I’m not sure how to add on to the previous days in a new way. It sounds blasé to say that this was yet again another extraordinary day of biking, as it may have been the most varied and interesting we’ve had so far in Spain, but that’s the reality.
Once again we start off in a small Catalan village (with a great breakfast at the hotel) that’s situated in a valley bottom, and then start to climb. Today though is not just one or two climbs, but four. One big one (800 m) and then a series of three more interspersed with short downhills , before we top out at 1380 m at Col de Jou. This takes over 90% of the day while the final 10 km’s of downhill into Sant Llorenç is over in a few minutes.
You’ve got to ‘like the climb’ to tour here, and thankfully we do. Twenty-five of our 50 km’s today were on defined climbs with gradients of 4-8%.The change in the terrain, the incredible roads, tunnels and bridges and the ever changing awe inspiring views are worth it.
I’ll let the pics tell that story, and although I know a lot of cycle tourers try to time their pics to cut out vehicles or other people (well, at least I do) there’s none of that going on here. In fact, if there is another person or vehicle in a photo, it’s deliberate because it’s so rare. This does seem like it’s our private domain that we’re riding in.
We were lucky today with the weather too. The forecast was for mixed sun and cloud with temperatures starting to rise into the mid to high 20’s. That would have made for great pictures, but it would have added heat into an already strenuous day of climbing. Fortunately it was overcast for the whole day and the temps were in the high teens in the higher altitudes and we even had a tailwind a few times. The picture quality suffered, be we didn’t. That’s a trade off I’ll take any day.
When we were riding into Sant Llorenç, we had a wonderful view down onto the village, and the large quarry / industrial site adjacent to it. I still haven’t figured out what it is, and when you’re in the village there’s no evidence of it presence.
We’re staying in a simple but friendly one star Hostal in the middle of town. As per our last few nights we seem to be the only guests. It’s a Thursday and Sant Llorenç has many restaurants for a relatively smalll place - we were anticipating a nice meal. A little google search however showed that all but one of the restaurants in town were closed tonight. Fortunately google said the one that was open was the pizzeria beside our hotel and it would open its doors at 8:30.
Checked in and cleaned up, we wandered into the small medieval section of town to find one of two open bars for our post ride bevy and some Tapas. This was followed by a little more ‘wandering’ before we went back to the room to do the chores - laundry, load pictures, start to write etc. At about 8:40 we ventured out to ‘have pizza’ only to discover the google can be wrong (who figured???). The pizza place next door was not open, nor would it be opening tonight. What gives with this place? It’s Thursday, not Monday or Sunday! Our ranting wasn’t going to change anything though. We were faced with the fact that there were no open restaurants, the grocery stores were now closed and we had two small Baby Bell pieces of cheese and half a sausage left over from lunch. Hmmm, maybe the bar we were at is still open?
It was, and we increased the occupancy from one to three. A few more Tapas (ok… hot and filling, some not in a good way) and another cold beer for extra calories. Then it was off to bed.
Tomorrow’s a day off before we tackle our last stretch of the Pyrennes. Saturday will be our last ‘big’ day (more than 1000 m of climbing) it will be +70 km’s and ~1700 m elevation gain with a net gain of almost 500 m. We need the rest day tomorrow before tackling that.
SOTD - I Put a Spell on You, covered live by Joss Stone and Jeff Beck (another music legend who passed this year).
Yes, the Pyrenees have put a spell on us, and this torchy number expresses that. The video’s a bit cheesy, but it was filmed in Spain … so it’s got some authenticity.
Hotel Bentriu in Col de Nargo. Very nice with a great breakfast and very friendly staff.
Fantastic views down the Rio Perles valley. We even Got some good elevation gain now, but we’re less than half done (elevation wise). So cool to see the road we’ve been on from this perspective.
You can just make out the road below the cliff band on the left and above the cliff band on the right. I was too slow with the camera and just missed another ‘Where’s Waldo’ shot
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles) Total: 2,231 km (1,385 miles)
Rate this entry's writing
Heart
11
Comment on this entry
Comment
4
ann and steve maher-wearyWhat a ride, eh? So glad you enjoyed it, as you said, you have to like to climb. But so worth it, the vistas are amazing and no vehicles !
Only place open for us the day we arrived was the pizza place for a late lunch. Like you the next day only the bars were open but we made it to the grocery store before it closed.
Kirsten KaarsooTo ann and steve maher-wearyThe views were incredible well worth all those metres we climbed. We ended up having an excellent meal the next day and found the grocery store so we had an excellent breakfast too. Reply to this comment 10 months ago
