Back to riding again. We're in an area called the Baix d'Emporda, the lower Emporda. It's a beautiful flat to rolling area between Girona and the coast. The are all these wonderfully preserved medieval villages scattered about. And there are designated bike routes throughout the whole area. Sometimes the routes are on paved roads, sometimes on dirt roads, sometimes on dirt paths. And there are special bike route signs all along the routes, which even give distances to the next signs, intersections or towns. really awesome.
It's all farmland, and then the towns are usually on some slight hill with a fortified wall and a church in the middle. Really picturesque. And amazingly well preserved with people still living in the old structures. Beautiful stone arches throughout all these towns, and tons of little alley ways and nooks. It's hard to get April out of these towns once we get in.
So we start riding with an uphill to Begur. We were going to visit a little cove from Begur but it would have been very steep getting down there, and hell getting back. So we skipped it. On the big downhill out of Begur I got a flat. Changed it quickly then away we went. Got on the dirt roads with all the bike signs. April loves these side roads. We're stopping for pictures all the time. we stop in an amazing village called Pals. Then we hit some beautiful paved roads. There are wild poppies everywhere. And yellow mustard seed plants. Makes for very pretty riding. We stop for lunch in another stunning village, Peratellada. Great lunch.
I notice a shortcut on the map, and it seems to be paved, so I make a nice compelling argument for going that way, April agrees, then no sooner do we go 20 yards and I get another flat. WTF! Back tire again, different spot. April gives me a mini lecture about avoiding glass, then seems to find sort of a serendipitous satisfaction about MY flat on MY route. For my part I'm sensing I must be carrying too much weight. Gear, not body weight.
We meander along, hit a few more villages, argue about where to stay for the night. April read a nice tripadvisor review of a small inn in La Pera by a biking couple from Minnesota, so she's locked in to this place. I was pushing for an inn our previous innkeeper had recommended. So the vote was a tie and of course I lost. Dan and I tried to explain this formula to Chris Dubois at the wedding. Not sure he quite understood. He'll learn, we all do.
I call ahead, explain to the woman in garbled French/Spanglish that we want a room and will be there in 30 minutes. She seems to agree. We get there at 5:45, exactly 30 minutes later, and no one is answering the door. This town is really deserted. It's like something out of a Sergio Leoni spaghetti west. We wait 15-20 minutes. Nothing. I call two more times, no answer. Of course I'm feeling sort of smug cause this was April's choice. Haha.
Finally she shows, let's us in, she speaks no English, but we work it out, the room is great, we're the only ones here, the shower is great, and we have to hurry to the only cafe in town which closes at 7:00. We're not in Barcalona anymore. Well the cafe is great and everything turns out wonderfully. April is fully redeemed. We even have pretty fast wifi. In fact we like it so much we decide we'll stay a second night and day ride up some hills tomorrow.
We hit the sack incredibly satisfied. Sleeping soundly when Paul Flessner decides to drunk-Skype us at 1:30 AM our time!!!??? What the hell.
Tomorrow, Els Angels!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment