2 MID-LIFE CYCLISTS IN A MOTORHOME: Barcelona

Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts

31 July 2019

July 2019

Driving through the Pyrenees

Barcelona

3rd July. We spent the first two days of July just relaxing and enjoying our new environment. We did a short ride in to Granollers yesterday which involved two short but steep hills which was enough in the extreme heat. We also checked out the location of the station as today we had planned a day in Barcelona. We have never stopped to explore the city before because of the reputation of it being unsafe to leave a motorhome unattended so it was nice to be staying in a location where we could get the train in to the city and enjoy a full day there. The train tickets were only €3.50 each way and took a little over 30 minutes.

Montjuic Castle

Although there is a very good network of trams and the hop on/ hop off buses we ignored these and instead walked the length and breadth of the city on foot heading first to the Castle de Montjuïc near the marina so that we could climb the steps before it became too hot. We then explored the Gothic Quarter and walked Las Ramblas up to the Plaça de Catalunya. We found a great little restaurant so that we could rest our feet and enjoy the menu del dia. We always try to find the places frequented by locals as this is usually a sign of good food and good value and this place didn't disappoint. The meal included a drink so I opted for a vino tinto (red wine) and got a shock when I was given a whole carafe to myself.

La Sagrada Familia

It's not often I leave any drink but on this occasion I sensibly settled for 2 glasses with my meal and left the rest as we still had a lot of exploring to do. Using our tourist map we visited all the main sites in Barcelona and saved the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia until last. It really is an amazing sight and the whole area around it was packed with thousands of tourists. I managed to get some really nice photos before we called it a day and headed back to the station. We had really enjoyed the city but it was so hot that we were looking forward to getting back and having a swim to cool off.

5th July. After our hectic day in Barcelona we opted for a quiet day yesterday. We collected some fruit from the trees and then I made some lemon curd using the enormous fresh lemons we had just picked and the lovely fresh eggs that the chickens were laying. Glynn was pottering in the garden as he likes to be busy and is always looking for things to do. He decided to sweep the pathways and hose them down where the chickens had left their mess but unfortunately the chickens were following him around so as fast as he was clearing up the mess they were leaving fresh poo on the paths which I found hilarious.

Barcelona Balconies

Having chickens is not a good option for someone with OCD. It was still extremely hot every day, hitting around 40° so we did some route planning as we needed to be heading to the coast where it would be cooler hopefully. Today the owners came back from their holiday so it was time for us to move on. We had really enjoyed the house-sit and they were a really lovely family. We could now add experience of taking care of chickens to our profile and hopefully look forward to some more interesting house-sits further afield. We headed to a dairy farm near Girona that had created a small camperstop on their land and chilled for the rest of the day as it was too hot to cycle.

7th July. Yesterday we drove to Bellcaire d'Empordà to a lovely camperstop we had stayed at before. They had added a small dipping pool since we had last stayed there which was going to be very welcome in this heat. It was a great location for cycling as it wasn't too hilly so we got the bikes out and did a lovely 35km loop. It was much cooler now we were nearer the coast and was only 32°. Today we decided to venture out again and did a bigger 46km loop that took us close to the coast on the way back and the lovely sea breeze. We spent the rest of the afternoon cooling off in the pool and then watched the highlights of the first stage of the Tour de France. It was going to be an interesting race with poor Chris Froome out of the equation after his serious crash so Geriant Thomas would no doubt be hoping for his second yellow jersey win.

Céret

8th July. This morning we crossed the border back in to France and headed to a lovely little municipal campsite at Céret. It had become very muggy and there was forecast of a storm which would hopefully clear the air. We enjoyed a lovely 5 mile walk to the supermarket for some groceries and then spent the rest of the day relaxing inside as the much needed rain finally arrived.

10th July. As the rain continued throughout yesterday making it impossible to get the bikes out we decided to move on and enjoyed a beautiful scenic ride through the Pyrenees to a lovely campsite at Artigat. Today normal sunshine had been restored but without the excessive heat we had been experiencing in Spain so we decided to cycle to Pamiers. As we were now just outside of the Pyrenees the terrain was more gently undulating than mountainous so it was a very pleasant and scenic 50km ride.

Donkeys near Artigat

Whereas I'm a sucker for a cow photo Glynn has a soft spot for donkeys so when we cycled past a field full of them he couldn't resist stopping to get his photo taken. Pamiers had little to interest us so after the requisite coffee break we cycled back. There was a rather nice swimming pool awaiting us back at the campsite and we had the highlights of second stage of the Tour de France to watch on TV.

11th July. This morning we cycled to Le Fossat to get some shopping taking the scenic route through a lovely little village called Carla Bayle. It was so pretty that once we'd done the shopping and taken it home we set off on the bikes again and headed back to the village. It was a much hillier route than the day before with a couple of real short but steep climbs. The village itself was on a hill so that also involved a very steep climb as we reached the centre. The beauty of its lofty position meant that it offered fantastic views over the surrounding countryside and it looked down on a lovely lake and fields of sunflowers.

Lake near Carla-Bayle

After exploring the very pretty centre we headed towards the lake but as it meant a very steep descent down to the shore we opted instead to admire the views from the main road before cycling past the fields of sunflowers and heading back to relax for the afternoon.

13th July. After a lazy day yesterday we decided to cycle to Le Mas d'Azil today. It's a lovely area that we were familiar with as we had stayed there to watch a stage of the Tour de France back in 2014. The route took us back in to the Pyrenees national park which by default meant hills!!

Entrance to the cave at Le Mas d'Azil

We did a long sweeping descent at one point with a gradient of 11° briefly so I wasn't particularly looking forward to the return ride. At Le Mas d'Azil the road climbs gently up through the village and then leads to a prehistoric cave, La Grotte du Mas d'Azil. Part of the cave forms an impressive tunnel where the river Arize has cut a path through it. The main road from the village shadows the River Arize as it passes through it. As we cycled through the cave it suddenly felt very cold and it was hard to see in the dark but the tunnel is only 500 metres long so we were soon out the other side and back in to sunshine. The cave has an incredible history showing remains of human usage dating back over 30,000 years and is classed as one of the major sites within the Pyrenees. There are immense cavities that you can explore but as we hadn't got bike locks with us we settled for admiring the inside of the tunnel and the lovely views from outside.

Le Mas d'Azil

It is only €9 to access the caves and the museum so I guess we'll have to return another year with our bike locks. After a coffee stop we headed back to tackle the really long steep climb that was between us and our campsite and much to my delight I made it (just) without having to stop. Definitely time to chill and watch the days stage of the TDF.

14th July. A day of celebrations for several reasons. Lewis Hamilton won the Grand Prix, England won the Cricket World Cup and it was Bastille day in France so after a lovely scenic 35km ride around the area we enjoyed an evening of campsite entertainment and a lovely firework display.

Aire at Objat

16th July. After leaving the lovely campsite at Artigat yesterday we were now parked up on a nice little Aire at Objat which had pleasant widely spaced pitches and all the facilities needed for €7.75 a night. Bargain!! This morning we set off on the bikes to explore the area but only managed a 33km ride as many of the roads in the area were in shocking condition with dangerous potholes and uneven surfaces. This meant we had to cycle much slower and keep our eye on the road all the time which took some enjoyment out of the ride. It was a shame as I think the area has some nice cycling routes so hopefully the local council there has plans to resurface some of the roads soon!!

17th July. Today we drove to La Roche aux Moines. It was a lovely old French house that was being run as a B&B by an English couple. We found out about them through the Mind My House site and they had invited us to stop for a night to introduce ourselves as we hope to be able to help them out in the future when they need someone to mind the house while they are in England.

Sunflowers in France

They had a French guest staying who was a very keen cyclist so we enjoyed watching the highlights of the TDF together whilst conversing in our best franglaise!! With the Frenchman Alaphillipe still holding the yellow jersey he was delighted and convinced it was going to be a French win this year (as it turned out Alaphillipe did well and held on to the yellow jersey for another 8 days until he finally got knocked off the top spot just 2 stages from the end by our very own Egan Bernal for Team Ineos who went on to be the first Colombian to win the title). The evening was spent enjoying a lovely meal together sitting round their large kitchen table and chatting in a mixture of French and English and learning all about each other.

19th July. After a mammoth drive yesterday we were able to board the Eurotunnel today and finish our journey home. As always it had been a fantastic trip. We are going to be very busy over the summer as we have a carpenter booked to fit new internal doors and lay flooring so we need to get motivated and finish decorating the lounge and hallway. We have booked on a lovely 5 night rally away in the motorhome in the New Forest in 3 weeks time with Motorhome Fun Club and as Jan and Paul are also members they are joining us. Hopefully we'll be able to do some great cycling as it's such a beautiful area and we also plan on doing a day trip to the Isle of Wight. We have all our friends and family to catch up with too so lots to look forward to before we get ready to leave again at the end of September.

Barcelona

Sculpture in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia

Arc ce Triomf, Barcelona

Céret

Pamiers

Carla-Bayla

Driving through Bélesta, Midi-Pyrenees

Donkeys

Sunflowers and lake near Carla-Bayle

Our motorhome at Artigat

A Storm coming in the Pyrenees

Driving through the Pyrenees

30 June 2019

June 2019

Guadalest Reservoir

In the guard house at Alicante Castle

5th June. After waving a sad farewell to Karen and Sean we left Lake Negratin on the 1st June and enjoyed a lovely 3 days at El Campello, including a trip in to Alicante on the tram and a lovely 40 km cycle ride before returning to Calpe yesterday. Today we were up bright and early to ride to Pinos. After the gentle climb of the N332 towards Benissa we dropped down briefly towards the Jalon valley before taking the CV749. There is quite a climb up to Pinos with a couple of short and very sweet (read that as steep!!) bits that were made all the harder in the heat. The road winds its way around a few hairpin bends hugging the outer edge of the mountain as it climbs and offers the most incredible views both towards the coast with the Penyal d'Ifach (Calpe rock) and to the stunning Sierra Bernia mountain range. We've done this route before but from the other direction when we've cycled along the Jalon valley and entered the CV749 from the other end.

Coffee break in Pinos

Normally I'm concentrating on not descending too fast round the hairpin bends to enjoy the views so it was nice to be able ride in the opposite direction and have time to admire the views. The advantage of doing a route like this is that after our coffee break the return journey was almost entirely downhill and very much faster than the climb up to the cafe had been!! It was a nice but hot 37km ride so now time for a cool shower and a relaxing afternoon.

Jan & Paul on Calpe Rock

9th June. After enjoying a fairly quiet few days and also celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary 2 days ago with a BBQ we woke up to an overcast day today so we decided to take advantage of the slightly cooler temperature to climb Calpe rock. We did climb as far as the tunnel last year however we didn't have appropriate footwear on to risk going further so appropriately dressed the four of us set off. The first part of the climb as far as the tunnel is well paved and easy to do however after that it gets harder. The rock floor through the tunnel is very slippery but there is a rope to hold on to to help steady yourself.

View through the tunnel on Calpe Rock

After that the route climbs much more steeply and over very rough ground. There are several appropriately placed ropes to hold on to which helped but we definitely did more scrambling than walking as we made the climb to the top. It was actually quite a tough climb but clearly very popular and I was amazed at how many people were also making the climb, several of whom were wearing flip flops which seemed crazy given that it is actually a potentially dangerous climb if you lose your footing. It took us 90 minutes to reach the top but was well worth it for the view over the whole of Calpe and beyond.

View of Calpe Town

Getting back down again was slightly tougher but quicker and we were pleased to make it back to the bottom unscathed. It had been a good experience but not one I was would be in a hurry to repeat. We headed to a nearby bar to reward our efforts with caña and tapas before walking home to spend the rest of the day relaxing.

10th June. We borrowed Jan's car today and took a drive out to Guadalest which is a beautiful village about 30kms inland. It's one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Costa Blanca and when we got there we could see why.

Guadalest Reservoir

It's a small village with a population of only around 200 people and is perched high on a rock forming part of the Sierra de Aitana mountain range and overlooks the turquoise water of the Embalse de Guadalest. Guadalest is most famous for its castle which was built by the Moors over 1300 years ago. It can only be accessed by walking through the Portal de San Jose which is a tunnel carved through the rock. The village itself is a delight with its cobbled streets and little village houses, the old jailhouse and the famous white bell tower of Penon de la Alcala. We walked through the village with all its souvenir and craft shops before stopping to admire the view over the mountains and down to the reservoir in the valley below.

Guadalest

It was absolutely stunning and after enjoying a leisure walk around the village we stopped for coffee at one of the cafes. Adjacent to the cafe was a lovely shop selling all sorts of touristy things as well as an amazing collection of hand made rugs in all different sizes and colours. A gorgeous long runner that would complement our hallway perfectly caught my eye so I dragged Glynn in to look. The rugs were such a good price that we not only purchased the rug for the hallway but a matching doormat sized one too. We then decided to head back to Albir on the coast and enjoyed lunch at one of the seafront restaurants. As Jan misses out on the stunning scenery that we witness on our bike rides we decided to drive back to Calpe and then carried on to the Jalon valley to show her the pretty villages of Lliber and Jalon before following the scenic climbing route of the CV749 over the mountain and back down through the hairpin bends to Pinos. It had been a fantastic day and Guadalest was an absolute delight.

Any excuse for a BBQ!

15th June. We've had a busy few days as our friends Teresa and David came to stay at Mediterraneo in their motorhome for a couple of days so we had a lovely BBQ with all our friends that were currently in Calpe as they all know each other from Goa as well as Spain. Yesterday Jan and Paul left to start working their way back to the UK as Paul was entered in to a cycle race early July in Wales. It was sad to see them go but they had absolutely loved their first trip abroad in their motorhome and were already discussing where to venture to next year. We went out for a quick ride after they left but it was dangerously windy so we cut it short after only 18kms. Today the wind had died down so we set off in the direction of Teulada and after a coffee stop we carried on to Moraira before heading back to Calpe via the coast road. It's such a scenic route as you get amazing views of the sea and Calpe rock as the road never veers far from the coastline. We did a very pleasant 37kms and then cycled over to Tres Palmeras to meet up with some of the gang.

Albir Seafront

17th June. We went out for our final ride with the U3A group today before we head to Peniscola tomorrow. We did a lovely ride to Albir and Altea along the N332 and luckily it wasn't too windy or too busy as it can get a bit scary sometimes. For the most part there is a fairly decent lane beside the carriageway to cycle on but there are a couple of places where the road narrows and the lane disappears but luckily the majority of Spanish drivers are extremely considerate to cyclists. We had the requisite coffee stop on the seafront at Albir before cycling back.

Grizzly's

For our last evening in Calpe we walked up to Grizzly's restaurant with Jan and Jeb and enjoyed a very nice meal. We've had a brilliant time as always in Calpe but we're looking forward to finding some new places to cycle. We will be heading home around the end of July so we have a month to explore new places before we head to Calais. A summer of decorating awaits us so we plan on making the most of the next few weeks.

19th June. After a relaxing afternoon yesterday settling in at La Volta in Peniscola we were keen to get out and explore today.

Cervera del Maestra

We did a brilliant 62km ride heading inland to Sant Mateu which involved some nice climbs but nothing too taxing. It was a really warm day and by the time we got to Sant Mateu it was 34°. We are definitely going to have to start heading out a bit earlier now it's getting hotter, thank goodness La Volta has a lovely inviting pool waiting for our return!!

23rd June. We've done a couple of nice rides over the last four days with a 44km ride to Calig, St Jordi and Vinaros and then a tough very windy 57km ride yesterday to Alcanar and then down to Les Cases d'Alcanar on the coast. The wind was so strong heading back that it felt like we'd ridden twice the distance and we were very relieved to get back in one piece. In spite of the effort of yesterday's ride we set off on the bikes again today passing through St Jordi in the direction of San Rafael Del Rio. We hadn't done this route before so I got a very pleasant surprise when we came to a climb that just kept climbing!! I made it almost to the top but sadly ran out of steam where it reached a painful 13° gradient but Glynn made it to the peak of 14°. It was a really short but tough climb so I was relieved that the return route was almost entirely downhill. We cycled 74kms but in spite of the one tough climb it actually felt much easier than yesterday's windy ride.

Morella and the Sant Miguel Gateway

24th June. We left Peniscola this morning and headed inland to Morella. It was a beautiful scenic ride over the mountains that form part of Tinença de Benifassa natural park with lots of hairpin bends to negotiate. Definitely much more pleasurable for me as a spectator than for Glynn driving the motorhome, especially as I have a bad habit of exclaiming "oh wow what stunning scenery" while he is busy negotiating the bends!! Our reason for driving to Morella was to visit the famous medieval walled city and its castle. Our research had highlighted that there was a lovely free motorhome parking area located directly below the walls of the city so this is where we were heading.

Aqueduct de Santa Llúcia

Because of its prime location strategically located on a hilltop the walled city and the castle come in to view long before you reach the city and I was excited to get there so that we could start exploring. We parked at the camperstop which gave us amazing views of the city and castle above and also the now redundant aqueduct de Santa Llúcia. After a quick lunch we walked up to the city. To enter the old town you have to pass through the huge stone Sant Miguel gates. Just before we reached the gates we passed a big building with an open door and as I looked in there was an old man scraping honey off a huge honeycomb in to a bucket.

Sant Miguel Gateway

I stopped to watch and he held out his large knife with honey on the end for me to taste it. It was amazing and I thanked him in Spanish before carrying on towards the old town. We spent a lovely couple of hours exploring the city which, in addition to the church of Santa Maria the Major and the castle, had some lovely houses with the traditional hanging balconies. It is worth the walk up to the castle to see the far reaching views of the surrounding countryside. There are lots of little artisan shops in the main shopping area selling Morella bread, the famous colourful Morello blankets, local goats cheese and honey amongst other things. I wondered if the honey I had been given a sample of was the same honey that filled the jars in La Casa de la Miel y del Queso ( the House of Honey and Cheese)! Morella is probably not the easiest place to navigate if you have mobility issues with some cobbled streets and many steps to navigate however it really is worth the visit and it's easy to see why it is considered one of Spain's prettiest towns, as is Peniscola, from where we had just come.

Church of Santa Maria the Major in Morella

27th June. After the lovely stop at Morella we've gradually worked our way further north over the last couple of days and today we arrived at Bellvie, a quiet camperstop surrounded by fields and farmland about 6 miles inland from Calafell. As it had been a few days since we'd been on the bikes we were keen to get out so a quick change into our Lycra and we were ready to go. It's not always a good idea to just hit the road when you haven't researched the area and this turned out to be one of those occasions. We started off okay as we cycled through the nearby town of Santa Oliva and then the road gradually climbed, seemingly at the same rate as the temperature was rising!! When the road has switchbacks it's a fairly good indication that it's steep and this road had a few!!

Heading to Aguaviva

Luckily a large stretch of the road was closed to motor vehicles as workmen were working on the edge of the road. This was quite handy as it allowed me a greater area to weave my way up!! We eventually made it to a town called Aiguaviva and to add insult to injury even the road to the cafe involved a very steep climb. I was so shattered when we got to the cafe that it took me a few moments before I could even get off the bike. It was way too hot to be cycling steep climbs in this heat but as we were now a long way from the motorhome there was little choice other than to continue!! The waiter kindly filled my bottle with cold water and I drank it while I waited for my coffee to cool and as we left the bar he filled my bottle again. There was a group of men sitting in the bar and one of them spoke good English. He told us that if we carried on there was a short but steep climb before a really scenic descent down to La Bisbal del Penedès. He wasn't kidding when he said it was steep and I dropped in to my highest gear and just kept turning the pedals trying not to lose sight of Glynn as he slowly disappeared up ahead!! Shortly before I reached the summit the man from the bar came past in his car waving and shouting encouragement to me. This had the desired effect and I put a little spurt on to reach the top.

Scenic road on the Coll de L'Arca

When he said it was a scenic descent he failed to mention that part of it involved a 17° drop with hairpin bends. I have never been so scared in my life!! I had both hands at full stretch trying to hold the brakes on hard and I was still descending way too fast for comfort. It was 40° and I was sweating so much I feared my hands would slip off the brakes. It was a very steep drop to the valley below and there were no safety barriers on the sharp bends. It was easily the scariest ride I have ever done and I was so relieved to make it to more level ground. I wasn't feeling too well and feared I was suffering with mild heatstroke so we tried to get back as quickly as we could. I was so relieved to get back to the motorhome and after drinking plenty more water to rehydrate I took advantage of the small dipping pool on site to cool down. After I had recovered I did some research on the area and came across a website called dangerousroads.org. One of the routes featured was called the Coll de L'Arca and that was the route we had just done!! I quote from their website "The road encompasses miles of stunning views through twisty hairpin corners, high elevations and steep grades. The road's winding design, providing stunning panoramic views, is very curvy and fun for a leisurely ride." Well they clearly weren't thinking of cyclists when they wrote that!! I have bookmarked the dangerous roads website so that I can check any future rides and make sure I don't accidentally end up on another of the roads on their list.

30th June. Way back in February when we were sitting on the beach in Goa a friend suggested that as myself and Glynn were always looking for new adventures we should look at a website called Mind My House. Keen to embrace new experiences and opportunities we duly signed up for a years membership. We had hoped to get accepted for a lovely house sit in South Africa but although we made the short list we didn't get it. We did a couple of short house-sits during the summer when we were back in the UK so that we could get references added to our profile and we'd had great fun doing them. One of them was in a little village near Oxford which was a place I was keen to visit. We enjoyed a lovely stay house-sitting three really sweet dogs and in between taking them for walks in the local park we took advantage of the couples offer to use their bikes to cycle in to the city and explore. It had been a great way to visit places we otherwise wouldn't see. We recently saw an opportunity to house sit near Barcelona for 6 days and to our delight we were accepted so yesterday we made our way to their house and spent the day with the family to learn the routine. All we had to do was feed their 6 chickens as well as put out some food for the neighbourhood cats once a day. In addition we needed to collect any eggs as well as any ripe fruit from their abundance of fruit trees. The family left for their holiday this morning so we pottered around clearing up after the chickens and collected the fresh eggs before taking advantage of the swimming pool to cool off. It was a living pool with water lilies and the tiniest frogs I have seen. All the planting in and around the pool attracted some amazing insects including a really bright blue species of dragonfly. The heat in the motorhome had recently become almost unbearable as the daytime temperatures were hitting 40° so the house-sit had come at an opportune time. It was definitely time to start heading towards home now that it was getting too hot in Spain so after the house-sit we plan on gradually making our way towards Calais.