Thanks Skål and Simon

Just got back to Pamplona to check on progress. Parts are there and they were working on the wheel. Bike will be ready by 5pm tomorrow whoop!!!

We just have a bit of shuffling to get the hire car back and collect the bike, but we're in a nice campsite just 7km from the bike shop in Iruna, so this should be fairly easy, and we will have a little time tomorrow to check out the sites in Pamplona, which will be nice.

I do agree. The cost from the shop is about right. I'm relieved, one of the main reasons we travel by bike is because it's the only way we can afford to see so much.

I'll have a look at those tents Simon. May save a few grams, and it all adds up. I also carry a pretty comprehensive tool kit which I'm loathed to cut down, but maybe I can saw the ends off my spanners :/

My life is good. I've suffered my fair share of knocks, and even recently I lost my home, business, dog, money and self esteem but you have to look at what you have left don't you? Travelling through Asia really puts things in perspective for me. Those children you see, living under a few leaves not knowing how they are going to eat from one day to the next, but still sporting a huge genuine smile when something good happens for them, like a mad Englishman turning up Proclaiming a big fat confident "Goodbye" in their native language, when he really means "Hello", then disaprearing in a cloud of burnt 4 stroke oil shouting "Hello hello!"... Simple things. Good times, and no one can take them away from you. I'm also very lucky to have a travelling companion that thinks the same. She smiles almost all of the time, and it's totally contagious.

The party in Portugal was awesome. It consisted of pure unadulterated nature at 900m. Living for 3 days in a dome in the wilderness to a chorus of birdsong 24 hours a day, and the frogs chirping in for good measure. I'm pretty sure we are going to buy a plot here. It's mega cheap, and the locals are extremely welcoming. So I lost my house in the UK, but if you keep your head up, and your spirits high, opportunity will eventually come along and offer you a way up and beyond.

Happy travels my friends.

Fox

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FoxBox

Hi Foxy,

Great to hear from you and an inspiring tale you have to tell - i've sort of 'been there done that' myself but now I'm just an old bloke with pension panic . . .

Meanwhile, have a look at the Omega 2 - one of the few 'two man' tents that actually lives up to the name - as long as you are reasonably lithe! At a pinch ours took two adults and two huskies - well almost, guess who slept out in the porch!

Best wishes for the future - and look me up next time you're in the Pyrenees

Regs

Simon

PS - my personal record was proudly proclaiming that I've visited all of the kidneys (riñones) in Spain - the word or course was rincones (corners in the sense of nooks and crannies)

PPS the worst but as losing my lovely dog last year

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