38 Degrees

June 1, 2026

Currently close to Bordeaux.

I’ve been traveling along the northern coast of Spain and the French coast. It took me 2 days to get to the sea from Santiago. As soon as I arrived there, the bad weather disappeared. Since that day, the weather started to get warmer. At its hottest, it reached 38 degrees. In that weather, cycling becomes a different thing. You’re drinking liters of water and lots of sodas, but you never seem to have to go to the toilet. The cycling itself is doable, but as soon as you stop, you get so exhausted/hot that you just prefer to keep cycling on.

On the north coast I started camping again because campsites were more available there.

I had one hectic day in Spain where my route diverged from the coast and went into a mountainous region. I had a climb of about 1.5 hours and about 100 meters from the top my gear cable snapped off. My gear got stuck in the heaviest gear. I was lucky that I was already near the top of the climb. I was also lucky that I could just glide down the mountain towards a bike repair shop. The guy there fixed everything in no time, but the problem was that I was now on the wrong side of the mountain, so I ended up having a very long day.

When I arrived at the campsite, it turned out it was still closed. The campsite was at the beach, so I ended up camping at the beach. In the morning the police came around and asked me a few questions, but I had already packed everything, so there wasn’t much they could do.

I’ve also ended up cycling for a day with a German girl I met.

I’ve been in France again for 5 days now and it has been a blessing that the weather has returned to something a bit more manageable. It’s been hovering around 23 degrees with clouds. It’s also been so flat along the French coast, which is a nice change after the many intense climbs I had been doing in Spain. I’ve basically only cycled on bike paths in France.

Now I’m heading towards Switzerland. I will now be following the “Ring 3 Route”.