We start out with April claiming there's a boardwalk on the beach all the way up to Roses. Didn't seem like that to me, but our map was crappy cause we had just crossed into a new area called the Alt d'Emborda and hadn't found a good map yet, so maybe it was true. We go about 2K and hit pure beach sand. There's a funky bridge going over a small stream, the other side looks dumpy with some trailer parks or something up ahead. But we push our bikes thru the soft beach sand and get on some crappy dirt track. Now there's nothing more hellish for bikes than beach sand. I can just feel the grit getting onto the chain and into the hubs and derallieur. Then we hit a fence enclosing a trailer park so we have to head inland, thru a bunch of junk tossed over the fence. Can't we just ride on the roads like normal bike tourists?
We finally hit a paved road, and take a fast ride on it for a few K much to april's chagrin, but wait, there's a path down towards the sea again so down we go. Now I'm pouty and april's happy. We meander north thru a bird sanctuary cum campground area. And we're blocked by a river so we have to hit the road and ride about 10K on a fairly busy road. I pass the pouty face over to April and we push forward. Going pretty fast I might add, it feels so good to be zipping along, wind at our back, going 20-30K/hr. April's hunched over like the wicked witch of the west trying to shutout the traffic. And I'm chatting away happily about how nice it is. Look at these flowers, check out the cows, what's that tree, traffic's not too bad, great to have that wind at our back. I mean I'm really working it, but April's having none of it, she's locked into Wicked Witch mode.
And on and on it goes...
We hit a town, Castello d'Empuries, and take about freakin 30 minutes trying to find some maps. We finally find a tourist info center, and the guy gives us a map and directions so we can avoid the busy road to Roses, which is just about 10K away mind you. Out we go on the small rural road, it's really nice, April is thrilled, we see some other cyclists, "see how nice this is!" We flush out some monster herons. There are birds everywhere. I'm ready to admit defeat, but not before one final pout, "yes but we could have been there by now." April's so happy she ignores me.
We go over three bridges as instructed, then have to turn right down a dirt path. It seems a little rough, and then it gets really rough. Fist sized rocks, loose gravel, some mud. Then it becomes flooded! Two women come out from the path and tell us it's too flooded to go down. Nice. We have to carefully walk our bikes on the sides of the deep pools, we're getting scratched by thorns, we almost fall in. The bikes are getting muddy again. From feast to famine just like that. I'm back in the game, I can legitimately gripe again!!! Maybe I even have the upper hand! Not sure if I should be happy or pouty. Haha.
Anyway we make it thru the "challenging" dirt road and stop in a market for some food for lunch: bread, tomato, cheese, avocado and snickers bars. We eat our lunch in an ancient olive grove next to the road. Hmm a fair number of cars heading up the road we'll soon be on. We finish up our snickers then start up the big hill towards Cadaques. This is a small seaside village where Dali lived much of his life. It's way out on a peninsula and we have to a steep 10K climb to about 1500 feet, and then we have a 10K downhill to Cadaques. April dislikes both the uphill and the downhill. But as Krisy Sims says, April is the toughest woman she knows, so I know she'll be a trooper.
We start the climb, the wind is blowing like hell, gusts to around 30 mph, sometimes behind us and often to the side, threatening to blow us into the traffic. There's no shoulder. The wind really catches us because of our bike bags. We stop a couple of times for water and pix, and eventually hit the top. I'm really happy and April is shall we say, less than happy. It's really cold on top. Maritime clouds are whipping by. We put on our coats and start the downhill, April gets into hunch formation and away we go. The first 3-4K are actually gradual, perfect coasting. Then it gets steeper but not as bad as what we came up. Overall it wasn't as bad as we expected.
We cruise into Cadaques and score a great price on the #1 hotel on Tripadvisor, plus we have a sweet room overlooking the harbor with a nice balcony, the bed is good, they have a steam room, free wifi. Life is good again!! All the days frustration evaporate, we're happy as clams. April takes a steamer, we get a great local restaurant recommendation, sure enough we have a wonderful meal, then a nice stroll thru town before we hit the sack. How sweet it is!
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Location:Carrer de Pianc,Cadaqués,Spain
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