Central Pau

... nothing much new awaits. Meanwhile, the prospect of your own bed begins to appeal...
So, there we are: mission accomplished. Above all, I have to say that I for one am mighty relieved that we have managed without any mishaps. Always a worry, whenever you leave home. There were moments - say, in the hills of deepest Albania - where I did wonder what the hell we would do if we broke down. Fortunately, this wasn't a problem.
Overall highs: without a ...

... the same statuettes and bottles in which to collect your holy water. It was difficult to feel any empathy with the people there when it seems to us to be little more than a huge sales opportunity for the church. Difficult to like but interesting to visit!

Mike could recognize very little of Pau as expected. It seemed a lot bigger, but it was interesting to revisit the were Mike spent a miserable and lonely month all those years ago

... along the way.

The first example was a Dutch cyclist who stabilised me, kept me conscious and got the ambulance so I could be in Lourdes.

The doctors and nurses at Lourdes confirmed the extent of my injuries and I spent the next four days in Intensive Care, unable to eat because of the injuries to my face, mainly in a semi conscious state with morphine being given to me regularly.

... 169m) and the Col De Pinodieta (176m) before lunch.

The walled town of St Jean Pied de Port offers a perfect lunch stop, and then we cycle on to our first proper climb over the Col D’ Osquich (500m). The sign of the small town of Arudy will no doubt be very welcome at the end of this 180km monster day! We get our Raid carnet stamped twice today – we are well on our way!

WHAT I EXPERIENCED:

So, nearly ready for the off! Thankfully, false alarm about arrival of guests to take over house in absence means we have one more day in which to prepare... much needed!
We will just about get there - I think.
Round about now it occurs to us we really ought to have assembled scooter on trailer and gone for little spin to test strapping arrangement, etc... just to make sure it all holds up. Oh well, the road will be a good test of all that... I guess.

... to be entertaining. Christmas is just around the corner and that has totally taken me by surprise as well. En plus and even more exciting is that Lana will be here in hardly over a week!!!! And then Moma and Papa too!!! I have the most incredible month ahead of me; holiday in Europe with my family. How can it get better than that?? On verra... Hope all is well for everyone! Love, Anna.

... Mila because it was all outdoors. The stone work and massive mosaics were breath taking, I could have spent hours and hours there. Before we knew it though, our time was gone and we had to go catch our train. Getting back to Pau was much easier than getting to Barcelona, although I wish it could have been the other way around. I can't wait to go back someday and have more time to really explore the city. It was definately a weekend I will never forget. VIVA L'ESPAGNE!!! Love, Anna

... friends of Anais and Nico H**ve, Swiss, met in Ulan Bataar and Beijing Jorge, Am**ican, met in Beijing Raquel, Spanish, met in Yangon, Myanmar Vish, English, met in Melbourne Yohan, French, met in New Zealand Gomoso, G**man, met in Auckland ...

... page. On the go I need to keep track of my expenses. I ...

... me if I wanted to try, of course! It would be my first time in the wild to drive a manual transmission (I've been taught before) and I pulled it off, no problem.

June 5
I woke up at 1pm! Jet lag can be a downer. I had lunch and Christian and I waited for his girlfriend to arrive. We took a bus to a bar where we played English billiards and had a drink. Dinner at Quick, then off for some coffee. Around 9pm ...