Devoid of any ´Diary´´I wrote my initial thoughts on my Michelin map, so I will copy what I wrote as I think it sums it up nicely.
Never before did I learn so much as unexpectantly as I did on the ´Pride of Bilbao´´. The word Posh actually stands for ´Port Over Starboard Home´. When setting out to sea, the sun gives off a green flash just as it disapears over the horizon and the ferry, for the last 15 years, has been tracking Dolphines and taking detailed measurements of the oceran temperatures to callobrate with the appropriate satalites. Also never did I think I´d be part of the final ever Portsmouth to Bilbao crossing. As notified by a heartfelt message just prior to boarding, the Pride of Bilbao is ending its 15 years of service. The last and maybe the least expected was to discover people actually get the ferry to Bilbao, then immediatly get the service back to Portsmouth, and see it as a 4 day cruise!. You can even get Dolphin´themed´cruises!...They must be POSH. Far from it but the token transvistite working the crowds kept me entertained for a while.
Having my cabin directly underneath the ´nightclub´ meant little sleep, but I was certainly impressed with the cruise director Stevie J´s enthusiasm. The highlight of the trip are about as contrasting as possible. Watching Dolphines dive out of the water to Bow ride in the Bay of Biscay, and the Singapore Grand Prix in the Silverstone Lounge!...The things you do to stay entertained on a boat. Not sure I´d be suited to extended tours.
The adventure immediatly began, with me cycling the opposite direction to Bilbao, having departed the ferry. After 10 km of just cycling around trying to work out the Lybrinth of side roads, I settled on taking the metro straight to the Guggenheim. Although this did´nt side well with the purest in me to, thank god I did. The jorney would of been on a motorway straddling the edge of the gorge.
Upon arrival ion the town centre I immediatly got lost again. Not a visitor friendly place, I came to conclude. ´"Wheres this Bilbao effect" I kept asking. A few more twists and turns, and lots of "Donde esta el Museo Guggenheim´ por favor?" there it was!...What an excitment I felt. Never before have I witnessed the power of Architecture, so vividly displayed!...You could be a road sweeper and feel inspired. You could be on the verge of breakdown and feel calm once in front of the museum!. Unfortuantly I could not make it inside, but after about 5 laps of the building, absorbing as much as possible with my eyes, camara, ears, and on a lesser exctent nose, I had to leave. The museum is shut on Mondays, and although sad to leave the guggenheim, I was again very excited on the thought of leaving Bilbao. 3 hours was enough.
On the way I managed to snap the Foster Metro, although regretably this was very brief. It then took another 2 hours of cycling, again lost, to finally find the minor road, straddling the river to make my way alongside the AP-68. Having left the city, I started to feel the excitment of being on the open road with my bike that I was so longing for!
The ride took me up to 650meters, along the most amazing road, winding its way through medeival hamlets, through pine forests, over gorges, in what was 30km of constant climbing in 4 hours. I was knackard, but the views over the mountains back to the coast were breathtaking!
At 5pm I finally settled for the town of Murguia, and treated myself to a 3 star hotel, and proceed to soak myself in warm water, feeling excited about the road covered and that still to go. A beer later, I was fast asleep. zzzzzzzz
´This is a spanish computer so the spell check does´nt recognise a single word, so apologies´
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