Le Loop 2023: The Problogue

Nope, not a typo but a witty suggestion from my brother Gareth in which I sum up my travels to and experiences in Bilbao before the hard work starts!

Bilbao Braggings

Well I won’t have the honour of being the first to arrive in Bilbao, but possibly the only one to arrive by ferry from the UK as only three foot passengers embarked in Portsmouth on Monday night.

Having been so busy recently, I quite enjoyed the enforced idleness of a full day at sea before arriving at Santander early on Wednesday morning. I did manage to have a quick go on the bike on the top deck though! Tuesday also gave me the opportunity to quietly think through all the things for which I am grateful – my wife and family, now including grandchildren; health and strength to undertake the challenge of riding the first nine stages of the route of this year’s Tour de France with Le Loop; the beauty of God’s creation, even though we didn’t get to see the whales and dolphins that inhabit the Bay of Biscay. Counting every blessing, as we sing on a Sunday.

The crossing was silky smooth. At times it was easy to forget that we were at sea – the occasional slight wobble while walking around being the only clue (other than looking out of the window of course!).

Banking on today being a good one

Wednesday morning started with an early morning wake up call before a quick breakfast and disembarkation in Santander. The next step was to get to Bilbao, but there were no trains that made any sense for a 90km journey (one route was allegedly 9 hours!). Maybe I should have tried to see if any of the motorists on board were going my way, but there were regular coaches that ran so I got the 12:30, arriving in Bilbao at 2pm. That meant I had the morning to explore Santander a bit, which was nice, as the most of the previous day I are been most sitting and reading.

I enjoyed walking around the park and through the market, picking out the occasional word that I have learned from using Babbel over the last several months. I even managed some short conversations when buying my coach ticket and leaving my bag with the left luggage guy!

Checked in to our hotel in Bilbao, where I soon met up with Greg and Jeff. Mucho bike chat over a good meal consisting of “an assortment of pork products” (or charcuterie, as we say in English) to start followed by some serious pork chops. More arrivals expected tomorrow and the sense of anticipation for what is to come starts to ramp up a notch!

Huevos las jueves

A decent breakfast this morning, though I know that some days it will likely be a real challenge as 100+ cyclists descend on the buffet like hungry locusts and strip it within moments! It may have been possible to get some scrambled eggs this morning but it’s likely to be a different story over the next week or so. As we are in this hotel for the next few nights, we should probably be ok for Friday and Saturday morning too and not just Thursday.

Ticking things off the tourist list today before bike faff begins tomorrow with the arrival of the team with all our kit. A fun time up the funicular for a fine view over Bilbao, a walk back along the river followed by a refreshing dip in the hotel pool. Guggenheim in the afternoon before an evening meal at Victor Montes in the casco viejo (old town) thanks to a recommendation from a friend back home (thanks Andy).

Faffaday

Actually not too much bike faff today. After a visit to the launderette to make sure I start off with everything clean after a few days away, I went back to the Guggenheim to see the inside. On getting back, quick swim to cool off and then found my bike safely arrived and stored in the bike room. Tyres seem OK, gears seem to work so all should be good for tomorrow morning when it all starts to get serious.

I rested up this afternoon because the app on my phone tells me I walked 10 miles yesterday (30,000 steps) and climbed 94 floors. Well there are 307 steps down to the old town (I counted, of course!) and I went there three times yesterday. The route down to town also includes some uphill too though – have they not thought of tunnels?!

I say rested up, but my visit to and around the Guggenheim still cost me 15,000 steps and 30 floors! Well worth it though and I enjoyed it more than I thought I might.

Y finalmente

Although we will be riding in Spain for the next three days, I don’t know how much opportunity I will have to use any of my nascent Spanish. But I do believe my experience here so far has been enhanced by what I’ve learned over the last few months thanks to Babbel. Although I could have navigated the launderette and the shops and cafes without any Spanish at all (including when I thought I had lost my glasses when in fact I hadn’t taken them out with me on that particular occasion – oh dear!), I pushed myself to give it a go and it was all rather fun!

Y asi comienza el Tour de France con Le Loop …