It’s a shock to look out our window this morning and see sunlight reflecting off the frames of our bicycles. Visions of seeing rain for our entire ride through Catalonia are outdated assuddenly we’re faced with the prospect of three straight days of windy but otherwise fine riding conditions. We adapt easily and have a plan for that, beginning with today’s loop north through the Baix (lower) Emporda. This is an especially fine region of Catalonia for cycling - largely flat and agricultural but very colorful and full of interesting sights. We’ve biked here before, and revisiting it was at the top of my list for this part of the tour.
After a few miles along the coast and through the outskirts of town our loop begins with an ascent - a lazy climb of about three miles through a stone pine and cork oak forest, topping out at a saddle at around 700’. Today it’s made easier by a strong east wind that we appreciate now but won’t care for so much when we return to the coast later this afternoon.
Pines, cork oaks and a climb face us at the start of our ride today.
Seven miles into the ride we crest the saddle, drop off the other side of the ridge, and settle into the generally flat terrain that will surround us for the rest of the day. One of the first things that surprises and delights us are the bright yellow rapeseed fields. I don’t remember seeing these here before, but maybe we were just here too late in the spring - or maybe it’s being cultivated much more widely now for use as a biofuel. In any case, it makes a brilliant background to today’s ride.
Rape, widely cultivated here, is in full bloom now. We’ll see a lot of it before our day is done.
Another delight of the ride here is the rural landscape, the fields dotted with old stone farmhouses, chapels, huts in the fields, vegetable gardens, and trees or sheds with sheafs of stripped reed stalks drying and waiting for use as fencing or trellis materials.
And another feature of the Emporda is the streams and small rivers that highlight the terrain, often margined by stands of giant reeds. Sometimes they’re just a pretty accent but sometimes they can be a problem.
Scott AndersonTo Keith AdamsIndeed. You can really travel quite cheaply in Spain, especially if you watch for bargains like this. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Jacquie GaudetThat was a lucky catch, alright. I took a few shots of her, but this was the most fun. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Perhaps best of all though are the many villages that dot the landscape, some little more than a few blocks square. We must have passed through a dozen villages on today’s loop and found several of them to be of great interest with their crumbling stone walls, towers, archways and churches.
Stopping for lunch in Sant Sadurni de l’Heura. We sat in front of the church, out of the wind and basking in the sun.
In the Baix Emporda. It’s so colorful at this time of year when the rape is in bloom, but we’ve also seen it later in the spring when fields are red with poppies. So what’s with that giant cigar-shaped column?
Pit stop. In the background is the Montgri massif, a large limestone formation that is the natural boundary between the lower (Baix) and upper Alt) Emporda.
In Peratallada. I knew this town felt familiar, but when we came to this rutted street I was sure we’d been here before. I was right - we passed through here in 2014 on our ride from Girona to Bilbao.
We take a taste of EV8 (Eurovelo 8, the 6,000 km Mediterranean bike route from Cyprus to Cadiz) but don’t care much for this part of it and spit it out after a mile.
Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonIt is a wonderful area. Beautiful in the spring and I’m sure it would be in the late fall too. We were here in early December four years ago and it was still fine biking even then. You should head over this fall - it’s only a 13 hour drive. You could even stop for a few days around Montpellier and see the flamingos and white horses in the Camargue. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
