Day 12 – Barcelona, such a beautiful horizon!

Finally, we’d got to the border with Spain and a mere 112 miles down to Barcelona. The morning started in a very scummy border town (could have been third world) with some lengthy descents and some pretty easy riding down to Figueres and Girona. With not having any punctures until Day 11, it was always going to be a day of hissing, but three in the space of a few hundred metres was a little excessive! A detour after lunch meant that we had to take a slightly hillier route than planned out towards the coast, but with everyone focussed on the finish line it didn’t seem to affect us. Poor old Nick had managed to pick up a nasty cough and sore throat, which meant that sounded as though Barry White was cycling with us!

News of flight delays from the folks heading to Barcelona to meet us led to a Top Gear-esque race to Icaria beach. Inspired by the finish line, the final 30 miles were hammered hard with Dave & Simon even racing moped riders off of traffic lights as we headed through the streets of Barcelona. We made it to the beach to find Mummy Mould and Auntie Jack as well as Jen’s good friend Anni to greet us. Not long after we were swamped by some people who seemed to think that they’d had a tough journey to Barcelona!  It was great to see everyone and we'd certainly missed them loads. 

The day's ride was really tough, and went on for a long time (7 hrs 10 min of riding) but we realised as a team that we have become really strong riders.  Inspecting the climbing data we were surprised to see 5,400 ft of climbing, as it certainly didn't feel that much.  112 miles would have been daunting a fortnight ago (indeed, it was!) but this morning it was just another pleasant ride on the wrong side of the road!  It's amazing how an epic trip like this can change your perceptions. 

Some much appreciated beer & tapas on the beachfront, with some very relieved, tired, elated and proud cyclists heading off to our lovely casa for some well-earned sleep. As for the journey to get there… well that’s another story for another time! 

Route details can be found here: we recommend reading them whilst thinking about the patatas bravas that you have most definitely earnt…

https://www.strava.com/activities/308803874 (Sinéad)
https://www.strava.com/activities/308808027 (David)