At last Juan is back and has a new heart. I went on an epic 15 hour journey to retrieve him. I left Siurana at 7.30am and began with a 22 mile hilly bike ride to Reus. Then took a train to Tarragona and a further (very slow) train to Valencia. In Valencia I needed to get the metro to a connecting station, but unfortunately by bike wasn’t allowed on the train. This meant a 4 mile dash across the centre of the city. I managed to acquire a tourist map from some English tourists and rushed off to catch a train leaving the other station in 15 mins! Normally, 4 miles in 15 minutes would be easy; however, the Valencian road system was a labyrinth of one way streets! All the streets seemed to be no entry, so I got a little creative with the Highway Code and just made it. I spent a further 35 mins on the train and finished with an quick 11 mile ride to reach Juan…Juan was looking lonely and dusty, but otherwise the same. After paying the mechanic and collecting Juan’s broken bits, I embarked on the nerve-racking and tentative 4 hour drive back to Siurana. The drive was especially tense because Juan was having a strop and not communicating with me! His instrument panel was entirely non-functional – no speed, no engine temperature and no fuel gauge. He wouldn’t even tell me the time! I drove for a few hours and a re-fueled Juan to checked he wasn’t overly thirsty or getting too hot. All seemed well, so I continued onwards. I passed the time by timing my passage between km markers to calculate speed.
Juan developed an additional quirk towards the end of the journey… The throttle started to develop an annoying and dangerous habit of sticking on at 2000-3000 revs. This wasn't ideal, but was solved by dipping the clutch or hooking the accelerator pedal back up with my toe!
We eventually made it back and I collapsed into the comfy bed in the back of the van. Claire and I were back with Juan after 6 weeks!
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