- [Matt] Welcome to the second instalment
of GCN's Rides to do Before You Die.
This time, Emma and I
are jumping on an EasyJet flight
to Andalusia in sunny Spain.
Now before you get to watch our adventures
on that epic ride in the hills of this beautiful region,
we also filmed some extra bits
that you wouldn't normally see,
like me clapping in first time, anyway.
- First time!
- Oh, high five.
We just want to show you
how easy it is to be riding on foreign roads
only a few short hours
after leaving your front door.
(jazzy music)
- I think it'll, it's the bane of every cyclist
(laughter jumbles words) No.
(jazzy music)
- Two boarding passes.
It's you first, Emma.
- Great, okay. - So fire away.
- It wants a QR code...
(upbeat jazzy music)
We're a bit late?
How long have we got now?
(upbeat jazzy music)
Oh look there's an Easy Jet plane.
(upbeat jazzy music)
Super quick and easy, we're flying from Bristol Airport,
which is convenient, frankly, no long transfers.
- Pretty easy through the airport, wasn't it?
- Yeah, so quick through the airport
and we're gonna take you to Andalusia,
which is gorgeous riding, lovely weather.
- So, basically a hidden gem of a ride
is what this is all about, this next thing.
It doesn't have to be iconic
but there are some beautiful roads in Andalusia,
lovely and quiet, warm. I'm just excited.
- Lovely roads, and some nice coffee, I bet. Let's go.
- Let's do this.
(jazzy music)
- ♪ Nothing is wrong. ♪
- Celery.
(jazzy music)
- [Matt] Wow.
- Do you hear something?
(jazzy music)
- Five hours ago, we were in... I was at home,
having spent pretty much the whole day at home.
And then, sort of five o'clock bumbled on down
to Bristol Airport, flight's at half past seven,
and, okay, it's midnight now,
but tomorrow we can get straight on the bikes.
With the weather's looking amazing, so
it's pretty easy, isn't it really.
- I left home six hours ago. Pretty good.
I actually got in from my ride only an hour before then.
- It does feel...
- Bit of a panic with bike packing, but...
- Yeah, I nearly lost my passport.
I did lose it temporarily, I panicked
and I was sweating so much I took all my outer garments off
and was running around the house in my jeans.
Finally found it, luckily, otherwise it'd just be you.
- And you found your clothes, which is also a good thing.
- delivering this to camera. Found my clothes as well.
(relaxed synth and drum music)
- Ooh, it's not too bad.
The morale has just sort of spiked, actually
which is a really good start to the day.
- Maybe we should, you know,
if there's ever any risk of morale slipping,
I guess that means we should drink coffee.
- Yeah, that could be a plan throughout the day,
would you reckon?
- It's normally my plan most days to be honest (laughing).
- One last coffee, leaving the hotel in 15 minutes.
It's a very smooth operation, I don't want to lag behind
and then cause anybody to be late,
so I'm taking my brew to my room.
Oh, as I told you. See you in a bit.
Well, Emma we're here, pretty much.
It's not exactly the start line,
but it's the start point in Estepona.
It's lovely isn't it.
- It's pretty awesome, yeah.
So we're going to ride out into Spain,
into the mountains and find some cool roads.
- We've got a nice 130k loop.
I don't know the roads at all,
but the Vuelta, the Tour de Spain started the stage here,
just a couple of years ago.
So, I've been around this area,
but I'm so looking forward to heading into the hills.
And into the exploring.
Yep.
(relaxing jazzy saxophone music)
- Got lovely terrain, quiet roads.
- Seen some cork.
- [Matt] Seen some cork trees.
- Some goats and some sheep.
- [Matt] And yeah, we seen a mad dog.
- One stupid dog, yeah.
- Already 13.3ks of pure adventure.
First coffee stop.
Down and dusted, feel a bit refreshed, reinvigorated,
and ready to tackle the rest of the day.
What an absolute spectactular view.
Africa, over there. Absolutely insane.
(relaxing jazzy saxophone music)
- Snack attack. Snack time.
It's always snack time when I'm around.
Almendras
- Almentas
- Almendras
- Almentras, that's almond in Spanish.
- This is an integral,
as in a whole wheat almond cookie with no sugars.
That's mine.
- She's putting it in the back. We see that.
- Naranjas.
- Oranges, in Spanish.
This particular bit of road, 55ks in, a little bit rutted.
But it kind of makes up, because it's just so quiet,
and it feels so remote.
It feels this is our own private ride, doesn't it?
- Sort of, yeah.
(relaxing jazzy music)
- Look, a vulture.
Anyway, the Spanish for vulture is buitre.
- [Matt] Vuitre.
- [Emma] Buitre.
- [Matt] Vuitre.
- [Emma] With a B. And the funny thing is in Spanish,
B and V are almost interchangeable.
- Ah, like mobiestar, mobiestar.
- Exactly, you say mobiestar.
And the buitre beginning with a B in Spanish
goes to vautour in French,
which is the French vulture,
and then we got vulture from that. I think.
(jazz piano music)
- Still, what's the time, though?
Half six, quarter to seven?
I mean, the sun's still out, I mean look at that free view.
Absolutely stunning.
- [Emma] It's quite tea time, though.
- But I am feeling just a little bit peckish.
I'm not quite blown,
but I can see me blowing up in the next 10k
unless I have some really really cheap sweets.
- Want one of these?
- No, I'm going to for the fake Haribo.
- This is a cranberry tart, tarta de arándanos,
but it's without added sugar.
I think it's got sweeteners in,
which is a bit of a disaster
given that I kind of want some sugar.
But I'm not eating those things. They look gross.
- I'm going to have some of these frutos secos de lingot.
- There's no dried fruit in there.
- There's no dried fruit in here whatsoever.
- Just sugar and calories.
- Recommended price, one euro for those.
Which I think is quite reasonable, you what I'm saying.
- This was free (laughing) I nicked it from breakfast.
- They're probably going to get me out of a hole.
(speaking in foreign language)
- You've got a drip on the end of your nose.
You've got a drip on the end of your nose, Sir.
- Oh no, that fell in the bag, that means they're all mine.
- I wasn't going to eat them anyways.
(relaxing jazzy music)
- Spectacular. Spectacular in a different way
because my body feels completely different
than it did at the start of the day.
Not as sprightly, but pretty... pretty fulfilled actually.
Looking forward to an ice cream and a beer on the beach.
How about you, how you feeling?
- Yeah, all right. Yeah, I wouldn't mind a...
Thinking about probably jumping in the sea actually.
It's been a bit of a hot day. Lovely.
(soft piano music)
Look at the view. That is an epic view.
- That's a million dollar view, isn't it.
- Nearly at the end of an epic ride.
- Yeah.
- (mumbles) just as you find a climb. Boom.
- Bosh. Thank you for your moral support, Emma.
- It's all right.
- I kind of forgot myself on that climb.
- He forgot his name.
- It went all a bit wobbly. But now I think I'm...
After those kind of, that sugar rush,
I think I'm feeling bit more like myself.
- Matt actually got fed up with me talking about trees.
He said, "Shut up about cork."
- Just stop it with the botany, I said. Yeah, cork it.
- Cork it.
I thought we should call this video, "Andalucia Uncorked."
- Yeah. I might uncork a bottle of vino tonight
just to celebrate.
- I thought we were having mojitos?
- Well, we can have mojitos, vino,
and probably a couple of beers, actually.
- That's a lot of booze. At my age, I can't drink that much.
- Oh, we spread it out amongst us.
We're not gonna, not gonna be too silly.
You know, we're professionals.
(jazzy music)
- That was almost epic.
- It's kind of proper old-school riding, that was.
- There we go, beaches. Beach park.
(jazzy music)