Bilbao - 23rd July

I think you will know where I am. I've included the view from the camper park on top of the hill, not a good photo but relevant as you will see.

I have a ferry to catch at 15:00 and the last check-in time is 14:00. The centre is 30min away on bike and that's the return journey. I've got five hours to get down to the city, back up again and over to pick up some wine before arriving at the port. So down to the city I go, find a bike shop for a new saddle, the old one got ripped to shreds by the hail, causing a wet bum everytime it rains. The Guggenheim is just round the corner. I don't go inside, just take in the space around, magnificent.

I grab a coffee and check the time, just gone 12:00, two hours to get to the van, pick up wine and arrive at the ferry. No problem, no problem until my battery shuts my phone down on route. You can imagine the ride up to the bus is energetic at best, when you don't know your way it becomes a horror story, up down, up down and those hills are steep. Eventually I find someone who knows where the park is, I've been riding up (and down) the wrong hill. I find the bus, plug in my phone, hitch the trailer and bike and check the time - 14:15, I'm not going to catch that ferry! Google is telling me I'll arrive at 15:17, I'm done for. I make a start anyway and Google takes me round the houses, causes me to do a three point turn with the trailer on the back and sends me from wence I came. This is nonsence, I switch to Apple\maps which puts me on the motorway with an ETA of 15:05, I'll arrive to see the ferry steeming out of the port. As I go over the hill I can see the ferry still in the dock and arrive at customs at 15:03, there's been a problem, the ferry is delayed, I will be allowed to board. What a brilliant piece of luck!

On board I get chatting with some bikers one of whom owns a splity. We have a great night chatting buses. This is a picture of a Brazilian safari bus I saw earlier in the day in Bilbao. In the ten weeks I've been away it's only the 5th bus I've seen on the road. It looks as if it is being decked out for a wedding.