30 November Deri freezes on way to Castrojeriz

30 November 2007 21:06:49

Castrojeriz!

Hey hey!

Well today was the coldest i think ive ever been and not opted for just wrapping up in a quilt or something!!

We stayed in another monestery last night but unlike all the other monastic places the nuns were actually really sweet and nice and there were only 7 pilgrims (including us) so we all went out and had a very nice meal an talked a lot of spanish! One of them tryed talking to me at one point and i just plain didnt understand so i got a bit worried but it turned out he was italian (Sounds similar but- what!?)

Anyway yeah! This morning we got up very early and went to have breakfast and planned to set off on a 42k ride to... here! But there was so much fog that we couldn see more than about 10 yards in any direction! And it was cold! After a couple of k i noticed that horizontal icecless were forming on my handle bar bag! My shoes got frozen my toe clips and my gloves got frozen to the handle bars! And we were in the middle of nowhere by this point so the only thing to do was ride faster! Then i noticed that my gears and brakes were frozen solid- I had to nock the ice off my gears whenever i wanted to chenge and i felt like i was constantly trying to nock the ice off my brakes! I mean seriously cold! When i straightened my fingers i could feel the ice snapping off the outside if my gloves and whenever i blinked i could feel little droplets of ice clincking together like beads of glass!

I got to fromister and immedietly went into a bar to have a cup of tea an wait for bethan to catch up. It was shocking going into the bar and seeing a reflection of myself! My beard and eyebrows seemed half an inch longer and were all completely white from the frost! Every crease in my clothes had horizontal iceicless hanging off! I must have looked very strange- a man made of frost! But i soon began to melt! And once bethan cought up we waited in the bar for about an hour and a half for the mist to burn off and the sun to come out- didnt happen!

So we carried on through the mist! Lost sight of each other within about twenty minutes and i stopped a couple of times at junctions an stuff to make sure we went the same way but i had to jump up and down almost constantly to keep warm an keep the ice from covering me! Thank god i had full finger gloves and biult in stereo in my phone to keep music blasting and remind me i wasnt dreaming- I felt like i was riding through the shadowlands! Only me and 10 yards in any direction! A little dream world made of ice! Dont want to be doing that again! though we have to travel on tomorrow to burgos!

Strangly once we reached Castrojeriz (not anywhere near before) The mist burnt off and the sun came out and i actually felt a little too hot! Anyway we asked the nice hospitalero man for a good place to eat and he directed us to this really nice place! I take back... a lot of what ive said about spanish portion sizes! When i explained that we were vegaterian the waiter guy went away to find out what we could eat and came back with a revised menu of foods we could have! Thats a first! And, i finished my first course (yeah-first course!) before bethan and the waiter immedietly swept in to ask if i wanted more! I said no. He asked if i was sure. I hesitated- should i say "no thanks" or "yes im sure" and how to do it in spanish! By the time i figured this out he was already on his way back to the table with another bowl of soup! And he constantly brought more food whenever we finished a plate (like the salad was on a separate plate for us to share- so we devided it and he brought another plate of salad! I was so full i was scared to clear my plate in case he brought another plate full of food over! Now that is the kinda service i like! And he didnt charge extra for the extra food he near forced upon me!

Im not looking forward to tomorrows ride- its only 38k but i banged my knee somewhere along the 100k ride and its been hurting me quite a bit! Espesially in the (absolutly freezing) cold that we experienced today! Wish us luck! And hope for a sunny day along with us!!! Speak to you soon!

Deri