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Europe, Day 7, 8, 9. Narbon Plage (France) – Barcelona (Spain)
200 miles ish. Am stopping here for 2 nights(ish). After last nights beers I had a lil lay in, my tent has mostly dried out on the inside but the drizzle in the morning had kept the outside wet so when the rain stopped I packed up leasurely to give the wind a chance to dry it some. Once I was ready tho I set off heading south ish…. I had 2 route options, the easy way along the coast or go through the mountains. I chose the mountains. If the sun had been out this would have been an amazing ride, however it was already overcast and as I got nearer to them I could see it was going to be a slow and wet ride. As I got into the mountains it was raining and as I got higher and higher it got harder and harder and colder. I stopped in a village for breakfast and could hardly get off the bike, I found a public toilet and put on my thermals which instantly warmed me up, I had a couple of croissants from a very lovely lady and once again set off but quickly found myself regretting the choice of route. The temp went down to 4’C and visibility in the clouds was at best 30m (although with tinted goggles that was 20m) and hairpin bends with squared off tyres in the wet made me very slow and wobbly, my average speed was about 25mph and I was actually fearful of what could go wrong up there. I fortunately packed my yellow lensed goggles which helped me see better in the clouds but it was still pretty scary. I had my satnav zoomed in to give me as much detail as possible. I stopped at a lonely pertol station, not to fuel the bike but to get some chocolate in me as my energy levels were totally zapped. The ride down the other side was a little nicer and warmer 7’C, the rain dried off some too. I really needed a wee and some fluids so stopped at a town and noticed all the number plates on the cars were Spanish…. WELCOME TO SPAIN PT!
I rechecked my route to Barcelona and once on the motorway I got my head down and motored on, eventually the rain stopped but the roads remained wet all the way to Barcelona. I had dried out tho and once the sun came out in Barcelona it also warmed up too. I searched out a campsite on my satnav but missed the turning which caused me to end up in this lovely site, 3*, decent shop and bar and restaurant, and toilet roll and sit down loos…. I dont want to talk about the stupid squatting ones where you have to hover and aim!
lol. I grabbed a beer and headed to the private beach!
A chap turned up later on a KTM Adventure who came and said hello, he is from Pompey and called John and is a fireman. He had just ridden up through Morrocco and was heading roughly the same way back as I had just done in reverse
Said I’d meet him in the bar later if he was up for it. Thought I would try the food in the campsite’s restaurant, it was quite odd there as it all looked posh but the food was not that good. I caught up with John later that eve in the bar for a natter. Found out we are dure some good weather and have decided to stay an extra night as I am loving it here. I went in the sea today, loads warmer than UK water but I was still squealing like a piggy! I was determined on my last full day here to go and do something so I got my satnav to point out some historic monuments, the first was a castle in a town but it was closed and didn’t look all that. I then found another out of town so headed along these lovely winding roads till I got to the bottom of a bloody great big hill with some ruins at the top and an old chapple at the bottom. There was a really craggy path so I parked up and headed off along it
The path became rather quickly pretty hard going and my recent lack of exercise, the heat and dehydration took its toll on me especially as I was carrying my lid and jacket. I had to stop several times on the way up. When I eventually made it to the top it was also closed but a Spanish family told me I could sneak around the fence and climb in round the corner so off I went. I followed the fence round and as there was no path and quite a drop I had to hold myself up on the fence at times to stop me slipping down the cliff. I soon found the gap under the fence and squirmed my way through it. The castle was very ruined but incredible to think when it was built they would have had to carry the bricks up possibly the same route I had just struggled with. The views and rock formations were totally amazing but I actually felt wobbly at the cliff face and had to lay down holding on to the ground to take any pictures as I was just getting dizzy. I am really gonna miss this campsite, the beach and the staff in the bar/restaurant. It was nice meeting John too and hearing about his KTM adventures. Hopefully catch up with him again if I ever head to Loomies and he ever finishes his adventure