Manage to leave the campsite at 7.20am on this cloudy and cool morning - very good cycling weather. Today's route takes us over the border from France into Spain but first we have to get to the border. It looked like it was only about 10 miles on the map but thanks to the windy roads it ended up being about 25 miles.

Once we got out of St Cyprien we had to get on a fast dual carriageway which is never that fun but at least the road surface is generally good. As we approached the border the mountains loomed above us, we hoped they wouldn't be too bad along the coast, but as the road started to undulate we realised we might be disappointed.

At the top of the first serious climb we stop to stretch and admire the view back along the coast, we do actually get quite high surprisingly quickly. After the stretching we continue along the fast road and its not long before we get to a tunnel through a mountain - from previous experience tunnels can be pretty scary when you are on a bike and the lorries and cars are trying to squeeze past at twice your speed - this tunnel was no exception and it was a relief to be out the other side in one piece. There was a long descent after the tunnel and I managed to set a new team max speed record of 47.8 mph.

After that downhill the road gets smaller and starts to run alongside the coast providing very impressive scenery but also a lot more wind. Fortunately the wind is in our favour and we have a tailwind for much of the ride. As the mountains get bigger and the roads more windy though we often turn back into the wind which is really hard work. A pattern of climb a mountain, descend into a town, climb a mountain, descend into a town continues for about 10 miles. The tailwind allows us to get up some of the climbs at over 20mph which I never thought I could do and the only thing slowing us down on the descents are the cars and the fear of going over the edge!

We wait for everyone to catch up and then attempt some photos sitting on the barrier overlooking the sea and the mountains - the wonky photos focused on the road are the pictures taken trying to balance the camera on stones on the floor and the descent photos are the ones taken by John when he caught us up!

Its not long before we see a sign saying 4km to the border but of course this is the steepest climb of them all and most of it seems to be in the wrong direction so we have a headwind. When we finally see the border though all the pain becomes worth it, we have made it to Espana! The wind at the border is so strong its difficult to stand up properly. We pose for the obligatory border photo sitting below the Espana sign before starting the descent into Spain.

We make really good progress despite the mountains and cover 20km without really noticing. We have to do a couple more tunnels but these are much more fun than the one in France... the strong tailwind increases through the tunnels and we can pretty much freewheel at 30mph on the flat!

We meet John in a petrol garage in a town for some well deserved Spanish croissants and Pain au Chocolats - the same as French ones but with added sugar it seems. After the break we have to do some more mountains, not as steep but longer, before at the top of a particularly long climb a massive valley appears in front of us and we can see the rest of the ride will be flat - such a good sight!

Once in the valley we hold a pretty fast pace all the way to Figueres where we meet John outside a Decathlon store. Kevin takes the opportunity to use their toilets and then we take some photos in the car park for our lovely sponsors.

After Decathlon we get back on route and start doing some good team riding, keeping the pace above 22 mph for most of the way. Despite the good pace we still manage to hold up traffic - not our fault, Spanish roads are too narrow.

We don't stop properly until we have completed 70 miles and by then it is getting very hot. Sitting by the side of the road on the outskirts of a town called Parlava we discuss how well the day has gone and the fact that we haven't got lost at all today - famous last words. As we ride into the town centre we see a sign saying Palamos left - which of course we follow - only to realise the sign was in fact lying and it was the wrong road. Paul asked a woman stealing apples and she confirmed that it was the wrong road. What a Parlava!

Back on route we hear John has found a campsite which is a relief and its not long now. At about 80 miles Paul gets a puncture halfway up a hill, as we are only about 5 miles from the campsite I send Matthew and Kevin ahead while I stay with Paul to fix his puncture. We don't expect to see them until the campsite now.

With the puncture repaired we carry on going fairly quickly hoping to catch the other two. As we go through a town we witness a car crash right in front of us. A woman driving a Saxo must have not noticed the queuing traffic in front of her coming into a town until the last second and she swerved onto our side of the road and skidded towards us. For some reason she tryed to pull back onto her side of the road while still sliding and went straight into the back of a nice shiny new Mercedes. As we ride pass we check the driver is ok and then continue to the campsite - we'll leave the clearup to the people who speak the language, we've got pasta to eat!

About 2 mins before we reach the campsite we pass Kevin and Matthew coming out of the entrance to a campsite clearly signposted as a nudist camp - they wish! Little perverts.

The campsite is fairly quiet, clean and is a lot nicer than I was expecting. We do the usual stretching, eating pasta and showering before most people doze off in the afternoon. We get some washing done and make use of their internet facilities before spending a quiet evening at our pitch.

In bed by 10.30 ready for a long day tomorrow.

Daniel

Distance: 87.43 miles
Average Speed: 17.69 mph
Time: 4:56:32
Weather: Cloudy in the morning, very hot in the afternoon