To Saillagouse, France: Over Coll de la Crueta - Bilbao to Sete - CycleBlaze

October 2, 2017

To Saillagouse, France: Over Coll de la Crueta

Pathetically weak wifi here. Most of this will have to wait a day, I'm afraid.

Downloaded from the CNN website, this was one of many mesmerizing photos from yesterday's voting activities. I was taken by this one in particular because it brought to mind photos from the Spanish civil war.
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Looking down at Castellar, still not far below us.
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As we gained altitude, our vista broadened greatly. In the distance is Piedraforca.
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Near the summit, with Castellar far down the valley, about 2000' below us.
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Our climb to Coll de la Crueta was beautiful, and beautifully quiet. We're pretty slow, so it took us a good hour to climb the seven miles from Castellar to the summit. In that time, exactly two cars passed us.
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Near the summit, the free range cows enjoy a fine view of Piedraforca, one of the highest peaks of the Catalonian Pyrenees.
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Snow depth poles line the road at the start of the descent from Coll de la Crueta.
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I think this is part of a drive to move livestock down from the high country for the winter. The cattle on the ridge are at a gallop, chased along by dogs and their handlers.
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This photo from the north side of the Pass reminds me of the Palouse in southeast Washington State.
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Looking across the Cerdanya from the pass. In the foreground is La Molina, a ski resort.
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We really entered France through the back door, on this semipaved farming road we chose in an effort to avoid the traffic around Puigcerda. There wasn't even a border marker - we only knew we were crossing because of our GPS.
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Our final approach to Saillagouse was interrupted by this silly little train, that crawled through the intersection and blocked traffic for about ten minutes.
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I’m unsure of the route east of Puigcerda, but it must have been something like this.
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Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 921 miles (1,482 km)

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