We’re on the road at 8:30am, after I lose the key to the bike locks for half an hour – doh! Everyone is pretty annoyed, me included. Despite the rest days, this has been a very testing trip to say the least, and occasional frayed tempers, while rare, are inevitable
When I wake I feel quite weak still but am ready to eat. Hussein rustles up some pancakes, which taste a-ma-zing! Shaun and Steve are also feeling the effects of yesterday – even though they could probably have ridden today, we decide it would do us all good to have
The big one. Wow, this was a hard day, one that almost broke the trip. At 8am it is already hot and windless, the sun blazing down from a cloudless sky. We climb for a few miles up a road, accompanied by a friendly dog that appears from the undergrowth
As day dawns I’m struck by just how magical a place this is: the valley is wild and spectacular, with towering peaks either side and no other dwellings. There’s a stream running over the bare earth, just a couple of feet from the house, where we all washed our socks