Out of the furnace into the …

As we cross the river Marañon in the base of the gorge we trade shady green mango groves for hot dry barren countryside.
We pause in a small amount of shade to swap the tent back over to Alice for the climb. It is very hot but we are hoping that in a couple of hours we can climb enough to be out of the worst of it.

Sometimes things just do not go to plan.

A short distance up the road, Alice realises she has a flat. There is no shade in sight, so we pull over in full sun beside the road. The tyre is full of thorns. We carefully mark them to try and make sure nothing is missed and then put in a fresh inner tube. Job done. Uh oh. The front wheel is now flat too. By now things are getting really hot. Our phones have turned themselves off due to the heat- even when inside a bag. The tools and wheels are so hot that they hurt to hold. And this time we need to fix the inner tube too. By the time we finish Alain is dizzy and Alice is not feeling much better. This puncture-fest has landed on the hottest day of our trip, at the hottest time of day and with no shade in sight.

We limp up the road a couple of km and finally find some shade behind a rock to eat a late lunch. After lunch, we are in the maximal heat of the day, still very low in the gorge and both feeling rubbish. Progress is very slow. Our objective of completing half of the 2200m climb today is not going to happen. We plod on.

400m of climb further up we pause to filter some water from a fast flowing river channel. As we set off, its yet another puncture for Alice. We pull over and realise there is a possible spot for camping. Its time to call it a day.

Then follows a hot grumpy evening with lots of prickles and puncture fixing. After a hot night, we wake early to try to beat the heat. Ha ha. Guess what. Alain has a slow puncture to amuse us over breakfast.

We have 1650m of climb to complete today. Its already hot despite being early. The route is east facing and in full sun. Neither of us has slept well, we both have coughs and are snuffling, and we are not on form. It is a long long slow slog up to the top. By lunchtime we have climbed the first 1000m. The road is getting more entertaining- narrow and with an exposed drop. Its a little close for comfort when the occasional lorry passes us on this otherwise very quiet road.

Finally we crawl to the pass - more by will power than anything else. The new scenery is much less dramatic. A simple descent and we are in the town of Celendin where we can rest and recover.Leia mais