The day starts with hard labour, not ours, but the workers across the road building a house. It's 6:30am and it's Saturday - don't these people ever stop work. I've been awake since about 6am refining the previous night's blog entry - never quite happy with good enough.
The ginger shot at breakfast leaves me in no doubt that I'm awake. Wow, that's a hit and a half! Although, it's somewhat killed the taste of the coffee that follows.
Christopher smothers his breakfast in something unhealthily sweet, we think he's not normally 'allowed' to do that... 😂
The breakfast is the best we've had in Colombia, so if you're ever in Jardin, Hotel Plantacion gets two thumbs up from us.
The hotel's three legged dog, hops by. Doesn't seem to bother him much.
It's another relaxed start for us and gives us a chance to explore the town. It's definitely touristy, but can be forgiven for the charm it exudes. But thinking of life the universe and everything, while lying on a hammock on the hotel balcony, also works. Life moves fast, but sometimes you just need to sit and watch.
It a gentle ride out of Jardin. We stop for petrol; Jeff asks how we liked Jardin -
I liked it.
You can tell it's warming up because as soon as our bikes are full of fuel we move to find shade wherever we can. Even in the shade I can feel myself becoming sweaty. It's only once we get moving that you get some relief.
It's similar scenery to that we've seen elsewhere, but it is definitely becoming busier with more people and vehicles. That means more vehicles to overtake too.
Most of our bikes are 300cc and they are not the most powerful of machines, nor do they accelerate like machines we may be used to riding back home. But if you wind them up sufficiently and get the engine spinning at its peak torque level they're not that bad. On the twisty roads, not having huge power means it takes longer to overtake, so you need to plan your overtakes with care. My bike has a 650cc engine with a bit more power making my overtakes a bit easier, and I often fill the mirrors of those in front of me like a scary canary as Graham calls my yellow bike, or is it me?
When I overtake, I sometimes stay out on the opposite lane if the road ahead is clear, especially when those behind can't see if there are oncoming vehicles coming around a bend. Being ahead of them, I can see further around that bend, so if I'm in the opposite lane it suggests that it's clear to overtake.
Today's a strange day. We left late and we don't have that far to go and now we find ourselves poodling along. It feels like a filler day. It makes me think of a TV series that has run out of ideas before it's cancelled. That's now this feels: the trip has run out of ideas.
We're now following a river and heading in its same gradual downward direction. The road is a good one, twisty and grippy. But occasionally the road just stops being a road and becomes a dirt track, having been swept away in a landslide. And just as quickly, it's back to asphalt.
It's getting very hot now. We started at 1800m and even then it was warm, but now we're around 600m it is positively toasty and almost unpleasant but for the forward motion inducing a cooling breeze. When we're stationary it's unbearable.
Another Africa Twin goes past in the opposite direction. When we stop for lunch we see many other larger bikes too: a couple of 1200 GSs, a Super Tenere, plus a handful of BMW F700/750s.
Ray walks by our table, and he's very frustrated. We're riding too slowly; at one point we're overtaken by a scooter with a kid on the back carrying a pink backpack. It's the ultimate insult. He goes off to join Hugo for his lunchtime snooze.
We pass through Concordia. It's a very busy and lively town. Ahead there are a couple of soldiers standing at the side of the road, but they don't seem to be on duty. As we pass, on the opposite side of the road there's a club and many other soldiers are spilling out onto the pavement. It's Saturday afternoon and they're out for a good time, but it's strange that they are in uniform.
The road is nice and twisty, just how we like our asphalt. But Jeff seems to be struggling. I've written before about how he takes unsafe lines in corners, but now it's positively dangerous. Gerard is following and at one point Jeff misjudges a corner and ends up running very wide into the oncoming lane. Fortunately there's nothing coming, but if there had been, he'd be roadkill. Just before this I had been having some fun with Christopher, but after this incident we completely back off from following him, and leave a larger gap. I feel like stopping him and telling him how unsafe he is.
When we stop in the next town, Betulia, I mention this close call and all he can say is, "yeah, it happens". I talk about how in the UK we're taught to take lines in corners to maximise the view of the road ahead. It's different to the racing line as the focus is on safety. But not only is riding this way safer, it's faster too. He says he appreciates me telling him this, but I don't think it will make a difference.
Betulia is lively too, it has a definite fiesta feel. The main square is packed with bikes and people.
It appears to be a big hat town as many men are wearing these.
While I'm chilling, a stranger asks where we're from. He's an American, Shane from Montana, living in Medellin for a few years. He has relatives in Colombia and is now looking to buy a farm to grow coffee. I ask him about the crazyness going on in the US and I got the impression he was ok with it, but recognised that the world sees this negatively. He's wearing a big hat too.
While I'm leaning on the railing overlooking the square an old couple ask me something in Spanish. I don't know what they're asking, but they seem genuinely friendly and interested in us. As they leave, they both shake hands with me smiling, very happy to have met me it seems.
On the bends one often sees crosses, which I assume means that someone died there. As P J O'Rourke mentions in his book "Holidays In Hell" , you can tell the severity of a corner by the number of crosses it has. I'm not sure that's strictly true, but it's a nice anecdote.
The valley has become really steep here. In fact the back wall is almost vertical. There's a waterfall and it goes straight down.
Stopping to take pictures is a great way to inject some excitement into today's ride. Stop, take a picture and then ride a bit faster to catch up. I do this a few times and it never gets old.
Once we're out of the valley it opens up. The river now meanders rather than cutting it's way into the valley floor; it's now wide and flat. It reminds me of Wales of all places!
It's getting dark and the temperature is dropping. I didn't realise but we've been climbing quite high again. We're now at 2200m, which explains the coolness.
Our hotel for the night is a farm. Dinner at 7pm, and I enjoy egg and chips.
125km today. Tomorrow is our last day of riding but Jeff is planning for us to back at his place near Medellin by 15h.
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