Having tucked into the Root ginger, chicken pieces, garlic and chilly the night before and a pleasant night in (for me) quite posh accommodation with balcony to dry shoes and socks WITHOUT upsetting mein host or other guests off I jolly well went. The pretty little receptionist wanted a picture of me and the Bike underneath the hotel entrance arches.
Unlike in the North, with the mighty tailwind, overcast, cool days it was becoming steadily hotter so much so that I pulled into a street market and asked the women where they get their crazy beekeepers hats from. I had to keep my neck and face sheltered as much as possible. My hand crafted chinese made japanese katana style (its rusting already) sheaf knife and 4 zip-ties plus a little English design I achieved something both stylish and rather fetching – fetching much laughter where ever I am spotted.
The route out was quickly very rural with traditional hay-stoops, rice drying in the roads & refreshingly green fields the country opened up ahead of me. Happy days, small roads and green stuff.
Some beautiful deserted beaches did appear, the roadside cafes and bars had lots and lots of seating but were empty, closed as were the food stops.
For the last 25k I went off rwgps route and found the prickly catctii and even more beaches to the side of the small wiry pine trees that did at least protect me from the wind. I wondered about pitching the tent but the ground had loads of quite large finger-sized bug? burrows. I cycled on to see if there was a bar with the blood-curdling acoustic nightmare of a drunk musically deaf woman screeching out at 103 decibels in this beautiful remote spot.
After a rather steep little hill I dropped into a nice valley filled with grasses AND a wee shop that did indeed sell ice-cold beers. Sitting with the family in the welcome shade, I asked what all the coloured grass drying on the side of the road was all about. Sedge mats google translate said. Oh I said and saw the fields were reed beds rather than paddy.
The Lady operating the weaving machine seemed grateful for some company. VIDEO WILL BE LOADED LATER its a wee bit slow here – all the power is going into the 7 concurrent crappyoakie sessions in the village.
RWGPS found it was online so recalculated the route, well done but it was so obviously flawed.
Drying the spiced rice poppadoms that are so popular with beer drinkers. Into the Lavender at long last. Had cold beers at the nearby shop while I uploaded Strava, booked myself in for a fingers and toes manicure next to the beer shop and Bike was happy to be indoors out of the cold!
Early start tomorrow.