2 MID-LIFE CYCLISTS IN A MOTORHOME: July 2015

Peniscola Old Town

4th July 2015.

Orange groves

We had an energetic start to the month and have spent the last 2 days taking advantage of the flat terrain by exploring the surrounding villages of Oliva, Pego, Ondara and El Verger, adding another 77kms to our total. We were surrounded by mountains on 3 sides with the sea behind us as we cycled to Pego and the road was lined with olive trees on one side and orange groves on the other. Absolutely stunning. The main reason for coming to this area was to visit Denia for the Bous a la Mer (running of the bulls to the sea).

Waiting for the bull-run to begin

Tonight was the start of a week long festival which includes flamboyant processions, dancing in the streets, fireworks and live music every night as well as the twice daily Bous a la Mer. We spent a lazy day relaxing before catching the 5pm bus to Denia . The streets were teeming with people, many in very bright coloured t-shirts to attract the bulls. The bars were doing a roaring trade and there was a real party atmosphere. A fantastic drum band started playing in the street and an old Spanish guy, clearly inebriated, was dancing alongside them which generated a lot of laughter and photo taking by many people watching him. The route was lined with barriers which the spectators climb and sit atop to avoid coming into contact with the bulls. We got a good place near the sea front and watched everyone getting ready. It is clearly taken seriously and many were doing calf stretches as they checked their running shoes were securely laced. At 7pm we heard the sound of the cannon which signified the release of the bulls. It was hilarious as the bulls ran towards the sea appearing to take no notice of the spectators that ran alongside them. I didn't realise that the real action took place in the specially constructed bullring which was built in a semi circle and butted to the waters edge at the Marina.

The bullring

It was here that the spectators did their best to get the bulls to chase them before diving in to the sea to escape their horns when the bulls got too close for comfort. After making our way to the bullring we ended up under the ring alongside the crazy people that were running in to the ring. After watching the action for a while we wandered along the Marina where the party atmosphere continued as people threw each other in to the water. After a young lady got thrown in by her friends and surfaced minus her iPhone and clearly irate we decided we'd had enough action for one night. It was time to catch the bus back and chill for the rest of the evening.



7th July 2015. 

The cycle path to Benicassim

We have spent the last 3 days on a lovely little campsite near Oropesa del Mar. The site backed on to the beach which was mainly stones and coral but had some areas of sand. We explored the area on our bikes and found a fantastic cycle route that led from Oropesa to Benicassim on an old train line that had been tarmaced. The route followed close to the coast giving stunning views along the route as it gave glimpses of the sea before passing through the mountain via a short tunnel and then back close to the sea. 

Stunning route

Benicassim was lovely with a great cycle path alongside the promenade and gorgeous sandy beaches. The whole area looked clean and well maintained and after exploring the seafront we stopped for a well-earned coffee and cake. We had a really great day and by the time we got back we had cycled 51kms.

9th July 2015. Yesterday we drove to Peniscola to a lovely camper stop called La Volta Stop & Go which was attached to a camp site. This meant we had full use of all the campsite facilities which included a lovely warm swimming pool, a bar area with TV so we could watch the Tour de France, free wifi and excellent shower facilities, all for only €11 a night!! Bargain. Apparently it is only €7 a night before July!! After a quick ride in to Benicarlo to get some shopping we spent the afternoon by the pool as the heat was intense. 

Lovely side streets

Today we cycled in to the main town of Peniscola which included a lovely walled Old Town which is known locally as the Gibraltar of Spain. It was absolutely stunning and reminded me a bit of a less crowded version of the Mont St Michel without the overpriced tourist tat and expensive coffee bars. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of tourist tat to be had but it was no dearer than at any local seaside resort and the restaurants seemed very reasonably priced. After lunch we cycled to Vinaros before returning to watch the last hour of the Tour while enjoying a beer as a reward for cycling nearly 40kms in the extreme heat.
The area around the campsite was mainly farmland and the fields were full of large melons and small bushes full of lovely red and green sweet peppers making a very colourful picture as we explored the area.

The Old Town

11th July 2015. It was with some reluctance that we left Peniscola today as we had really enjoyed it and the pool was an absolute godsend now the temperature was hitting the mid 30°s every day. This was definitely on our list of places to return to but as we are meeting up with Deb and David in Gruissan towards the end of July we needed to keep heading towards France. We stopped at another beachside campsite at Torredembarra. It was a nice site but unfortunately there was a train line between us and the beach and we were parked just a few feet from the line where the trains thundered past several times a day. There was a short tunnel that led under the rail track to the beach which was a lovely expanse of sand bordered by dunes and a nature reserve. 
Tonight a neighbouring Dutch camper decided to party until 1am with friends. As their consumption of alcohol increased so their awareness of the noise they were making decreased. I was finally at the point of practising my best Flemish combined with facial gestures to back up my message, in case they didn't understand my first attempt at speaking their language, when they finally decided to call it a night. Not exactly conducive to a good nights sleep especially when we later discovered the trains started at 5.30am!! Oh well it's the nature of the game and sometimes we have had to accept that a good nights sleep is not on the cards. I have more than made up for any lack of sleep the number of times I have laid on my lounger to relax or read and then suddenly been woken up by my own snoring!!



12th July 2015. 

The Ampitheatre

In spite of the lack of sleep we decided to don our cycling gear and ride the 16kms to Tarragona. This was one of those cities that I liked. It had some fascinating Roman remains including a fantastic well-preserved amphitheatre adjacent to the beach. There were lovely narrow cobbled streets between old 4 and 5 storey tall buildings. The mixture of old and new blended really well and we spent a really enjoyable morning exploring the town before stopping at one of the lovely street cafés for a caffeine fix before the ride back. 

Fantastic doorway in Creixell

We cycled 40 kms in total and, after a leisurely lunch sat out in the sun, we spent the afternoon on the beach, enjoying a swim in the lovely warm sea.

15th July 2015. We have spent the last 3 days at Palamos, a really lovely area with a great promenade and beach area and close to many interesting towns and villages that we planned on cycling to. Unfortunately on a ride to Platje d'Aro yesterday it became obvious my brakes were in desperate need of some attention from a mechanic which I suppose is hardly surprising considering the amount of kilometres we have cycled in the last year. There was a great little bike shop in Palamos and luckily for us the owner's wife spoke very good english. Although they were extremely busy they took pity on me and agreed to try and get it fixed as soon as possible. As it turned out it wasn't just the brake pads that needed replacing but I also had a warped disc. We got the bike back this afternoon which left no time for exploring as we plan on moving on tomorrow so Palamos is on our list of places we will return to. At least I now have fully functioning brakes which is quite handy when cycling down steep hills!! When I joked at the end of June about what to spend the spare £100 on when we were under budget I had kind of been hoping it would be for something more exciting than new brakes although to be fair I did manage to pick up some new bikinis on the trip to Platja d'Aro so every cloud.....

16th July 2015. Today was another one of those days when things just don't go according to plan. We set off for a little village called Quart, just outside Girona so that we could spend a day cycling in and exploring the city. Glynn had just navigated a fairly narrow one way street to arrive at the aire, which was the village car park, and came face to face with some big lorries blocking the road. It seems the fair was in town and was about to set up in the car park. We were advised the area was closed to motorhomes for the next 3 days. Unfortunately more cars pulled up behind us so we were effectively hemmed in. After the cars did their easy 3 point turns and departed Glynn was left facing the wrong way on a narrow street and nowhere to go but back the way we had come. With some careful reversing, a 3 point turn and then passing a parked car so closely you couldn't get a cigarette paper between us and them (whilst a crazy Spanish driver decided to try and pass us on the wrong side of the road and up the path!!) we set off for Girona where I had read about a car park that catered to motorhomes.

The impressive Massif del Montgri

We followed the GPS co-ordinates that I had and soon arrived at the car park which appeared to have a height restriction that would effectively turn us into an open topped Motorhome if we tried to enter it. I had either entered the co-ordinates wrong or the GPS was playing silly buggers again. Either way we hadn't been particularly inspired by anything we had seen of the city so far during out navigation to the car park and decided to give up on Girona and head to our next stop which was a lovely new camperpark right on the edge of the Massif De Montgri and only 7kms from the seaside resort of L'Escala. Wasting no time we donned our cycling gear and set off for the Coast. Glynn declared L'Escala one of his favourite beach areas of the trip so far.

Lovely beach at L'Escala

It was absolutely lovely and we cycled along the coast line towards the Parque Natural del Montgri before returning and heading towards Sant Marti d'Empúries which took us past the Roman Ruins at Empúries. The area was stunning with lovely sand dunes and a great cycle path that skirted the woodland that bordered the beach area.

18th July 2015. After another lovely day of cycling yesterday when we explored the area around Estartit our plan for today was to head in to France. We awoke to fog so thick we couldn't even see the Massif del Montgri so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while we waited for it to clear enough to drive.

1km to France!

The route in to France was stunning as we approached the Pyrenees and once we had crossed the border we saw the familiar vineyards with their lovely regimented rows of vines as we approached Port Vendres. Whilst enjoying a café break in Estartit the day before the chef strongly recommended we visit Collioure so our plan was to park at the Aire at Port Vendres and cycle to Collioure.
Collioure is exquisite, a beautiful Catalan port nestled between the Pyrenees and the sea with ancient terraced vines visible in the hills bordering the town.

Collioure

The cobbled streets, between lovely tall buildings full of flowering balconies, house numerous art galleries and other lovely little boutiques. The waterfront is overlooked by the Church of Notre Dames Des Anges and the Royal Castle. There are several coves with sand and shingle beaches and the sea on a sunny day is a wonderful shade of turquoise reminiscent of the Caribbean. Almost equidistant between Port Vendres and Collioure sits the Fortress of Sainte Elme

Church of Notre Dame Des Anges

situated high on a hilltop overlooking the whole area. As you have probably gathered by now we loved Collioure and spent a great afternoon exploring the town before cycling back to Port Vendres. If you want to visit the South of France you could do a lot worse than visit here! When we got back to the Aire we decided to head on to Latour Bas Elne so that we could be set up and ready for a lovely ride to Cyprien Plage in the morning.

22nd July 2015. We have spent the last 4 days at Latour Bas Elne and Sainte Marie. We have cycled the area covering Saint-Cyprien, Canet-en-Roussillon and Sainte-Marie and then headed to the coast following the cycle paths bordering the lovely sandy beaches.

The Castillet

 
We also cycled to Perpignan which, in spite of some interesting buildings, like the Castillet, the Cathedral and the lovely area alongside the river with its pretty landscaped banks, did little to excite us. It was incredibly hot, exceeding 40°, so we decided to head back. I was starting to feel the effects of cycling such a long way in such extreme temperatures as there wasn't the normal cooling breeze as we cycled along. By the time we got back we had cycled 58kms, our longest ride on the hottest day!! The only plans we had for the evening involved a cooling shower followed by pizza and brandy, lots of both!!

Today we decided to head inland for a couple of days after doing some research on the area. We headed into the Pyrenees to a little village called Casteil.

Peaceful setting for the night

The scenery was breathtaking as we passed huge lakes, vineyards and little stone houses perched on the edge of the mountains. The Aire was a small clearing on the edge of the village where there was space for 6 or 7 vehicles between the trees. It was such a lovely setting and you could hear the constant sound of water as it flowed over stones on the base of the nearby riverbed and through the irrigation channels that run through the village. There isn't a great deal to see at the village itself which has a population of approximately 130 people however the main attraction is the Abbey of Saint-Martin de Canagou sitting 1094 metres above sea level.

Abbey of St Martin de Canagou

There is a concrete pathway that weaves its way up to the Abbey, taking about 40 minutes to climb, although for the less able it is possible to go up in a jeep. We climbed up to the Abbey and then followed the path a bit further to a viewing point. The view looking down on to the Abbey and across the valley was incredible and worth the effort of the climb on such a hot day. We had taken a packed lunch so we found a shaded bench outside the Abbey and sat enjoying the scenery while we ate. The walk back down was much easier and we were soon sitting outside the Motorhome chilling with a cup of tea. It was an incredibly peaceful and relaxing place, the quiet broken only by an occasional vehicle passing and a lion roaring. Yes, you read that right! About 300 metres away is an animal park and several times in the night I heard the sound of the lion calling out.

23rd July 2015.

Villefranche-de-Conflent

This morning we drove the short distance to the lovely 11th century fortified village of Villefranche-de-Conflent, built when the border between Spain and France was at this point. It is completely enclosed by its medieval fortifications and is a small village with only 2 main streets. The beautiful pink stone houses of the centre were built around the 13th century. It is listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France and it easily lived up to its reputation. It didn't take long to explore the entire area and it was an absolute delight.

The other main attraction is that the train station, which is situated just 100 metres

The original drawbridge workings

from the outer walls, is the starting point for the Little Yellow Train of the Pyrenees. The Little Yellow Train is a meter gauge electric railway that is considered to be one of the great railway journeys of the world. It takes you through some incredibly awe-inspiring scenery as it passes through tunnels and over bridges and viaducts from a starting altitude of 427 metres rising to 1592 metres at France's highest railway station at Bolquère Eyne. It then drops back down to the terminus at Latour de Carol, just shy of the French/Spanish border and within easy walking distance to the Spanish town of Puigcerda. We took the train to Mont Louis and we were in one of the open topped carriages giving us unrestricted views as the train hugged the side of the mountain overlooking the Tet valley.

Stunning scenery

Mont Louis was another fortified town, but we felt it was a disappointment after the beauty of Villefranche-de -Conflent and after a brief exploration we headed back to the station to catch the train back. The disappointment of Mont Louis did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm as the train ride was truly spectacular.
As it was only an hour's drive we decided to head back to the coast to spend the night at Fitou ready to head to Gruissan in the morning to meet up with Deb and David.

The Little Yellow train

(Note to self: when looking for Aires to stay on check the proximity of train lines and major roads!!) The Aire at Fitou was adjacent to the beautiful lake of Leucate however running between the lake and the Aire was a major train line and it was also situated on the main Route Nationale 9, the busy alternative to using the péage. Not the quietest night we've had but at least the trains didn't run all night!

28th July 2015. We have enjoyed a lovely relaxing few days parked on the Aire at Gruissan Port, waking up every day to see the view of the water from the bedroom window. We did 1 long ride of 54kms to Fleury D'Aude following the "wine route" signs.

What a view to wake up to!



This was Corbières region and we cycled through huge areas of vineyards with the bunches of grapes now clearly visible on the vines. We did a few smaller rides along the many cycle paths and visited a few caves for some wine tasting. 
It was great to catch up with Deb and David again and we enjoyed a lovely evening of cheese and wine with them last night as we are all moving on today. They are heading further north while we have decided to back-track slightly and spend another month in Spain before we start heading towards northern France for the end of September. 

The Corbières vineyards

We decided to drive back to Palamos as this was one area that we felt we hadn't explored properly as my bike had been in the repair shop.

31st July 2015. It has been lovely being back at Palamos and the weather has cooled somewhat to a much more pleasant 25° to 30° during the day and around 20° at night making it much easier to sleep. We have cycled around 55kms with a ride to Calonge and Platje D'Ora and then yesterday a lovely ride to Palafrugell along a great cycle path that passed through the countryside away from the main roads.

Glass of red anyone?

We have cycled a total of 617kms this month bringing our total to 2119kms for this trip. Glynn has only had 1 puncture this month bringing our total to 2 each, a vast improvement on Glynn's apparent attempt to break the world record for the most punctures last year! Whilst I am writing this Glynn is outside getting the bikes ready for another ride and judging by the comments I think he has just discovered another puncture!!
Although this blog is primarily for my family and friends to keep in touch with what we are up to it acts as a brilliant diary for us to look back on. Just looking back to the beginning of July I am amazed that it seems so long ago we were in Denia. Even places we visited last week feel like much longer as we are seeing new places nearly every day. Providing we don't run out of places to cycle to in this area our plan is to stay put for a while now and probably head back towards France around the end of August. We seem to be the only British Motorhome in the area at the moment but it's great fun conversing with our Spanish and Italian neighbours. I really struggled trying to switch from Spanish to French for the 10 days we were in France, my poor brain couldn't cope with the change even though my French is better than my Spanish and I found I was mixing both languages in the same sentence and then wondering why I kept getting confused looks!! It is much easier to stick with learning Spanish for now.