events

I stopped to buy some nectarines and decided also to eat in the small restaurant nearby.

The chef's mother was spanish so I chatted to her, which, of course, then completely messed up my French when I came to talk to the waiter.

Finally, and I can't remember why, probably the bike, I got into conversation with a forester, Raphael, though he spoke to me in Catalan largely or in French but with a strong Catalan accent.

I arranged that if he saw me the following morning struggling up to Las Illas, where he sometimes worked, he'd stop his van and give me a lift.  In fact someone beeped at me just as I was arriving at Maureillas and it turned out to be him saying hello.

The food, by the way, was good, though it cost me 14€, a bit expensive for what it was.

I got the tent up.  I had originally thought I'd put it up in a nice shady spot next to another tent which had a dog, which wouldn't stop barking.  So, I went over to ask the owner if it might help if I greeted the dog, he thought it would.  However, the dog made it clear that if I came any closer he was going to eat me, no doubt about it.  So, I chose this quiet spot where I had no neighbours at all, and I had a fence to which I could fasten the bike.

Chores done I wondered into town since the warden wasn't around to pay.  It was the towns saint day and there was a band playing and people were dancing sardanas. Click to see a short video of that. By the way it can take a little while to load so don't be surprised if you see a blank black square for a while.

At 6.00pm I wondered back up to the campsite since that was the time the guardian was meant to show up.  However, he, Laurence, didn't show up until 6.45.  He turned out to be a really nice guy, put all my stuff on to charge and then we ended up in conversation.  He was ex-army and finding the transition from a job that gave him lots of responsibility to being a campsite guardian a bit difficult.

If you click on this picture there is a different view back down into the campsite.

Laurence took the time, when his shift was over, to show me a track up into the woods where there was this view point looking back down over the valley.  Such a lovely area.

Mon, 25th July. Maureillas Las Illas to Maçanet de Cabreny's: 25km, avg 7.3km/hr, max 58km/hr

So, the big day, the climb over into Spain.  It takes a couple of hours for me to cross over if I remember correctly.

It's a reasonably nice day and the first part of the ascent is straightforward, though it's a climb.  I've done this bit before so I know that it's going to go on and on, and that that bit of sky through that valley isn't the pass into Spain, it's much farther than that.