst potatoes aren’t a low carb veg you can’t have a decent Christmas roast without some lovely crispy roast potatoes so all things in moderation is my motto. When Glynn got back he had cycled just over 62kms so he has smashed his target 6 weeks ahead of schedule. He was absolutely delighted as it meant all the pressure was off and it doesn’t matter what the weather does now as he can relax and just enjoy the rides. Although it was Glynn’s challenge I had planned on achieving it with him until my misfortune in tearing my calf. As cycling is easier than walking for me I have decided that I am going to carry on and hopefully achieve 1610 kms myself too so I need to cycle another 546kms by the end of January. Watch this space!! Our afternoon was spent chilling on the sofas and taste testing the sausage rolls while we watched the film The Devil Wears Prada.

Happy Christmas

25th December. Our Christmas morning got off to a fabulous start when we received further donations after posting an update that Glynn had completed his challenge yesterday. He is now only £16 short of his new £1000 target. We have enjoyed some wonderful Christmas days in Goa with the glorious weather and great parties so I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Spanish Christmas. I certainly didn’t expect it to be as sunny and warm as it was and armed with our cool box full of chilled wine and food we set off for La Zenia beach to meet the friends we had met by going to the jive classes. I have never seen a beach completely packed with thousands of people dressed in Santa hats and Christmas jumpers. There were big trestle tables full of food and barbecues. One couple had created a mock up of an English living room including two armchairs a Christmas tree, a fake TV and a fireplace. It was incredible. The atmosphere was really festive and with a live band playing we spent a wonderful few hours celebrating Christmas on the beach. Late afternoon we headed back to finish cooking our Christmas dinner and we then spent a lovely relaxing evening in. It had been a really nice way to spend Christmas.

28th December. Yesterday we added another 70kms towards my target when we cycled round to Los Nietos on the Mar Menor. A slightly cloudy start to the day which soon cleared in to a lovely sunny day. Today is my birthday so we decided to go shopping in search of new cycling shoes before heading over to Conessa Castle for a meal. I didn’t manage to find any suitable shoes but I did manage to find some new trousers instead so the shopping trip wasn’t a complete failure. Glynn has clearly been working hard on his Spanish as he spoke to the waitress in Spanish to say it was my birthday and when my tiramisu arrived it was an enormous portion with a sparkler in it. The staff sang happy birthday to me and some of the customers joined in too while i sat there blushing. We were so full after 3 courses that we decided to head back and spend a quiet evening in. Glynn took a wrong turn somehow and we ended up on the toll road but to make matters worse we were going in the wrong direction, heading towards Alicante. We exited at the next junction and paid €2.20 for the privilege and then took the correct turning home.

31st December. After doing a nice ride to San Miguel yesterday we decided to have a lazy day and enjoyed a stroll along the seafront. I made a lovely butternut squash soup but accidentally got carried away with the chillies so to say it was a spicy soup was an understatement!! After so many years of partying until the early hours of New Year’s Day we opted for a quiet night in tonight. Half way through the evening we got a video call from Darryl who had a load of his mates round for the evening. He had decided to shave his head so he wanted to video call us so that we could watch his transformation. There was much hilarity and I’m sure more than a few beers had been consumed prior to his decision to go bald. His hair has been thinning for some time so he decided it was time to take it all off. After a very humorous half hour video call and much admiring of my sons newly bald head we bade them all a happy new year and left them to continue partying while we enjoyed the rest of our evening relaxing.
We have now been in Torre de la Horadada for 3 months and it has exceeded our expectations both weather-wise and the amount of activities to do as well as the great cycling opportunities. It does get quite cold in the evenings now however with such beautiful sunny days we don’t mind. I’m looking forward to completing my own 1000 mile challenge before the end of January so fingers crossed the weather stays kind. We were offered a really exciting opportunity recently so there are exciting times ahead but you’ll have to watch this space to find out what it is as I don’t want to jinx anything until it is certain. Hopefully by March’s blogpost I will be in a position to share our really exciting news. We have had a fantastic year and visited so many wonderful and exciting places as well as meeting so many new people and making new friends. I’m a bit gutted about injuring my calf as I was really enjoying the jive classes and had hoped to be competent at dancing before we head home in February but at least I have still been able to cycle which was more important even if I haven’t been able to strengthen my climbing ability. There is always next year as we already have our year mapped out which involves some cycling in the Pyrenees and the Alps hopefully before we head to Germany and then carry on up to Denmark. We often spend ages planning an itinerary only to change it and detour off somewhere else but that’s the beauty of travelling in the motorhome. This time we have worked out a rough itinerary and will go with the flow as the weather as much as anything else will dictate how far north we get. Happy new year everyone!!