Brass Monkey Weather

Decided to take a look at Gibralter seeing as I had visited the Spanish version (Ceuta) a few weeks ago. They are both about the same size and both densely populated. Both are Garrison towns, both are tax free havens and both are in somebody elses country. Both are pretty dingy but Ceuta winds hands down on that score. I imagine you could hold a 6 fingered banjo players convention in either. Gibraltar though has the famous rock and it is pretty impressive. Honeycombed with tunnels, guns and defensive postions, up close, it looks like a swiss cheese. The town is one barracks/bastion/buttress/gate/battery/garrison after another. It even has an airport but the runway runs out into the sea and crosses the main access road which has traffic lights to make sure you dont end up in the cockpit of the daily easyjet flight.

Thought I might pop up to see the famous Apes on the rock but they wanted £9.50 to let me drive the bike in so I declined. It is only 50p if you walk...but with no parking and no security I decided I would go see Europa Point, the light house right out on the tip. There were a bunch of guys there trying to salvage this ship that lost in a head-to-head with the rock on October 15th. The weather came in and I took refuge in a McDonalds of all places....2 hours there....I nearly lost the will to live. Still, I managed to re-attach my mangled sidelight lost in that crash a couple of weeks ago. Is there any limit to what you can achieve with Duck Tape and cable ties?

Called in on Seonaid and Eric in Marbella and helped them drink some of their fine red wine and researched the route back to Santander. Weather was looking decidedly iffy. Eric suggested continuing to search the internet till I found a weather forecast I liked. Interesting idea but they all said rain/snow/sleet no matter where I looked. I was getting a bit concerned because most of the middle of Spain is above 600M it is bloody cold in winter. Then I thought, sod it, I dont have a choice so I will have to take what comes.


After a fine breakfast of bacon and eggs (first pig to pass these lips in a month...yum!) I set off, wearing every stitch I could find. First 60k was a sweaty affair and I though I had over-cooked it....but then the forecast turned out to be right. 2C and rain. Like being hosed down by a slush puppy. Later came the corn snow and I had to pull off the road about 100k south of Madrid. Met some frozen Spanish bikers going the same way as me and they advised reserving a room. We drank a lot more coffee and waited....

After an hour it had melted a bit and the showers died down and we got going again. I wanted to clear the 1400M Pass north of Madrid in case there was a lot of snow overnight. If that happened, there would be no way to get the ferry tomorrow by bike. Temp dropped to -3C and I hoped there was lots of salt to stop the road freezing. Eventually, I realised I was pushing my luck and to reinforce the point a shower of snow told me to get off the road and I hauled up at a roadside hostel. Broke the back of the trip with 700km today and only 320k to Santander and all day to do it so should be fine.