March 6 :: where am I?
March 6 :: where am I? :: 11km / 3713km total
A 6 a.m. arrival in London´s charter-centric Gatwick airport set me up well for scoping out flights. England would´ve been just a bit too cold and wet, I think, and I´m content to save it for another time. Really, I had already decided where I wanted to go, and I found a cheap 11 a.m. flight, perfect. I picked up a road map of the country at Gatwick, yum, the roads look SO enticing! I´ll be there for 8 days, enough time to ride much of the country, then fly back to London for a mad 22 hour sightseeing blast, before flying home on March 15.
The flight was not long, of course, but I was greeted with rain on arrival, such is life. At 14C rain is perfectly manageable, though, and after a quick meal I donned my riding clothes, assembled the bike, and rolled out of the airport. Surprisingly neither Gatwick nor this airport had a Lonely Planet or Rough Guides for the country, and I refuse to buy a guide that bottoms out its hotel listings at 75 Euros per night, so I rolled relatively blindly towards downtown. Being an old, historic city (as you well know that it is), I reasoned that the old ancient downtown core should have cheap guesthouses, empty at this time of the year. The rain was steady, and I even got a bit chilled, but it was a magical, longed-for feeling and I revelled in the goosebumps and lack of insect life. I had to ask for directions multiple times, and very few locals here speak English, so I offer a choice with a quick 'hello bonjour', now confident enough in French to get around on it, if they respond in French, which also is not their first language...
The culture shock began on the bike, as I was pulling the normal jackass road driving tactics that everyone does in the 3rd world... you know, blowing through reds (safely, but illegally!), that kind of thing. Everyone was obeying all the rules, though, and sheepishly I toned it down and remembered that, relatively, I´m back in Kansas now. Then, how beautiful the city is. My God. Clean. Old. Artisitic. Dramatic. Cobblestones. Then, the guesthouse. 15 Euros for a place clean enough for... most of you, even! Then, lots of tourists, even though we´re in the depths of low season. Then, the food. Oh Lord the food. Anything. Everything. I can't take it.
Walking around, head befuddled, trying to reconcile life, Africa, Europe, World, I found a guidebook, and will be able to hide myself away for several hours tonight, plotting the next 8 days. I fly out of a different city, so can do a point to point ride, always my favourite approach to travel. This is easily one of the most beautiful cities I've seen, definitely outclassing fellow European Athens, although it lacks the punch of something like the Parthenon. I just can't get over how clean it is, and, consequently, how clean I am. In the morning I will zip through the sights, then probably ride out of...
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Lisbon!
A 6 a.m. arrival in London´s charter-centric Gatwick airport set me up well for scoping out flights. England would´ve been just a bit too cold and wet, I think, and I´m content to save it for another time. Really, I had already decided where I wanted to go, and I found a cheap 11 a.m. flight, perfect. I picked up a road map of the country at Gatwick, yum, the roads look SO enticing! I´ll be there for 8 days, enough time to ride much of the country, then fly back to London for a mad 22 hour sightseeing blast, before flying home on March 15.
The flight was not long, of course, but I was greeted with rain on arrival, such is life. At 14C rain is perfectly manageable, though, and after a quick meal I donned my riding clothes, assembled the bike, and rolled out of the airport. Surprisingly neither Gatwick nor this airport had a Lonely Planet or Rough Guides for the country, and I refuse to buy a guide that bottoms out its hotel listings at 75 Euros per night, so I rolled relatively blindly towards downtown. Being an old, historic city (as you well know that it is), I reasoned that the old ancient downtown core should have cheap guesthouses, empty at this time of the year. The rain was steady, and I even got a bit chilled, but it was a magical, longed-for feeling and I revelled in the goosebumps and lack of insect life. I had to ask for directions multiple times, and very few locals here speak English, so I offer a choice with a quick 'hello bonjour', now confident enough in French to get around on it, if they respond in French, which also is not their first language...
The culture shock began on the bike, as I was pulling the normal jackass road driving tactics that everyone does in the 3rd world... you know, blowing through reds (safely, but illegally!), that kind of thing. Everyone was obeying all the rules, though, and sheepishly I toned it down and remembered that, relatively, I´m back in Kansas now. Then, how beautiful the city is. My God. Clean. Old. Artisitic. Dramatic. Cobblestones. Then, the guesthouse. 15 Euros for a place clean enough for... most of you, even! Then, lots of tourists, even though we´re in the depths of low season. Then, the food. Oh Lord the food. Anything. Everything. I can't take it.
Walking around, head befuddled, trying to reconcile life, Africa, Europe, World, I found a guidebook, and will be able to hide myself away for several hours tonight, plotting the next 8 days. I fly out of a different city, so can do a point to point ride, always my favourite approach to travel. This is easily one of the most beautiful cities I've seen, definitely outclassing fellow European Athens, although it lacks the punch of something like the Parthenon. I just can't get over how clean it is, and, consequently, how clean I am. In the morning I will zip through the sights, then probably ride out of...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Lisbon!
posted by Graham Durrant at 10:34 AM
2 Comments:
You lucky dog! Lisbon and more of Portugal! Culture shock! Are you going full circle? Can't wait to talk to you! At..OOAK?
C26... see you there!
I´d love to tie up my route and ride to Gibraltar, but a bit too far.
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