The team are ready!
Back at our favourite bar for a last coffee before setting off…for a very relaxed first couple of days! (We’ll be near Rome tomorrow!)
Given the distances involved this year, we are taking a bit of a short-cut! Not cheating really…just shifting the start-point.
We rode the 80 minutes to Portbou in Spain.
All went well….with the bikes fully loaded for the first time! I forgot to mention in the Prologue that over the Northern winter, I traded in the disastrous battery-stress-inducing Shimano system for a second Bosh-powered Lapierre…after the Shimano failed once again to stand up to the rigours of an MBR!
A lovely ride as ever…if all too brief!!
Before we jumped on a train to Barcelona.
A “well-decorated” train….stood alone in the gigantic station at Porbou. This used to be the key transit point for train travellers from France to Spain…before they opened up the high speed line direct to Barcelona..leaving Portbou as a largely deserted by-passed anachronism.
A dozen or so folk got on the train. Including three other bikers! So the too-small-anyway bike compartment was overfull before we even started!
Next stop…30 or so Boy Scouts/Girl Guides..squeezed into our carriage with a year’s worth of gear!! Tiny boys with rucksacks almost dragging on the ground. Question: how many girl guides can you fit in the tiny train toilet? The answer is seven!! Hilarious! God knows what they had room to get up to!
And more bikes got on!
And more people! It was packed!
So not the leisurely start we had expected really!! We had overlooked Easter holidays! But it got us to Barcelona!
A 12-minute ride to the port to pick up our boarding passes…ten minutes back to the old town…and we were happy to sit down and enjoy a few beers on Plaza George Orwell!
A delightful bar….
….with an equally “well-decorated “ toilet!
The ferry is leaving at 10.30….for the 22 hour haul across to Civitivecchia. This is surely one of the best travel deals around right now. 65 euros…for the crossing, including a bike….and including sole use of a four-person outside cabin with sea view! Luxury!!
You have to love the green credentials of the Grimaldi line!!
Green as….until we turn the engine on!! So was Concorde!! Classic!!
Unusually…the two cyclists were last to board (but hopefully first off!)…but the boat left bang on time! A few celebratory beers…and then it was off to the luxury of a no-snoring cabin!! Haha
Does ‘zero emission’ apply to the boat or the passengers?
Sounds a lot nicer than that dreadful crossing we had 3 years ago 🤢