Tomorrow: Pico day!!

Ok people. This. Is. It. 

Plan A, to cycle to the top of Pico de Veleta is ON!!!!

It was a very sensible decision, to eat in to James' rest time this evening and to drive up there with me in the passenger seat. Until that decision there were just too many unknowns and we were speculating, trying to plan for every possibility. What is the road surface like? Is the route we've mapped the correct one? Is the road even passable?! How far into the ride is the barrier and what height is it all? What if the car can't make it? What if there is no phone signal? Will we feel the effects of high altitude just stood there?! 

So going up in the car first was the obvious choice. The main question we needed answering: Are we mad? Can we actually DO this?!

So James and I set off this evening, and drove the 30km to the barrier where the road stops. It was 9pm when we got there, there just wasn't enough time to hang around, though james did some press ups to check.  

The drive was fine. The road is wide enough for regular two way road, and it was well maintained.

We got out at the 30km mark, which is 8000 ft up, and stayed there for about ten minutes - it felt fine. No different in fact. And the road surface that some had described as "like riding through a quarry" looked like just a bit of gravel from what we could see. 

James and are confident that this is a safe challenge to take on. I trust James literally more than I trust myself, and if he says it's ok, then it's ok. 

The only problem the boys may have is that it's quite cold up there. We need a photo of the three of them at the summit. To avoid someone waiting up there too long, we decided to time lag the start instead, so they should all arrive at a similar time. 

This is very exciting!!

My phone signal was fine the whole time and I had 4G!!