We had visited l’Estartit on the bikes earlier in the week and noted that there were a number of boat trips from the port.

 

 

Nauticus was the company we chose, a large catamaran with glass walls in one of the hulls. Weather was good and it was nice to do a real “touristy” thing for the first time this trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon was exploring the town of Pals.

 

 

 

A beautiful medieval village close to Begur and well worth a wander round.

 

 

 

Today was Friday so as is our tradition in blighty, a few beers to celebrate the end of the working week. On this occasion at the main square in Begur. The end of this adventure is drawing to a close with tomorrow scheduled to be a preparation day.

This was probably our final outing on the bikes and at the end of the ride we expect to have covered some 300km in total during May.

You can see the challenges of getting the bikes atop Sorento.

 

 

 

Almost spilled one today when it got tied up with the steady bar!

 

 

 

 

We think the northern trail alongside the Ter is prettier than the southern one. It’s certainly a lot smoother and at the end, a short detour to l’Estartit is very pleasant. At the end of this ride was El Mas Pinell which encompasses an enormous campsite, “el delfin verde” (which we figure translates to “the green dolphin”; make what you want out of that!) and lots of urbanisation – probably holiday homes. Even the supermarket was closed presumably waiting for the busy season to commence.

Here’s a picture from alongside the Ter, highlighting a concrete aquaduct for irrigation.

We have been intrigued by this all through our trip to Spain. Concrete aquafers everywhere presumably channelling the water down from the mountains.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I promised an update on the tyres.

Remember at the start of the trip we ditched the crummy Specialized Borough tyres, which were puncturing around every 10 miles, with even small pieces of shale / gravel capable of piercing the flimsy rubber.

Well the Continental Travel contacts have been brilliant. Not a single puncture between us during the entire period. Thumbs down to Specialized on that one.

Notably this morning I had a document emailed to me for signature which needed to be returned. Stunning service from the staff at Camping Begur as they printed it out and then scanned and emailed me a copy of the signed paperwork, none of this effort being any trouble whatsoever. We like it here.

After a relaxing morning (and half the afternoon) chilling, we headed to France to do some shopping at one of their Hypermarkets and garden centres. The satnav let us down somewhat today in that we were dumped in a local housing estate rather than the local commercial centre. Or just maybe, it wasn’t programmed correctly.

In all honesty the shopping was disappointing. The garden centre, whilst stocking some nice stuff was like the Waitrose (and beyond) of shopping. Good news though as I managed to buy some socks to supplement the sole pair we remembered to pack. Good job sandals were mostly the order of the day!

Tonight the weather held for the customary BBQ and the rain didn’t start until the feast had ended and I was busy putting together today’s blog entry…

After a dreadful day of rain yesterday we were both keen to depart the confines of the van and even Moe agreed to another cycle ride so close to the previous one and without full recovery time from a sore ***.

 

 

 

We had researched a route from Palafrugell to Palamos which followed an old railway line. Routa de tren petit.

 

 

 

 

 

The immediate hills and roads around Begur haven’t got any less mountainous or wider since our arrival so the plan was to drive the bikes to Palafrugell and then cycle from there. For once, we didn’t take a picnic. Moe had thoughts that we would be back for lunch (this was at 10:30 am) but I was rather doubtful we would have even loaded the bikes atop the Sorento by then. Still, there would no doubt be an opportunity for a late lunch in Palamos.

We parked at the Aldi in Palafrugell and quickly found the cycle trail meandering its way to the coastal town of Palamos which took around an hour, including a few stops to check “mapswithme” to make sure we were headed in the right direction.

We lunched at a Tapas bar, with the small portions aptly suited to the healthy days cycling although

I think both of us would have liked a nice “menu of the day” somewhere. After lunch we headed from one end of the bay to the other – a full 4km and all on the beach front (“board walk”) so totally traffic free. There was a chill in the air and the sea front was fairly free of people also.

 

 

 

 

We have been immensely impressed with the infrastructure in Spain – be it the roads, railways or cycleways.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner was a BBQ with some huge chicken and steak (we think) kebabs. Within 10 minutes of firing up the Weber, the storm clouds gathered and the heavens opened and the skies were filled with thunder and lightening.

Nothing, however was destined to deny the intrepid travellers their well earned meat feast.

Perfect opportunity to update the diaries and work on the new WordPress blog.

Had a short break from the computer and the rain around lunchtime which gave the chance to sort out some chores including cleaning the car. This site is 5*s all the way and even has its own car jet wash area. Nice.

Begur is un-forgiving in terms of its mountainous terrain and narrow roads so, being predominantly leisure cyclists we are tending to load up the bikes, drive nearby and explore. It takes forever to get ready and with the bikes atop of the Sorento, a small step ladder is required to get them there.

We drove to Torroella de Montgri and parked up at the Carefour Express near to the road bridge over the river Ter. Away from the very large cities and at this time of year, parking is easy and cheap in Spain. There doesn’t appear to be the same petty attitude to ripping of the motorist that exists in blighty.

We tracked along the northern bank of the Ter and kept cycling until we hit the beach. Kilometer after kilometer of beautiful sand, close to deserted. We sat on the rocks and enjoyed a picnic before heading on to l’Estartit which is a few more kilometres further up

the coast and the journey is primarily on tracks until reaching the town itself where there is a beautiful “board walk” (although in this case more accurately “concrete walk”!) running the entire length of the town and on to the harbour.

Refreshments were required at a local café and then the return back to Torroella de Montgri. All told a pleasurable 25km, mostly on the level which is just how we like it.

Today is our anniversary. Moe got to choose the itinary, just like most days!

The botanical gardens at Cap Roig are a short drive away and we spent several hours wandering around probably the most important and beautiful botanic gardens in the Mediterranean.

The cactus garden was incredible.

In the evening we walked into Begur (not the easiest of walks – it’s 5km round trip and very hilly).

 

 

 

Early evening and a street party was in full swing with copious amounts of cava being handed out to the (mainly) locals and tourists. Celebrating the refurbishment of the local butchers shop although the Spanish don’t need to much of an excuse to bring out the cava…

Dinner was at Casa La Juanita which specialises in baked fish. White sea bass for me and hake for Moe. Very good and reasonably priced but I don’t think I ever really got the hang of properly dealing with the bones on a whole fish. The proprietor was really helpful, in trying to show me the correct technique…

Dull and a shower in the morning so not quite the hot weather we were hoping for. Anyhow, provisions were running low so we took advantage of the poor weather and had a shopping trip to Palafrugell.

Begur castle overlooking the medieval village was the afternoon’s agenda. By now we had some sunny periods and the sun is hot now but just isn’t visible quite enough. And at the summit where the castle is located, the wind still has a nasty chill to it.

Fortunately it was dull and grey today because this was just like old times, when work was 7 days a week and holidays often allowed maybe a normal weekend of relaxation. Sometimes. The entire day spent working around the problems caused by BT the previous day.