events

8.41am The tarmac finally gave out and the last couple of kilometers were on dirt tracks. It felt a bit like one of those films where Gregory Peck is guided over the Pyrenees to escape the Boche.I'd met a really nice couple just before here, there were the artists who lived in the house with the 'gallery' signs painted on trees as I approached the end of the tarmac.He pointed me to the right track, flattered me by saying he'd thought I was French when I was speaking to him, and offered me the huge mushroom he'd picked whilst out on their walk.

8.49am Three hours or so after setting off I was there. This was the border, the flag painted on the rock was all there was by way of formality.

8.51am This was the monument at the top of the pass - click to see the writing in more detail. It was touching in this remote place.

8.55am And so here I was on Spanish tarmac, just as smooth and traffic free as the French stuff I must say. Indeed some Dutch cyclists I'd met almost a week earlier had said they though it even better - and since they'd cycled, again following Benjaminse, from Malaga to where I'd met them in France, I guess they would know.