We were bused over to Trinidad and had a tour with Ennio until 10am. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and absolutely beautiful, but decayed in large parts! Before we arrived Ennio advised us not to buy cigars from someone on the street as they’re often made of newspapers; he cited the Independent as a likely paper to be used! I was approached, but if you decline no-one hassles you unduly; it feels very safe. There were a few people begging and they’re quite persistent but again you feel safe. Bought a couple of coconut shells with faces painted with acrylic paint-very lovely.
The cycling today was very hard; very windy, very hot with quite a few “nippy hills”. No-one believes what Miriam tells us about the terrain any more; she tends to play them down but perhaps she has to. A few people were poorly with tummy bugs today and quite a few took the bus to sit out a stage or two. I was told after that there were 14 on the bus at one point!
I did have to push a bit up the last hill before lunch; the wind meant we had to pedal to go downhill so it all felt uphill and coming round the corner to that last hill was too much! It was my only non-cycling section of the whole trip and even the young super-fit ones found today difficult so I don’t feel too bad about it!
Crossed the line hand in hand with Willy, who’d had a bad day (as we all had to be honest!)
We finished by re-grouping and riding into town and to the hotel, where the rooms are in little blocks in the garden.
Before dinner, Gill gave a very emotional talk. She is doing the ride as her brother has leukaemia and has been the recipient of donor marrow, so the trip is very pertinent for her. Yosune very moved too as her mother had myeloma several years ago and in fact had the same treatment that Francis is undergoing. Although she is fine now, Gill’s talk obviously brought back some painful memories for her.
After dinner, where we sat with Gaynor who only had a bread roll due to her upset tummy, there were Salsa lessons at the bar but I hadn’t tried enough cocktails to join in! Mark and Gaynor have climbed Kilimanjaro and she reckons this challenge is much harder than that!
Very cute puppy at the bar- want to take him home but imagine Dora would not be too impressed!
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