In Céret: Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste - The Seven Year Itch - CycleBlaze

October 25, 2024

In Céret: Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste

With our plan to go out for dinner this evening we have all day free so we take our sweet time getting started.  We loaf around over scrambled eggs and coffee, with me indulging myself a la Kathleen Classen to enjoy a third cup.  Then we fill some time until the day warms up, working on blogs and videos, reading a good book, tackling the NYT Sunday crossword puzzle, anything to avoid depressing and stressing ourselves by checking in on the political news of the day.

Finally we’re off; and finally Rachael enjoys the hike of her dreams: an unqualified excellent walk downriver and up the ridge to the village of Vives on the other side, a similar but shorter version of the bike ride I took yesterday.  On here way down she ran into another hiker from Great Britain and had a great conversation. That hasn’t happened in quite some time and she really enjoyed it!

In a first, Rachael takes a reflective selfie in Vives to remind herself of her excellent day.
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Sound track: Dreams, by Brandi Carlile

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I leave at about the same time - earlier actually, as I remember now that Rachael was still at the apartment when I left and helped me carry my bike down the stairs to the street.  I’m planning on the longest ride I’ve taken for awhile, a forty mile out and back up the Tech to Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste.  It won’t feel like that long of a ride though, because after climbing 2,000’ on the way to Prats I’ll mostly coast my way home.

My memory has blurred together the previous rides we biked around Céret, but when I come to the first pedestrianized bridge across the Tech I realize I’ve been here before.  On a wonderful day two springs ago Rachael and I came this way on an out and back up the Col de Coustouges to the international border.  It was in late March then and Mont Canigou was blanketed with snow once we were high enough to see it,  The first half of my climb to Prats today will be a repeat of that ride, until coming to the turn off for the pass climb.

Crossing the Tech I get that deja vu feeling all over again.
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Crossing the Tech for the second time, on the also pedestrianized bridge at La Forge.
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There’s still a fair amount of water in the Tech. By our final crossing it will be a mere mountain stream.
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Much of the first half of today’s ride is like this, on bike paths or abandoned roads.
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Approaching Amélie-les-Bains I get a nice view of its sister village, Palalda.
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Approaching Amélie-les-Bains.
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Crossing the Tech gain, entering Amelie. Ahead is the opening of the canyon for the Mondony River. Two paved roads snake up toward the border through that canyon, both dead ends and probably great rides too. There are so many choices around here that it wouldn’t hurt us to come back here again some year.
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In Arles-sur-Tech I pull off for a quick tour of the town, a place I’ve considered as a possible lodging stop in the past.  My main interest is to see if its abbey and 13th century cloister are open for visitors.  They are, according to the sign posted when I get there, but apparently not after all judging from its padlocked gate.  So that’s a small disappointment but in the end probably just as well because I’ll need all the time I can spare when I get to Prats.

Entering Arles -sur-Tech.
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The view through the locked gate.
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The back side of whatever this is.
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I was surprised by the grove of giant sequoias here.
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Bill ShaneyfeltThey keep popping up all over... I wonder if they will become invasive... in a few millennia?
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1 week ago
Scott AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltMaybe. I wonder too if anyone will be around to notice it.
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1 week ago
Continuing up the Tech, the canyon becomes narrow and more dramatic.
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Here’s the turnoff to the pass to Coustouges and another possible crossing to Spanish Catalonia. If we come back here in a few years and either of us still has the legs for it we could repeat that wonderful ride.
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The old train station at Le Tech looks like it was painted by the same artist who painted the spa at Trouillas we passed by a few days ago.
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And up some more.
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Another crossing of the Tech.
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Not much water down there any more. Note the shadow of the bridge - we’re well above the river here.
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Continuing up the Tech, with the last few miles to Prats stiffening a bit.
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And still up. Its nice that it’s such a quiet road today.
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Another crossing of the Tech. The small tower on top of the peak ahead is 13th century Tour de Mir, built as a lookout that communicated by smoke signals with other distant towers when this was part of the Kingdom of Majorca.
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Finally we approach Prats, and I realize we’ve been here also. Ten years ago we passed by here after crossing from Camprodon over the Col de Ares, but just looked up the road briefly and kept coasting toward Céret. Its about time I came to check it out.
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Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste is listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France, so there must be some reason to come here.  I take my time, first looking around the lower village and then bracing myself to push the bike up into the higher old town and then climb the stairs up to the ramparts of Fort Lagarde, another of Vauban’s fortresses, and the Romanesque church at the heart of it.

I’m not disappointed.  It’s well worth the time it took to bike up here and climb those stairs.  Highly recommended.  The whole town is really worth the detour, and would make an excellent overnight base.

In Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste.
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Three chairs, Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste.
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In Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste, looking down on a wall of Fort Lagarde.
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In Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste.
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In Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste.
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Karen PoretI like the holeman covers ( written this way purposely) :)
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1 week ago
Actually, I stopped here and thought about whether the knees and I really wanted to climb up there. If you make it here yourself, don’t hesitate.
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I love this spot, with its series of low arches. Note that there’s also one branching off to the left.
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Inside the 13th century chapel of Saintes Juste and Ruffine.
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Inside the 13th century chapel of Saintes Juste and Ruffine.
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Inside the 13th century chapel of Saintes Juste and Ruffine.
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Inside the 13th century chapel of Saintes Juste and Ruffine.
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The ironwork on the doorway to the church is exceptional. Look closely at the bolt at the top - it’s a serpent.
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Karen PoretWonder if it opens with a “hiss”…
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1 week ago
I love the look of these archways from the other direction also.
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The view from fort Lagarde.
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The Church of Saintes Juste and Ruffine.
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Looking up, there’s a still higher fortification at the top of the hill. The map lists it as Fort Lagarde, so I’m a little confused. Are this and the lower fortifications all part of the same complex?
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Leaving Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste.
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So that’s one half of the ride.  The back half is a breeze most of the way, dropping back two thousand feet in a comfortably fast descent that’s never so steep that you can’t enjoy it.  By the time I get back to Céret though I can tell I’ve had an experience and my legs are ready to call it a day when I finally drop into our street.  And at the end of the road I find a real gift: Rachael’s been tracking me on the Garmin and is waiting out in the street to welcome me home and help lift the bike up the stairs again.

Thanks, Rocky!!
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So is there anything else to say anything about this great day?  Just the one thing: dinner with friends!  Rich and Robin were kind enough to drive up from their home in Limoux to spend the night in Céret and share a meal with us.  It’s been two years since we saw them last, when we biked through Limoux on our way back to Nice.  It’s a wonderful gift to see them again and get caught up on the last two years.  Thanks so much for coming up to share the evening with us, folks!

I can’t believe we almost failed to get a photo! We were done with the meal and prompted when the party at the next table asked the server to do the honors.
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Suzanne GibsonWonderful! Everyone looking relaxed and happy!
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1 week ago
Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonIt was wonderful. Life needs more meetups like this.
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1 week ago
Karen PoretTo Suzanne GibsonAgreed! And healthier :)
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1 week ago
Kathleen ClassenFabulous meet up. Wish we were there. You all look great!
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1 week ago
Rachael AndersonTo Kathleen ClassenIt was great. I wish you could have been there, also!
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1 week ago
Rachael AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonIt was great. I wish we could see both of you before we leave but we’ll definitely get together with you on our next overseas trip!
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1 week ago
Susan CarpenterHow wonderful for Rich and Robin to make the trip down from Limoux for another memorable CycleBlaze meet-up. So nice to see you all together.
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6 days ago
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Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 4,458 miles (7,174 km)

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Carolyn van HoeveWe stopped and had a look around Prats on the way to Céret and thought too that it would make a good place as a stopover
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1 week ago
Scott AndersonTo Carolyn van HoeveI thought about you and wondered if you might have stopped in, knowing you’d come over the Col d’Ares.
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1 week ago