Much of the recent posting has been about our cycling trip in the Costa Brava. I will try to avoid repeating the content of those posts and add a different style of post here.
This time around I did not want us to have to have the stress of carrying all our things, worrying about keeping things dry, finding a cycling friendly hotel, and finding the routes for our trip, etc. After reading about several cycle touring services online, I found that Daniel and Lucy at Creative Catalonia seemed to offer just the type of support we needed. I corresponded with them several times by email to decide which routes would be best for our trip. They provided maps (paper and electronic), luggage shuttles, suggested restaurants, hotel reservations, emergency support, etc. Working with them we designed the trip we wanted. In addition, we arranged for our friend J. to stay with A. and drive him up on Friday night to join me for a self supported two day trip back to Sant Cugat from Sant Feliu del Guixols, another 75 miles of riding on top of the 150 miles J. and I rode during the week.
One advantage of the tandem over the quad is that it is easier to transport. We were told to take a train to Ripoll to meet with Daniel and start our trip. A week before our trip I made a test run on the three connecting trains we needed to confirm that we would be able to get the tandem on board, etc. I was not surprised the trains were delayed, and we planned to leave with enough extra time to factor that in. The goal was to be prepared and reduce stress.
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| Tandem on Train 1 of 3 to Ripoll |
The cycling from Ripoll to Olot was great. We started with some drizzle, but it never became hard rain and cleared as we move forward. We climbed steadily (~ 1500 ft) and then descended (~2400 ft) into Olot. In some places the route follows an old Iron and Coal railway bed, part of the Vies Verdes , which are unpaved cycling paths throughout the region, while in other places we were on paved roads, but with very few cars. Knowing we would be riding on unpaved surfaces, I had put the widest tires I could on the tandem. Between the first two trains I decided to top off the tires and had a valve failure, so I did a tube replacement on train three before we arrived in Ripoll. Daniel gave me an extra tube in Ripoll and happily we had no significant mechanical issues the entire trip.
A previous post mentioned the spectacular youth hostel we found in Olot. We toured the hostel and spoke with the manager on duty. The mansion, Torre Malagrida, was built by Manuel Malagrida i Fontinet, who was born in Olot, but lived in Paris, Barcelona, and Argentina.
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| The grand central room of Torre Malagrida with its Skylight visible. (Photo from Bookings.com) |
This mansion was his summer house built in 1921 when he worked to develop the city of Olot, and his main house still exists in a very fancy section of Barcelona, on the Passeig de Gracia. Malagrida came from an important family in Olot, but lived in Barcelona and Paris before heading off Argentina where in the 1890s he established two very successful tobacco factories shipping cigarettes and other tobacco products to Europe. He became a major businessman who was part of high society in Buenos Aires and Barcelona. He had competitions for artists to make advertisements for his products and was well connected in the the art world. His summer house in Olot became a youth hostel about 20 years ago, I don't know exactly how that came to be, but it is an odd mix of grandeur with youth hostel furnishings. The hostel has about 80 beds and is an official HI hostel. We stayed in what seemed like a fancy farmhouse outside of town, and enjoyed a meal at La Deu that night, a 130 year-old family run restaurant where they were flexible about making vegetarian substitutions.
The next day we rode mostly along the Vies Verdes Carrilet (former narrow gauge railway) trail from Olot to Girona. We were able to ride along the river in various places along this ride, including some lovely scenery. We did have some steep sections which clearly were not the rail trail (grades up to 14%), and enjoyed a snack stop in Amer, where one of the old train stations was now a bicycle touring and rental facility that had tandems too. Girona is a major city with a beautiful bridges crossing the river and both historic and modern sections. We stayed at a very modern hotel in an old part of town, which was very nice. One thing I will remember was that it had wireless programmable light switches, distributed all around the room, each location had several buttons that were labeled for different mood settings, opening and closing curtains, etc. Much more than on and off, it was pretty funny. Girona is famous for having an important Jewish community before all the Jews were driven out of Spain. We stopped at the relatively new Jewish museum which was nicely done in the old Jewish quarter. Girona is famous as a cyclists haven (Lance Armstrong lived and trained here) and there were many bike shops, etc. We also met another couple from Denver who were cycling at the hotel in Girona, and we enjoyed chatting about the different routes and experiences. We would see them a few more times before our trip was over.
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| I found this display of kids helmets at a bicycle rental shop amusing. |
After a breakfast which included some delicious freshly squeezed orange juice, we headed out of Girona for Sant Feliu de Guixols and S'Agaro, on the Mediterranean coast. Again we were on another section of the Carrilet and had some riding along the river, some in the hills, almost none with traffic. We met a group who were cycling together along the same route. They passed us, then we passed them, multiple times. Finally at some point we spoke to them, and Judy heard their leader explaining something to another member of the group. She broke out her Danish and asked if they were from Norway (they were!) but they were very surprised that she figured it out. Our only mistake here was planning for a specific lunch stop at a restaurant in an old railway station only to find it closed on Mon, Tues, and Wed. and we were there on a Wednesday :( We managed to recover and enjoyed walking along the coast in S'Agaro, as well as a swim in the Mediterranean. We could see the water from our balcony on the 3rd floor of the hotel.
Day four found us riding up the coast toward France after a sumptuous buffet breakfast spread. We were on several different trails that came out on different beach coves. It was very beautiful, and we saw a school field trip riding bicycles to the beach.
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| A closer up picture of the fishing village at Cala S'Alguer |
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| Tandem "parked" at Finding Nemo themed playground. |
We finished the day at an Italian restaurant recommended by our Denver cycling friends, and we learned that in Italian on a Four Seasons pizza, Parma is a thin sliced ham, not Parmesian cheese. It was easily removed and the food was good.
The Tour de France had rain along this route (and the stage was appropriately won by god of thunder, Thor Hushvold - Norwegian,) but we had much better weather. The ride was challenging but rewarding. Our Denver friends told us they ate in the cafe of a bowling alley here and enjoyed it, but we ate in a public park in view of the main beach. We had lunch of bread, cheese, and fruit from a grocery and explored beachfront around Tossa de Mar. There is an interesting old walled city here described by a sign with this text:
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| Looking from Tossa de Mar beach up toward Vila Vella |
Declared a National Historic-Artistic Monument in 1931, the walled Vila Vella enceinte is the only example of a fortified medieval town still standing on the Catalan Coast. The appearance it has today dates back to the end of the 14th century. Almost the entire original perimeter still exists today. with battlemented stone walls, four turrets and three cylindrical towers crowned with parapets. At Vila Vella’s highest point, where a lighthouse rests today, stood the castle of the Abbot of Ripoll, Lord of the town, until the beginning of the 19th century.
The inside of the Vila Vella is an enchanting space, with narrow, cobblestone streets. In the height of its glory (l5th-16th centuries), Vila Vella incorporated around eighty houses, most of which preserve the same dimensions established in the “settler’s charter” of 1186. The Vila Vella had an early Romanesque church (12th century) and another Gothic style one. Parts of it are still preserved, as well as the apse with the keystone of Sant Vicenç, Patron Saint of the vila.
A bit of history like most of the coastal headlands of the Emporda and la Selva areas, Tossa’s Cape was also inhabited by the native pre-Roman Iberians. The name of this settlement was Turissa, a name that developed phonetically into the actual name of Tossa. The flrst mention of Tossa during the High-Medieval period appears In a document from 881. In 966. Miro, Count of Barcelona, left the valley of Tossa in his last will and testament, along with the churches of Sant Lionç and Sant Vicenç, to the Santa Maria de Ripoll Monastery, founded by his grandfather. The area was scarcely populated by peasants, who lived inland in small farmhouses and huts, and fishermen who grouped together among the ruins of the Els Ametillers Roman villa where they also had their cemetery. In fact the monastery did not actually take over this community until 1097. Almost a century later, in 1186, the Abbot Ramon de Berga, in light of the progressive reconquest of the maritime routes by Christendom, the increase in population and at the request of the inhabitants of Tossa granted a “charter of dependence and settlement” and ordered a castle to be built on the highest point of Tossa’s Cape for the protection of their future inhabitants. So, little by little, the headlands began their urbanization in accordance with the rules and regulations established by the abbot which, with few changes have survived until today.
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| Looking over Vila Vella toward Tossa de Mar |
After our lunch in Tossa de Mar, we headed back on the same route to S'Agaro, everything that had been climbing was now descending and vice versa. However this time we knew we could do it and we were riding on the coastal side of the road giving us even better views and easier access to the turnouts. We met lots of cyclists and walkers on this route, some fast, some slow, all pleasant company. There are signs along the road indicating that cars need to give cyclists 1.5 m of clearance, way more than the three feet that people are pushing for in the US. Most of the cars were quite good about giving us room. Only one oncoming car veered across the centerline causing concern.
Back at our hotel J. and I repacked, so that she could take most things back with her on the bus to Barcelona and I would have only the bare necessities for A. and I to ride with for the next two days. J. departed and shortly after A. arrived.
A. and I went down to the beach and climbed around rock formations. We went out for a dinner of veggie burgers at La Vianda , a place J. and I had discovered a few days earlier. Vegetarian food is not easy to find in this area, where most restaurants feature seafood.
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| A. enjoying the rocky cliffs of the coast! |
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| Sunset on the Costa Brava |
Arlo and I slept well and enjoyed the hotel breakfast buffet knowing we would be riding even more hills today, first repeating the ride to Tossa de Mar and then heading up out of that cove and over our biggest climb of the day after lunch. We managed to fit everything into the bike trunk and panniers. We were riding on a Saturday morning and knew there would be more traffic than I had seen the previous day, so we outfitted the trunk with a reflective vest and a flashing red tail light.
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| Ride with A. from S'Agaro to Calella, the bigest hill is climbing out of Tossa de Mar. |
Riding between S'Agaro and Tossa de Mar for the third time in two days did not diminish my appreciation of its beauty at all. Some local cyclists ride it regularly. We were passed by some of them going both ways.
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| Just before dropping into Tossa de Mar (visible in background) |
When we got to Tossa de Mar we stopped for lunch at a place on the main beach, but then went to look at the small cove beach behind the walled city which I had spotted from above the day before. It was spectacular.
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| The beach cove behind the Vila Vella in Tossa de Mar! |
We probably should have stayed here longer, but we knew we had the big climb ahead, and wanted to face that without feeling worn out.
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| Our trusty steed at the top of the climb out of Tossa de Mar. |
It was literally all down hill and flat from here to our stop at Camping El Far in Calella. We went for a swim in the ocean there and even found a British pub, Gringo Joe's, with a vegetarian menu and got to watch Arsenal beat Chelsea live in the FA cup final surrounded by what felt like a truly British crowd. The campground gave us a bungalow with electricity, a kitchen, WiFi, and even a bump out on our front porch perfect for the tandem.
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| Our view of the Mediterranean from our bungalow porch. |
The last day was largely a long flat ride along the N11 coastal highway to Badalona followed by a cut up a river trail to get us home to Sant Cugat. A. and I had a nice breakfast at the campground and the weather was cool. So cool that we rode over 20 miles before we realized that we had not taken our water bottles out of the refrigerator and loaded them back on the bike! Opps! We stopped and bought water bottles from a beach cafe and pretty much rode straight home. We passed a triathalon and lots of long flat beaches. We pulled into Sant Cugat early, about 2pm, having logged 37 miles for the day. J. greeted us warmly and we took a dip in the pool. What a fabulous week! J. even took the train back to Calella and retrieved our water bottles the next day, so she got to see that part of our ride along the coast too. I knew I would enjoy the trip, and both J. and A. were interested and willing to do it with me, but also a bit tentative. It was wonderful to share it with them and have it go so well.
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