10/15/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 68 : Who Moved My Cheese?

Really happy we took our own route. The morning through the National Park was exquisite! —

Janet pointing out the ways we can go…

In the darkness of the tent, we hear a noise and Janet says, “a bike fell down!” I thought it was too quiet for a bike but hurried out of the tent because moments before we heard a noise from our recycling collection. In my light, I saw a fox. At first, I thought this was cool, and went back t grab my camera to take this picture. I would soon learn the ways of the fox, and that this was serious business. I righted the bike and found a bent bar, saddle, etc.. but also our big hunk of cheese - the main source of Sunday-closed-stores calories had been bitten into. The fox had expertly unzipped my frame bag, and was in the process of pulling the cheese out when the bike fell upon him. I cut off the part with teeth marks in case he had rabies… and figured this was the end. No! The fox continued to harass me in the dark. Being a Very Clever Human, I tossed rocks at him (always missing), but this deterred him none. I then decided to give chase. Mr. Fox seemed to enjoy that, darting around as if we were playing a game of tag. Letting the wild human wearing long underwear get close and then darting left or right. If you saw this, you’d think that the fox was having fun. And you would also be lamenting human ineptitude. I figured I would display my mastery, and returned to the table to stand guard in the dark. I scanned with my light, tossed twigs and eventually the little glowing eyes were no longer seen reflecting back at me. I cut off a small hunk of cheese, now feeling hypoglycemic from all the unplanned exercise. I continued to scan the perimeter for those eyes. Satisfied that I had finally scared him away, I quickly returned to the tent for some route planning; just a matter of copying the files to the GPS when a noise came from the table. I was outside like lightning… and there was nothing to be seen - no fox.. no cheese.. WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?! Fox: 1 Human: 0 🦊

That Fox ate $9 worth of cheese (I think I got about $1 out of it). Feeling somewhat perturbed at the Fox, but mostly at myself for letting down my guard in a campsite, we carried on. (it was pretty much a closed campsite, but these types of critter encounters only happen in designated camps and not in wild camps). Now I see where all of these “sly as a Fox” sayings come from. —

We went to a bazar store to get some important but cheap stuff. More superglue after fixing the drone yesterday, more “American Tape” (the name for duct tape), some elastic hair bands which are useful for securing stuff that falls off the bike on rocky trails (like water bottles). Janet found this and said, “a bell for your bike!” 🛎️

Janet and I split up a little so I could ride the dirt route and she could take the road. —

The drone video I have been promising the last two days …

Time for a hotel to get re-grounded. We ate our first dinner out of the trip tonight. It was fun. We even split a glass of wine - two sips each. Riding day after day like this is taxing - even for me; I can only imagine how hard it is for Janet. She is a wonderful sport; flexing plans and agreeable to do everything spur of the moment. We have a few days until Malaga, and the weather report got shifted backwards enough that we think we can make it before a really big storm. Then we will rest in Malaga for a bit. Janet has already enrolled in Spanish school for a week and a half.. —

I couldn’t help laughing again just now when I read your “fox got the cheese” story. That was the biggest cheese we bought this trip. Thanks for the uphill tows today. It nice to be clean!

Jim S.