Well, that's the end of our riding for this holiday. I will be riding around Barcelona with Cam, and out to his studio, about 7 km from their flat, but that will be about it. Sue doesn't like riding around town, even though their are many bike lanes. I must admit it can be a bit chaotic and keeps the adrenalin moving. Dealing with pedestrians in bike lanes, cyclists going the wrong way in the bike lane, cars turning across the bike lanes, and getting used to the fact that cyclists seem to ignore traffic lights. At best, cyclists will wait until the warning light indicates that the lights are about to change, and then start moving, as do the motor scooters and motor bikes. At other times, cyclists move out into the intersection to see if their is any traffic moving with the lights. If not, they cross the intersection, even though they are facing a red light. Nobody seems too fussed by this behaviour, but I understand that you accept full responsibility if you are hit by a car when behaving in this fashion. I have to admit to a few close shaves when trying to ride like a local, but having difficulty in working out which direction the traffic is coming from. But I am still alive, so all is well. I sometimes ride the Birdy, but at other times use the 3 speed community bikes. These are free for the first 30 minutes and there is a charge of 30c per 15 minutes after that. There are bicing stations all over the city, and removes all concern of having your bike stolen. Cam uses 3 locks with his bike - U lock, a Dutch style lock on the back wheel (attaches to the rear fork. When activated, a bolt passes between the spokes near the rim, making it impossible to turn or remove the wheel) and another huge chain which is most commonly used with motor scooters. It is essential to lock the frame, the front and back wheels and also the seat. The streets of Barcelona are littered with bike frames minus wheels and seats, with the frame locked to a post.

We spent two weeks with Cam and Leila, and were to go to Croatia for two weeks, but as Leila was going to Italy to visit her parents and spend time with a friend, we cut our trip to Croatia to 8 days, enough to make us want to see more of the country. We stayed a week in Split and then had two days in Dubrovnik before flying back to Barcelona. We stayed at a time-share unit in Split, and went on three trips organised by the hosts, meeting some very nice Russians, one of whom spoke English, and enabled some communication between us to complement the smiles.

Back in Barcelona, we are spending quite a bit of time at Cam's studio, as he has convinced Sue to do a linocut measuring 1800x1200, three or four times larger than anything Sue has undertaken. We have less than a week before we had back to Australia, so all stops are out to finish the cut and for Cam to print it. Once Sue has completed the detailed cutting, Cam and I will be cutting out the blank surrounds of the print. We have also been attending life drawing with Cam at an artist's community workshop in Barcelona. There a three hour sessions each morning, afternoon and evening 6 days a week. Some rooms have fixed poses for the week, others shorter. The one we have attended most has poses of 3,5 and 8 minutes. It is very intense. There are some 900 members of the community. Sue and I attended as casual members, paying 4 Euros each per session.


This as been a fabulous holiday. It will be sad to say goodbye to Cam next week, but it will be good to go home and see the girls and their husbands/partners and our grandchildren - as well as our friends and to settle into the routine of home again. It will also be good to say goodbye to the humidity of Barcelona - and the crowds. It will also be good to get away from the endless stairs you have to climb in Europe. Leila has just bought two apartments in Barcelona which they will renovate into one apartment and thankfully it is only on the second floor.

See you soon, and I hope this blog has not bored you witless.

Iain and Sue