Spirosbikespain: The Carrilet!

Today we finally get to ride El Carrilet, a 60 kilometer converted rail to trail route. In fact this is kind of the reason we ended up in Spain. Once April read about Majorca and this Carrilet, she decided she wanted to visit Spain. All I had to do was threw a few crumbs in the path and she followed them to her idea, and I just agreed with my wife at that point!! A pearl of wisdom for young husbands.

And we were going to meet up with Emma and Chris, and Sam and KO in Girona.

Breakfast at Mas Garganta was superb, especially the fresh fruit, and there was some freshly baked type of a sweet bread. We also made a baguette with butter and jam sandwich for the road. At breakfast, Innes told us there was going to be a walkathon on the Carrilet that day. They were expecting a few thousand walkers starting from Olot. Yikes, we got moving after that as we wanted to get ahead of the crowd.

We rode the 4K back to the trail, and got going. The first 5-10K wasn't actually on a converted railway, instead it was on dirt paths along the road. Kind of noisy, not that sweet. And there was some up and down, April had been claiming it was all downhill to Girona. And it wasn't too well marked, and kind of busy. Perhaps this Carrilet wouldn't be all it was cracked up to be?

At one very steep stretch, the path switch backed up to a road, and we were trying to pass some people who were going too slowly. April passed this young woman who then stopped right at the switchback so I couldn't make the sharp turn and pass her; I almost fell but just managed to unclip my shoe from the pedal. Then it was too steep and crowded to start up so I had to ignominiously walk my bike the last stretch. April got the biggest boot out of this.

Finally we ascended another large hill, then dropped down and got on the portion which was a converted railway. And to my wife's extreme delight it was phenomenal! The dirt was well packed, the crowds evaporated, it was slightly downhill, we had a wind at our backs, the road was far enough away so we couldn't hear it, and the scenery was nice also. Fields and forests. Some sharp cliffs off to the right. Hot day, but the path was green enough to keep us cool.

We flew down this thing! We were coasting around 20-25 k/hr. That's super fast on dirt, with full loads. In fact we couldn't even pedal much cause we would have then been going too fast for that surface. sometimes we'd hit softer sand or a rocky section, but overall it was smooth and fast. Virtually everyone else we saw riding the trail had mountain bikes with much wider tires; but ours were fine. Again, the beauty of our bikes is that they are equally at home on dirt or paved roads.

We stopped for snack, the jam sandwich, some nuts, and a kiwi fruit. Then we picked up right where we left off and were zipping down to Girona in no time. April said this was the payback for all the hills she climbed out west. Eventually the route flattened out a little, and the last 10K were busier and grittier as we got close to the city. But even in the outskirts of the city, the bike path was well marked out and even separated from the traffic almost until the center of Girona. We reached some familiar roads from our previous visit and made our way to our hotel.

I had picked this hotel the previous day based on tripadvisor reviews; not sure why I was allowed this special privilege, but I was praying it was good. I had also said I knew where it was. Well we got to the Placa Independence, where I thought it was, and it didn't seem to be there! I couldn't quite remember the full name either, Ciutat something or another.

Welcome to the doghouse!

But never fear, I got out the iPad, I had captured a screen shot of the tripadvisor page, got the full name, Ciutat de Girona, and then even asked a person for directions (you know it was getting serious then). turned out to be just two blocks away, and it was wonderful. Great reception, locked room for our bikes, modern clean room, soft smooth sheets, nice pillows, two each, great shower, wifi; and the creme de al creme - two soft cotton robes in the closet. Nothing makes April happier then a big soft robe in the room. I suggested that perhaps I should be making all the hotel selections from that point on.

We had emailed Emma and Chris and told them to come see us at the hotel when they got back into town. We showered, April got that robe on, happy as a pig in shit, we napped a little, read, then Em called us, they were downstairs. We rushed down and they had just gotten back from riding. Sam knew the hotel, in the summer he works for a company that leads bike tours around here, and the clients stay at this hotel. Good taste. They were all decked out in their riding gear. They had ridden out to some village and visited Sam's friend's parents, and had a huge three hour lunch with grilled pork, lamb, rabbit, chicken, etc.

We walked with Em and Chris back to their apt. Sam and KO had to go fix some things on their bikes. We brought all our dirty clothes to their apt because they had a washer and dryer. Our stuff was starting to smell pretty bad after three weeks of hand washing. With hand washing, your clothes get slightly better than their dirty state, but over time get gray, yellow and kind of permanently musty and smelly. We did two loads of wash. Finally real detergent, not shampoo for the clothes!

Then we went out to eat at 9:30. Sam and KO just got back before we left and would meet us at the restaurant. We didn't get seated until about 10:00. It was great to all be together for a nice meal. We finished at 11:30, then went out for a gelato. And we wonder why we're gaining weight.

As we were strolling the town at 11:30, there were still lines outside some of the restaurants. People starting their dinner at 11:30!!!

We finally headed to our hotel, and decided to take a rest day the next day.

I think it was the robe that carried the day.

PS - one more note, Chris was looking pretty tired before dinner, he sort of passed out in our room.

Mas Gaganta, the inn from 1350.