Day 28 - Santiago de Compostela to Vigo, Spain

Today had a tricky start with Grant staying on one side of town and his bike being stored on the other side at the Post office. Nothing really happens before 9 am so organizing a good breakfast and collecting and loading the bike meant that Crazybikeguy could only get a mid morning start.

His room's window opened onto the fresh produce market and the delivery trucks with their incessant beeping as they reversed into the lane to deliver their goods and the women all shouting in the enclosed space below caused Grant to wake at sparrow's chirp - 4am!

This meant that the packing started earlier than expected. It was raining, and Grant headed off across the town to go and collect his bike and take a few last pictures of the Medieval Cathedral that is the center of this historical place.

After breakfast Grant headed off and as he bounced along the cobblestones a few hundred meters from his departure point something sounded odd, after having a good look at his wheels he couldn't immediately identify the problem, but on closer inspection realized that he had snapped a spoke on the rear wheel. The rear wheel is pretty important as it takes most of the weight and the rear pannier bags are larger and heavier than the front ones. Grant realized at this point that the rear wheel cluster would need to be removed to replace the spoke and as he had been told that he needed a special tool to do this, he had no choice but to carry on until he could get to a bike repair shop to fix the problem, trying to avoid holes and bumps and being gentler on his bike for this part of the trip.He taped the spoke with insulation tape to one of the others and hoped that it would hold.

The sun was out and by 10.30 am Grant had found his rhythm and was enjoying the ride, stopping to take pictures and later having a break by enjoying coffee and a doughnut.

The clouds begun to gather and the rest of the day turned into a series of stop-starts as Grant rode through the drizzle and stopped under shelter when the rain came pouring down. To stay warm in the rain and cold Grant had stuffed a newspaper in the front of his top under his rain suit to act as a bit of insulation and keep the cold from it's grip on his upper body.

At Ponte Vedra while making a video for Instagram, the skies opened and released a deluge forcing Grant to look for shelter and from the 50 km mark the pattern of dodging the downpour in bus shelters and under awnings continued and in those conditions, Grant managed just under 100 kms today.

At Puente de Rande, the road system got pretty confusing and there were sections where bikes are not allowed and some where they are as well as the three roads converging and making it quite difficult to distinguish what was going on and what was allowed.There was a police presence and whilst they were checking cars, Grant took the wrong road and attracted the attention of one of the traffic officers who came over to tell him that he had taken the wrong road.

Grant explained to him via Google Translate what had happened and after the policeman wanting to know where he was going they eventually got through to each other and he helped him by indicating where Grant should go. Grant gave him one of his Crazybikeguy cards and he then stopped all the oncoming traffic while Grant turned around and made his way onto the correct road and set off once again.( Thankfully this encounter ended well!)

A few kilometers down the road after taking refuge under another bus stop taking shelter from the downpour Grant knew that Vigo was about 8 km away and he had to press on to get there even if it meant riding in the downpour for the last stretch which is what he did.

He stopped for the day in Vigo and found a place to stay - with a charming room with a window that opened onto a brick wall. The bike was stored and locked in the main reception!

After checking in and having a hot shower Grant went for a quick walk around town, had some dinner took some photos and climbed into bed for some well earned rest.

Our mission.Their Future.

" Not all of us can do great things.But we can all do small things with great love"

- Mother Theresa

Crazybikeguy is doing this 8800 km rode to create awareness for autism and to create employment opportunities for neuro diverse young adults.

Help him by doing a small act- donate!