Day 2 - South of Ronda - Estepa

Day 2 and off into the unknown! And the unknown it was as well!
Today added the complexity of having to make sure I'm going the right way! Something which went wrong twice! But it was OK. I hadnt gone miles and mile before realising, Id just got to a junction and thought.. ooh wrong side of town. So only had to backtrack a couple of kilometers here and there!
It took some getting going today. The realisation that this just Day 2 out of a damn long haul. Day 1 was obviously hyped by the fact that it was launch day, but as I set off into the unknown with a few twinges from yesterdays climbs. It was a real sense of.. We're in this for the long un !
What gave me a lift though, was the old saying. What goes up, must come down! It suuure did! Weeee all the way down a huge hill, hitting 70.7kph. Id be hard pushed to beat that again on this trip I bet!
Despite that, was a pretty eventless day. One thing I have been doing pretty well at, is getting over the fact that I hate sitting in restaurants by myself, But I've been doing well. Also on the training rides, I had real issue with not feeling hungry. But I have not been marred by the same infliction this time. Ive been scoffing loads. Which is fantastic, because I have to. Otherwise I'll run out of energy and fail this challenge.

Couple of funnies, stopped for some water in Campillos, and these kids were well interested in my bike. They were dead friendly tho. Particular interest to the wind charges, and I explained to them in my best Spanish what they did. Also said I was going to England. I asked them if they wanted to come with me, and they declined politely! Obviously they are not insane like me!

After Campillos, I was hit by a big Road Closed sign. A cyclists dread. Then its a case of... closed for Cars. but could a bike sneak round.. hmmmmm.. decisions decisions.. Thats always a gamble, as sods law would say. Go 10km and then find its totally blocked, which means a 10km back track.. But.. I WENT FOR IT! Lets do it! Found myself cycling on a road which hadnt been built

yet! Bump bump bump over gravel and stones, and its like eeeeeek, poor bike, its only day 2 and its getting a hammering! Its not a mountain bike! Just kept going and going. Timing was good, as a sunday afternoon, no one is going to be working on it. So a few JCBs were just sat idle. No workmen to tell me to bugger off. And viola, saved myself a hell of a diversion and came out at La Roda! Yaay!

Now being focussed on La Roda, I just went there. Then had I have bothered to read my own instructions, i'd have realised I wasnt to go there and to head the other way. But it was worth a pop in anyway. It was like going 20 years back in time going into that town, old cars laying about. Then outside a bar this huge group of people just singing away in Spanish and one had a guitar. Could hear em from miles away! Fantastic!

Backtracked and headed up to Estepa, where I decided a hotel was in order for tonight. Found a little hostel thing. Got the bike in their garage and viola. No pitching tents tonight. yaaay!

Todays stats
Start	Just south of Ronda.09:50
End	Estepa.19:00
Saddle Time	5 hr 27 min 17 sec.
Distance travelled	111.60km
Average Speed	20.4kph
Max speed	70.7km

Day 1 - The Launch

Wow what an awesome departure from Gibraltar. People came down to see me off. The send off was filmed. See the Youtube video, and a great cheer went up as I took my first pedal off on this epic journey to England.

A little boy on a trike was very eager to come with me, and started following me, out onto the road leaving his mum to go chasing after him! Andrea, he's going to cycle the whole world when he's older! He definately wanted to come to England with me! Not sure his trike would have managed the hills that followed.

A couple of guys from the local cycling club followed me out the first 25km which was nice to have some company at the beginning. We grabbed a coffee, and then they headed back to Gibraltar whilst I went my seperate ways. Then thats it, it hit me. Im alone now. And im going to be until I get to England :)

The day was then full of ups!! Lots of ups! HILLS! 850m climb to Gaucin then up to 850m then up and down and finally peaking out at 1000m before heading down to Ronda. Today was an easy one in the sense that I've cycled to Ronda from Gibraltar before. But there was a definate sense of this is different!! The uphills were relentless with all the extra weight in the bike.

Thank you to everyone who has been sending me messages from the site. I have been getting them all :) I cant always reply but will do my best!

Finished up in Camping Sur just outside Ronda. Went to a restaurant for a huge nice bit of steak! Sitting outside at night and it warm. Something that wont be happening in a couple of weeks! Fantastic start, all went to plan. Except for GPS and data on the phone not working this morning. (people thought i hadnt set off and chickened out as the map didnt move!!) And i thought id lost my keys at one point, meaning I had to unpack the whole bike at Jimena. But found them eventually!

Todays stats
Start	Gibraltar Casemates.10:10
End	Just South of Ronda.20:15
Saddle Time	6 hr 29 min 45 sec.
Distance travelled	101.41km
Average Speed	15.6kph
Max speed	59.8km

Thank you to Johannes for putting these videos together, First one is my speech, the second is the launch!

All packed up and raring to go!

T'was the night before Christmas... Well not quite, but its the night before Gibraltar to Yorkshire starts. It feels pretty much the same, except I don't remember having any nerves about Christmas!

I think when beginning something like this. Especially for a first long solo tour, and with everyone watching you its probably normal to go through quite a number of emotions and feelings about it.

This last week has certainly been no exception. Excitement, nerves, stress, worry and even a sadness about being away for such a long time. I'll miss it down here!

I do think. Have I trained enough? Am I ready? Can I do this? Well the answer to all that is... It no longer matters! There is no more time!

I want to thank everyone who has wished me well today. Said a goodbye to everyone at work. Thank you to everyone who manages to get themselves to Casemates Square tomorrow morning to see me off. Pretty difficult when theres a beer festival in town tonight!! (Which of course I cant attend!)

Also a huge thanks to the people who have supported me throughout the build up of this event. To those that have sponsored me by donating money to charity. Those that have helped me, such as Betfred. Massive gratitude to Carl Punton who not managed to get my bike all serviced, and fix a buckled front wheel and break cable failure at the last minute. But has also been instrumental in advice and support! Thank you to my brothers back in Yorkshire. Jonathan has been pulling his contacts to get some fantastic PR and Media attention to welcome me when I arrive. Mark is organising the welcome home party and apparently has brewed his own extra strength beer which I'm sure will go down a treat upon arrival! Thank you so much to Vanessa Palmero Haywood and Helen White at the Gibraltar Society for Cancer Relief for organising the Cyclathon and for PR and Media attention here in Gibraltar. Finally a big thank you to those few people who have made a significant financial donation to the charities. It really is heart warming to know that what I'm doing is having an impact on others. I could not forget to thank Andrea Norris who has supplied copious amounts of Kendal Mint Cake for my journey. That stuff should rocket fuel me all the way north!

Ahead of me now, I have 2500km of lonely road. Guys, please email me! Stay in touch! Send a message from the front of the site. Or email onlineamiga@gmail.com I can reply! Thanks to modern technology! Keep a track of my progress via the GPS and the Facebook page.

For those in Gibraltar: I'll be back soon. For those in Yorkshire: I am on my way!