Aragon Day 2

The day started with an almost groundhog day moment. Within a minute of setting off,  I went right, Paul went another way, a la Grizzly. We were on our way to the bike shop to get some new boots, as Paul's poorly right boot, was clearly terminal. I arrived several minutes before Paul. Instead of just following our Tomtom route, which took us right passed the door, he used google to direct him and it took him on a tour round the countryside!

Besides Honda and Kawasaki/Yamaha dealers, there was a clothing shop Dafy. It didn't open till 10am, so we popped into Harry Honda, where a nice young lady offered us coffee,  despite us saying we were just waiting for Dafy to open. Decent of her, eh?

Once Dafy opened, it was a fairly swift transaction that saw Paul purchase a pair of Alpine Stars waterproof boots. And waterproof they needed to be. Whilst he was trying them for size, I spotted an interesting crash helmet.  I resisted any temptation to buy one.

It wasn't raining when we left the hotel, but still very damp, so we weren't going to risk not wearing our waterproofs. By the time we made our first fuel stop though, 40 miles away, the rain was bouncing inches off the road!

Surprisingly though, it eased off and remained dull but dry until we made our lunch stop, at a truckers restaurant, which seemed to be run by Portuguese, as the walls were covered in Portuguese football team scarfs and the food wasn't your usual French fare. The place was an eye opener, so much more than a motorway services. Everything a trucker could want, especially beer.

We kept the waterproofs on, as the sky was still iffy and the forecast had indicated we would run into more heavy rain. It was wrong and we soon wished we'd taken them off, as the sun came out and the temperature rose to 30 degrees! I think I suddenly realised what it must be like, to be boil in the bag fish! At the second fuel stop, off they came. Talking of fuel, I'm gobsmacked to learn that we are paying the equivalent of 32p per litre less than at home. I don't think the differential was that great in the summer. Good for us though. We'll find out tomorrow afternoon if it's a similar story in Spain. 

The ride from the fuel stop, 112 miles, was glorious. My red face is testament to that. We arrived at our hotel about 18:30, quickly changed and made our way on to the hotel verandah, where we took in the last of the day's rays and had a nice cold Heineken. 

We ate in the hotel too, 3 courses and a couple more beers. The perfect end to a not so perfect day.

Tomorrow looks like being another wet start but temperatures are set to rise by the time we get into Spain. I might have to break the sun cream out. Our route will hopefully take us over the Col du Somport. That's our chosen route but if it is peeing down, we may have to use the tunnel instead.

Lastly, Ginny racked up another milestone this afternoon, 27k miles. 

Until tomorrow then.