You know they say the best thing to come out of London is the M1? Well the best thing to come out of Cervera is the train line to Barcelona,and I took full advantage .

After a little hiccup at Cervera station “signor,the train,it has died “ I arrived into Barcelona mid afternoon. Having the bike meant I could zip about on the city’s excellent cycle segregated infrastructure but having the bike meant I was a bit limited in what I could actually see . I pedalled to the surreal La Sagrada Familia,just (it seemed ) so I could hear some loud American voices. Afterwards I went to the city cable cars but couldn’t go on them as there was nowhere to leave my fully loaded bike.

My ferry was boarding at 9pm so I grabbed some food in the port area, gawped like a child at some amazing superyachts and made sure I was in the right place to get on the ferry .

The route to Porto Torres in Sardinia was operated by Grimaldi Lines . This is an Italian shipping line which meant Italian rules applied . By which I mean there were no rules .

I looked up the word “chaos” in the dictionary and this is what it said -“the act of trying to board an Italian ferry, in Spain, in the dark, on a bike, when all around you are having a high speed animated language meltdown,at top volume, about trivialities and issues known to no one else . See also the “art of arguing”, “the threat of divorce” and “don’t insult my madre “

It was amazing!! I won’t say too much about the Grimaldi Lines crossing except to say it acted as a cheap overnight accommodation and that they lived up to the first four letters of the company name .

No matter . On Saturday lunchtime we docked in Porto Torres on the very North of Sardinia -a major port with less security than my local Sainsburys, I rode untroubled through, and 30 miles later I was in Alghero and waiting for my boy to arrive

I’d booked Hotel Catalunya which was lovely. Cheap as chips bearing in mind the location and the included breakfast, and an easy place to head for straight off the plane.

We plotted our routes over pizza and beer with the promise of a good nights air conditioned sleep and a massive breakfast 😊. Can you see how important a buffet breakfast is becoming?