Today is not as long a day as yesterday happily - and the rain has gone.
But the hills have been much longer and much higher than we do in Waiheke. But not necessarily steeper, so we are able to do them ok.
Has anyone watched Game of Thrones? We haven't, but people queue to go and see this sanctuary. I just took photos, it was quite a way off our track. I guess I am too busy writing blogs to watch things like Game of Thrones.
Off we go again.
We want to watch the Wahs (Warriors) semi-final. They are playing the Broncos starting at 12 our time. So Bill works out what time and where we will want to stop. That is at Bakio. We reach Bakio. We park our bikes and settle in at the cafe.
We are introduced to pelota. There is a court right across the road.
[From Wikipedia:] "Basque pelota (Basque: pilota, Spanish: pelota vasca, French: pelote basque) is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat or a basket, against a wall (frontis or fronton) or, more traditionally, with two teams face to face separated by a line on the ground or a net. The roots of this class of games can be traced to the Greek and other ancient cultures.
The term pelota probably comes from the word pila which may relate to a hard linen or leather ball filled with pilus (fur or hair)[2] or to the Latin words for strike or spade and is related to the English word pellet.
Today, Basque pelota is played in several countries. In Europe, this sport is concentrated in Spain and France, especially in the Basque Country. The sport is also played in Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Cuba."
We learn later it can be played with a hand, a bat or a long leather cup like scoop.
That night we came across a pelota competition final on TV, so we learned something about it.
There is a wedding party drinking at the cafe.
Their theme was medieval era.
They arrived on a bus. Bill was watching the Wahs.
There was a donkey on the other side when I checked on our bikes.
You can see I had plenty going on when I ordered lunch and coffee.
The Wahs lost.
We carry on off towards Plentzia. This was a nuclear plant which was built and never used.
A field of toi toi.
We look for icecream in Armintza.
Instead we find Kevin and Donna. They were on electric bikes and doing the same route as us. We had bumped into them before. They are from Colorado.
I also found some nudist sunbathers.
On the way to Plentzia I lost Bill. I texted him where I was.
I was at the icecream truck at Plentzia beach! Bill found me, we had icecream, yum.
Then it was a short bike ride to our hotel in Plentzia, a view from it below.
We had a nice drink by the river watching the people walk by, including with new best friends Kevin and Donna.
The next morning we walked around Plentzia early.
