Biking from Spain to Germany

Update

Well, it hasn't been easy, but I am back for another update. I got held up in the hills, mountains of southern France for almost a week. Luckily I found a traveling companion shortly after the last update. Jens and I road together in the Pyrennes up to almost 2000m, then we split up and I headed down into France. As of the 11th day, I have travelled about 1500km from Valencia. Lots of stories to tell, but few internet cafes to get connected at.

Jens

Almost immediately after the last update, I was approached on the street of Barcelona by a strange German guy. It took us a couple minutes to realize that we both speak decent Spanish, so that became the language of communication. It took us another few minutes to realize that we were both headed the same direction: up the coast towards France. Together we made a traveling team that lasted four days and over 500km. We argued about many things as we went along, but we were both happy to have a companion that spoke a common language and rode about the same speed. Jens also liked to travel cheap, so we spent all three nights out in random areas of the country. I saved lots of money those few days. Jens is still riding the Ruta Alta de los Pirineos, but I had to move on to France.

France

Unfortunately, the hills didn't get much smaller as I entered the Midi Pyrennes area of France. I seriously thought there was something wrong with my bike when I had trouble keeping a decent speed some days. I have had no trouble finding a good campground at the end of the day, though. I have also been able to get around all right in French. I can take directions now like I really know what the other person is saying. Finally yesterday I finished the hills for a bit. Today I rolled into Bourges in the center of France. I have run some errands and wasted the day away, but I finally got to use the internet. Wish I had more time to write to people.

One More Week

The latest plan is to try to get to Hannover to Jens' friends. I can leave the bike there for a couple years and continue my trip in Italy by train. However, I need to keep a pretty good pace of at least 150km per day in order to make it. We will see.Until next time.