Day 25 - 1,000 mile cycle across France 🇫🇷 + Spain 🇪🇸

899 miles down so far on this journey. about 100 miles to go which I should cover in about two days. Looking forward to passing through the city of Valencia.

I wake to the sound of work men starting up the pick up truck that was parked in front of my tent. They kept the engine idling until eventually the smell of fumes made me decide to get up and pack my tent away regardless of them seeing me.

I know the number one rule of wild camping is not to let anyone see you but I had been given permission to camp in the space by the lady Outside her house yesterday so I felt confident if anyone approach to me I would show them the missed call to the hotel from yesterday and explain in my best Spanish I have permission.

I rode to a bar and sat there for about one hour drinking three coffees and eating an egg Bocadillo. That’s a sandwich. I observed the men around me and again even though I know this happens was blown away by the fact that people drink bottles of wine with their breakfast or take shots of whiskey. It seems to be mostly men in these bars who do manual labour.

There was one guy who was kind of cool I saw him the night before at the bar. He had a cowboy hat on and was showing everybody who came in something on his phone, a video with a noise of a cheering crowd. When a lady came into the bar and he showed her as he was close to my left I asked him to show me the video.

It was a crowd of cheering people at the bull festival. The bull ran straight towards them and knocked one of them about 10 feet up into the air with its horns. It was insane.

I then rode on to my next stop which was a gas station where I pulled out my Helinox foldable chair and sat and drank a can of monster. I called gun section and chatted for about 20 minutes it was pretty cool. People pulling up at the gas station had a smile on their face when they saw me chilling.

The headwind was just as strong as yesterday. And I cycled on stoically. I listen to one of the first podcasts by Ian Corless and Ian Sharman on talk ultra. David Horton was their fourth guest. It made me think about how David had joined me this year to summit Katahdin at the end of my 2000 mile run in America on the Appalachian Trail.

I thought to myself how I will include this in the book I write. Finally I’ve got to a campsite it which cost €20. There was a Dutch guy who is also bike riding, he was riding the direction I just came from to France.

In about half an hour from now, it’s now 11:30 pm. There is a bull festival in this town I am at. 10 years ago in this very town a 45-year-old man was killed. In this particular bull festival they pour hot wax onto the bulls head and set it on fire and the bull charges around the barricaded streets of the town.

I’m in my tent I’m not going to watch.