Welcome to 2019

It always feels good when the year you have been planning in becomes the one you are in. From that point on, those days on the counter seem to just drop away. So, welcome to 2019, the year of the Wild Hogs Iberian Tour.

A few things have happened since my last post. Firstly, Grizzly or Sanch, has booked his trips to and from Ireland on Irish Ferries and was pleased to see that the discounted price meant the cost was the same as when he last came across in 2017. Speaking of Grizzly, he continues to recover well from his hip operation and is walking for about an hour each day, though still with the aid of crutches. No need to rush. Not as if he's missing any summer riding time and best to get properly fit than try and rush back.

Secondly, I've been in contact with David (Biggsy), the third remaining and lapsed Wild Hog and the others from our Route 66 group, Simon/Viv, David/Francoise, with a view to having a re-union in Portsmouth, the night before Sanch and I catch the ferry to Bilbao. A meeting with Simon/Viv was muted when I paid them a visit in the summer but it just blossomed a bit and now there are 3 invites on the table. Simon/Viv have accepted and duly booked a room at the Keppels Head Hotel, so it's down to the others now.

Thirdly, I have finally secured my first choice hotel in the Picos mountains. You will recall I've been waiting for this and one other to become available on Booking.com and finally it did. Hopefully it won't be too long before the other one becomes available to book too.

That's all the news for now.

Can't Wait for 2019

Not a fan of this time of year, I can't wait for 2019 to get itself here and have a return to normality. As I write though, it has already arrived in some parts of the world, so I'll wish all of my readers/followers a happy one, with this last blog of 2018. Health and happiness to all.

What I'm looking forward to most, apart obviously from the tour itself, is soon (hopefully) being able to book the last couple of first choice hotels. These have been 'booked' on Booking.com every time I've looked. This happens sometimes, where hotels don't release dates/prices till the new year. Rest assured then, that I shall be checking come tomorrow morning. I do already have hotels booked but these two are either more convenient and/or in a more spectacular location.

Since my October post, Sanch O'Panza has had his hip operation and I've finished breaking down the tour routes. The old fella is just about 3 weeks from when he had his op and by all accounts is doing well. Hopefully it won't be too long before he can swing his leg over the bike again and I wish him all the best in his recovery.

 Due to Tomtom's limitations, it is easier to have a separate 'route' for each stop during the day, hence why I have broken them down. My only concern now, is whether they will all fit on Tomtom. Recent map updates were too big to go on the device without deleting the maps first and the same has happened with a smaller update too, so I'm half expecting to have to ramp up the storage with a micro sd card. I also expect, as always seems to be the case with Tomtom, that I shall need a Tomtom supplied sd card, at a stupid price. Butt fucking, Dutch style! I'll be giving it my attention asap, to avoid any last minute panic.

Not much else to report at the moment, so adios for now and I'll be back when I have some news in 2019.