Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[Bonus]

At the end of this week "Inter-Provincial Travel" opens up again here in Spain.

For a while now IP Travel has been restricted - meaning that although local businesses that wanted to could be (and generally have been) open, their customers have all only come from within their own province. In our case "Aragon".

I've been talking to local owners and for a lot of them the off-season has been no different to any other year. Those that normally close, closed as normal. Businesses that are usually open and quite busy over our Winter season have seen less customers due to the restrictions but it has been partly balanced out by people from our own province who would normally go to another province for a week or long weekend winter break and couldn't. They came here instead :-)

There's no doubt that numbers are down, but given the circumstances, it's not been as bad for most of the people I interact with as it could have been.

The campsite that I sometimes work at decided not to open until IP Travel was allowed - they felt that the numbers of people likely to visit at this time didn't balance with the cost of opening and running the whole site. All the usual prep work we do has still needed doing and for me personally this year has been the same as previous years thankfully. The only difference being that where 2 or 3 of us normally get everything done by Easter for opening, I've been working pretty much on my own over the longer period of time that we've had to get everything done.

Let's see how the next few weeks go!

 

[Bonus]

Working in Spain . . . .

My work here generally consists of three things. MTB guiding, Campsite maintenance and "helping local farmers". What I'm doing now is so far removed from what I've ever done before that it's hard to make any reasonable comparisons. I suspect that people doing similar jobs in the UK or SA to what I'm doing now will see a lot of similarities - but for me it's a world of difference.

"High Season" here is July, August & September. That's typically when I work 7 days a week at a local Campsite, usually 8am to 2pm and then I guide people in the evenings. Generally people I've met at the campsite of course. Last year I also did extra hours at the campsite in the evenings - they employed less staff but we did more hours. Thankfully they seem to like me, so any work going comes my way.

Outside of High Season I still do a lot of work a lot at the campsite - typically 9am to 2pm then 4pm to 7pm after a 2 hr lunch (which allows for a little Siesta). This is not a work pattern I've ever had before! In Spring and Autumn I do a fair bit of MTB Guiding - of course last year that was way down thanks to Covid, but the Campsite kept me busy to compensate. Out of season I occasionally help out farmers with jobs too.

Almost all of the work I do here now is hard physical work. I joke that it's like going to gym for 7 hrs a day. In reality it really is a good 5 or 6 hour workout a day with a bit of driving thrown in where I get to sit down for 5 mins. I'm not complaining, I enjoy it - I enjoy being outside, I love the mountain views and the workout certainly keeps me in shape. The campsite is 5 hectares of grass, dirt/gravel roads, walls, hedges, paths and swimming pools - with 26 chalets thrown in. It all needs constant attention. If you turn your back on anything for a week you can lose control! MTB Guiding is tough too - ask any MTB guide, no matter how much you love riding your bike, start doing it everyday for a living and it wears you out!

Earlier in the year I did 5 weeks "building site" work, working on the campsite owners apartment renovation project in the centre of Ainsa. That was tough going - the guys start at 8am, work until 7pm and only have an hour for lunch. We were manhandling building rubble from the third floor down to street level and into a truck for dumping, then manhandling bags of sand/cement and concrete blocks back up there to replace what we'd removed. It was an eye opener to see how long and hard these guys work. The atmosphere was amazing though, I learned some cool Spanish "phrases" to describe when things go wrong or are hard to do 🙂 and I made some good friends. I also recently did a week at the Campsite helping Jose-Marie, a local carpenter friend of the owners who was replacing wooden decking and Chalet panels - at the end of the week said I was a good "Carpentero"! He's actually a guy who's house I often work at in my spare time - pruning trees etc.

Working here can be hard, but it's very rewarding and I never drive for more than 10 minutes from home to get there! I pass people I've worked with in town or on the road, and they give me a wave and a smile. Out riding we share jokes about "who messed this or that up" on site, or "who couldn't keep up with loading rubble" (ok that's always me - these guys are Strong!), but the camaraderie is warm and there is respect. Living in a smallish community, knowing lots of people and being prepared to muck in and do whatever needs doing goes a long way.

I wish I was putting this sort of effort and these sorts of hours into our own "Project", but until I can, I'm happy to do this. It "keeps us going" and allows us to live in and experience a very beautiful part of the world 🙂

 

[Bonus]

Summer season is in full swing here and it's great. This really is a fantastic time of the year.

The campsite is keeping me busy until 2.30 seven days a week, then it's home for lunch and a Siesta and then a swim in the local river for an hour around 5pm. Evenings I'm out riding then we have supper around 10pm and in bed at midnight. Restaurants are open now until after midnight and the fiesta mood is here 🙂

I'm seeing some amazing camper vans at the campsite, this one caught my eye the other day. You could take it way up into the mountains on a rough fire road and camp literally anywhere I think!

 

[Bonus]

After a long hot and very busy summer, we're finally getting some time to ourselves and we'll be posting some "non-cycling related" updates on our adventure soon.....

In the meantime, I saw this on a Campervan back in the summer and it reminded me of the conclusion we came to a little while after getting here when things didn't seem to be working out for us quickly enough. It's good advice!

 

[Bonus]

Peace and quiet walking up in the foothills . . . .

 

[Bonus]

My son visited us from the UK last week and he bought his Drone with him, so we did some filming.

He took a copy of the footage home with him and put together this video of our "Project" up in Guaso and some of the beautiful places we visited while he was over here

He's left the drone here for me to play with .....

Spain - YouTube

 

[Bonus]

Yesterday it rained all day and was colder than it has been for a while . . . . today it was dry and we could see the damage yesterdays weather bought with it . . . . Brrrrrr

 

[ColinJ]

I've lost track of this thread... I really must put a few hours aside to go back and read through it again. Ditto with @HobbesOnTour's adventures!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I've lost track of this thread... I really must put a few hours aside to go back and read through it again. Ditto with @HobbesOnTour's adventures!

Thanks for introducing me to a very interesting thread that I knew nothing about!

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks for introducing me to a very interesting thread that I knew nothing about!

'Seek, and ye shall find!'

 

[Bonus]

I've lost track of this thread... I really must put a few hours aside to go back and read through it again. Ditto with @HobbesOnTour's adventures!

Thanks for introducing me to a very interesting thread that I knew nothing about!

Thanks for the nice comments. Means a lot

 

[Bonus]

After a couple of grey days, this weekend was stunning!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

@Bonus
I've had a lazy day and finally got caught up with your epic thread. It's a fabulous read and has some great photos. Well done!

It's hard to believe that it has being going on for such a long time and yet the two of you (seem) to remain very positive. Maybe you have no other option but to hang on in there and make the most of it - which you certainly seem to be doing.

I'm curious - Why Spain?

You seem to have been incredibly fortunate with Ramon! Indeed the whole community seems to have been welcoming and inclusive (except for the planning objectors). Community seems to be something that people live and breathe (yourselves included) rather than just a word.

In some respects with what has happened with Covid it may actually be a good thing that you never got the bank loans. There may have been much heavier financial pressures.

I'd love to pay a visit sometime and explore that part of the world. I crossed over from St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles back in 2015 when you were just embarking on your journey. I fell a little in love with Northern Spain.
It'll give you another chance to be amused by an Irishman speaking Spanish in a hybrid Irish/Latin American accent

Wishing you both the best of luck and looking forward to following your progress.

And thanks to @ColinJ for the tip!

 

[Bonus]

Here are my three latest updates that I'm only now getting around to posting!

Dec 1st:

Sitting at Barcelona airport having some supper before looking for a comfortable spot to curl up for the night.....

I'm flying first thing tomorrow morning to Denver, Colorado - via a couple of hours at Munich airport, to meet up with Mrs Bonus who went over 3 weeks ago. Her daughter moved there a while ago from NYC with her husband. Like Mrs Bonus I'll be meeting a 6 month old Grandson for the first time, thanks to Covid!

The news across Europe has been a bit worrying this last week with the new "South African" variant coming out, but as far as I can tell I'm still good to fly, assuming my Covid test here at the airport tomorrow morning at 5am is negative! It should be - I tested myself yesterday and I was fine.....

I'm hoping that the "Remember to wear a face mask that covers your nose & mouth and maintain a safe distance from other travellers" recorded message that seems to be on a 3 minute "repeat cycle" will switch itself off after the last plane leaves here tonight.....


Dec 5th:

We’re currently in Denver, Colorado visiting Mrs Bonus' daughter and a new 6 month old grandson (who we adore!) and that we couldn’t previously visit thanks to Covid.

The weather has been unusually hot for this time of the year, mid teens and sunny over last weekend, but that is now changing and temps are dropping at night.

Thankfully the houses are made for it!


Dec 8th:


Denver Trip Update …..

Two things we’ve noticed here:

1) There are cycle lanes everywhere! In Denver city centre and throughout the suburbs there’s a dedicated cycle lane on both sides of the road. The roads in general seem to be clean and well maintained, no broken bottles here 🙂 There are also cycle lanes throughout all of the parks we’ve walked through and when we went out to an area called Red Rocks, there were no specific cycle lanes but there were dozens of cyclist road riding without seeming to have any issues with motorists. In our experience, drivers here seem to be very considerate.

2) They have a city-run “see one, grab it, use it, leave it anywhere for the next person” e-bike & e-scooter hire system. Looks like you have to swipe a card to unlock the vehicle and I’m not sure how they keep them charged, because they are left all other the place, leaning against trees etc, but it certainly seems to be well used.

Loving it here, but only a few days to go now and I see it’s raining back home in Spain 🙁

 

[Bonus]

@Bonus
I've had a lazy day and finally got caught up with your epic thread. It's a fabulous read and has some great photos. Well done!

It's hard to believe that it has being going on for such a long time and yet the two of you (seem) to remain very positive. Maybe you have no other option but to hang on in there and make the most of it - which you certainly seem to be doing.

I'm curious - Why Spain?

You seem to have been incredibly fortunate with Ramon! Indeed the whole community seems to have been welcoming and inclusive (except for the planning objectors). Community seems to be something that people live and breathe (yourselves included) rather than just a word.

In some respects with what has happened with Covid it may actually be a good thing that you never got the bank loans. There may have been much heavier financial pressures.

I'd love to pay a visit sometime and explore that part of the world. I crossed over from St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles back in 2015 when you were just embarking on your journey. I fell a little in love with Northern Spain.
It'll give you another chance to be amused by an Irishman speaking Spanish in a hybrid Irish/Latin American accent

Wishing you both the best of luck and looking forward to following your progress.

And thanks to @ColinJ for the tip!

Finally getting around to answering your post after our trip away!

Glad you enjoyed the thread! It's always nice to get positive feedback :-)

Yeah, what was originally supposed to be a fairly "short term" plan has turned into a longer term plan - purely because of our financial situation here. Not being able to borrow the money we need for the renovations was a major blow but, as you say, bearing in mind what has been going on with Covid for the last 2 years - maybe it wasn't such a bad thing? And Covid aside, we are also in a much stronger/knowledgeable position now than we were when we first arrived. I can now do much more of the work needed myself than I initially thought I could and we can source materials more cheaply now than we could have done originally. The forced delay has also given us time to re-think and improve our business plan and better learn what sort of thing we want to offer. It's funny, but we made friends with a couple from the UK who arrived here around the same time as us and have done a similar thing to what we want to do - and watching them has definitely influenced some of the changes we're going to make to the way we run things.

The community here is great. There are some really nice and helpful people. We seem to have fitted in nicely and made some good friends. I have a good reputation as far as working goes and that has kept me employed with various people and a local campsite for the majority of the year - which has been essential to us staying here.

Choosing Spain wasn't difficult. My list looked like this:

1) Close enough to the UK to be able to drive to it overnight if necessary.
2) Guaranteed Summer with minimum 6 months good weather - EVERY YEAR!
3) Somewhere where the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana pass through.

Northern Spain 45km south of the French border was the answer. The fact that Zona Zero here in Ainsa is an MTB (and road riding) paradise sealed the deal for this particular property :-)

We remain positive. We own the property and the land it sits on, we love the area and we know that once up and running, we can sustain ourselves. For all of those reasons, there's no reason to "give up".... we just need to sit tight, enjoy the journey and wait . . .

The silly thing is, compared to "ready to live in" property prices here, in the UK or even back in South Africa, the amount we need and what we will end up with at the end of it makes it a no brainer. And the fact that it will provide us both with full time work and pay back it's own loan seals the deal! Onwards and upwards!