On and Off the Bikes on The Costa Brava and Costa Daurada

Spain is definitely not a cycling-friendly country, at least for cycle
tourists. Cycling here has proven to be as difficult as described in
other trip blogs. So we've ridden some and then hopped on trains where
the riding was too difficult. The good news is that taking the bikes on
regional trains has been easy and free, except we were scolded once about
the length of the tandem. Also, for the most part drivers of both cars
and trucks have been quite courteous and allowed plenty of space for us.
The not-so-good part has been the difficulty of finding reasonable routes.

Although we had planned to cycle the French coast of Rousillon, a storm
in the Mediterranean was making the normally windy coast a real test of
our ability to balance heavily loaded bikes in gusts of up to 75 kph. The
French train agents claimed to know nothing about putting cycles on
Spanish trains, so we took a French train just across the border to
Portbou in Spain, went through a passport check, bought the next tickets,
and loaded the bikes on the train to Girona.
Girona was warm, at least for the first few days, and we stayed in a very
cycle-friendly lodging, the Hotel Historic, in the old center of town.
Seems that Team Discovery used to train in the area around Girona. We
enjoyed the beautiful city with narrow winding streets and the outside
cafes. After two days, we rode a Via Verde, aka "rails-to-trails" in the
U.S., down to San Feliu de Guixol, a small resort and fishing village.
The route was well-marked and graded through farmland and nice coastal
forest.

We had intended to ride south along the Costa Brava. Alas, there was the
wind and cold again, coupled with lack of reasonable cycling routes, as
we would have ended up on the National Highway system. So, the bikes went
on a bus back to Girona and then on a train to Tarragona.
We spent two days in Tarragona viewing the old Roman sights, and then
took a day ride to the Roman aqueduct and north to a beach. Again,
drivers were polite but there are no provisions for cycling, so the roads
and particularly the roundabouts can be hair-raising.

From Tarragona we rode south through an intensely industrial area,
camping one night in an over-priced campground near an adventure park,
noisy with trucks, and very cold. Then headed south again, making our way
through concrete jungles of high rise apartments that are essentially
ghost towns this time of year. Sometimes we could find small streets to
ride. However we also ended up riding N340. (Spain has A roads, or
Autopistas, which are mostly toll roads. So much of the traffic,
including commercial trucks, take the smaller N, or National, roads. They
have wide shoulders, but it was noisy, you're breathing a lot of exhaust,
and even though the traffic moved over for us, it was bit scary.)

We ended up that night short of our planned stop, but found a nice
campground right on the beach in Hospitalet les Enfants. The next day's
ride would have taken us back on the N340, past a nuclear power plant and
other large chemical plants. So, back on the train to Benicassim, another
tourist town on the beach with multiple highrise apartment buildings, and
most of the shops closed for the season. There were several campgrounds
open with many Dutch, German, and British caravanners, so there were some
grocery stores etc open. The caravanners were friendly, and Erich was
able to play bocce ball and otherwise hobnob with someone besides his
parents. We also took a nice day ride, described in a separate posting.

From Benicassim south there is a good cycle path as far as Castellon. We
then picked our way along the coast on side roads and through parking
lots of more concrete jungle, again falling short of our planned
destination. It was Thanksgiving Day, so we found a small hotel right on
the beach in Moncofa, had paella for dinner (no, it didn't come with
cranberry sauce and stuffing, but the owner gave us some tangerines from
his garden.)

There did not look to be a reasonable route for biking into Valencia, so
we found the train station in Moncofa which was over the highway, through
an orange grove, in a deserted building along the tracks, and the train
actually stopped for us. On to Valencia and beyond.

So that's our first two weeks in Spain, on and off our bicycles.

Full Nickel Goes Mountain Climbing

Much to my surprise, and pleasure I might add, Stacey decided we needed
to ride up into the mountains the other day. The day was another warm,
sunny Spanish winter day.

We rode from the beach in Benicassim on the Costa Alzahar of Spain to the
El Desierto de las Palmas natural park, an area of historical
significance in Catalonia because of the religious and geographic
importance of the area. The major attraction is a late 17th century
Carmelite monastery in the mountains.

The climb was 11km long with 1350ft of elevation gain and a very
different sort of climb than the ones I did with Kevin back in October.
This one started with a long grade passing a beautiful old hacienda, had
six or seven short switchbacks in the middle followed by another long
grade along a ridge top and just below the summit ridge. Very few trees,
mostly scrub similar to the chaparal in Southern California, some nice
rock outcroppings and even a few names painted on the road. Remove the
paint on the road and one could almost be convinced they were riding in
the hills above Santa Barbara, California.

Unfortunately the new monastery was closed for the midday siesta and the
old, 14th century, abbey, just a few walls still standing, was gated off.
Some of the old chaples from a pilgramage route to the abbey were still
present,as were the terraces and water works. Fortunately from above the
old abbey we had a sweeping panaroma and a nice picnic lunch in the sun.
From our vantage point we could see almost all of the climb and all the
way to the seemingly ever present highrises gaurding the coast.

Perhaps the best part of th ride was being away from the overdeveloped
coast and into an area that may be more typical of Spain away from the
coast. As warm as it was sitting there in the sun at the top we still had
to put on clothes for the descent back to the beach. What took us an hour
to go up we descended in less than 20 minutes.

This was Erich's and my first long climb on our Rodriguez Nickel and I
can confidently state that the Nickel rides equally well as a single and
a tandem.

Best of Germany

Erich
1.) Ferrari Convoy in Dinklesbuhl
2.) Parade Grounds In Nurnburg
3.) Rothenburg Walls
4.) Ferris Wheel Over Lake Konstanz
5.) Glockenspiel In Munich
Best day of riding: The Rhine from Breisach to Kehl
Favorite Food: Spaetzle with cheese
Favorite campground: Kehl

Stacey
1.) Seeing the Alps from Lake Konstanz
2.) Trauben, or new wine, and the wine festival
3.) Seeing Laucheim, where my Grandmother was born
4.) The Residenz in Wurtzberg
5.) The parade grounds and Dokumentation Center in Nurnberg
Best day of riding: Friedrichshaven to Meersberg along Lake Konstanz
Favorite food: Nurnberg sausages
Favorite campground: Stein am Rhein, Switzerland!

Thomas
1.) Rothenburg am Tauber
2.) Konig Ludwig Kanal
3.) Apfel Strudel at Weltenburg Abbey
4.) Bike Paths through the Forests
5.) Climb to Schauisland in the Black forest
Best day of riding: Konig Ludwig Canal to Nurnburg
Favorite food: Pork with the crust still on and Knoedel
Favorite campground: Wurzburg Canoe Club

Erich Was at The Pont du Gard

For those of you who want an image to go with the poem and couldn't solve the riddle on your own. Here's Erich at the Pont du Gard in Provence.

Where Was Erich Now?

I was at a famous sight a few days ago and I made a poem with some hints.

In times of old
From ridge to ridge

Over water
There went a bridge

Water low
Water high

Twelve Arches
In the Provence sky

(and to my grandfather the GPS coordinates are: 43 56.85N, 4 32.1E)

And for those who get it right either good knowledge or good searching.

Toulouse to the Mediterranean

We've finally made it to the promised sunshine and longer days of the
Mediterranean. The good news is that the days are definitely more sunny
and longer - the sun is over horizon well before 8am and doesn't set
until almost 5:30pm. The bad news is that the winds are keeping the
temperatures down. But, hey, two out of three works for me.

Seems like along time ago that we rode out of Toulouse along the Canal du
Midi but the beauty of the ride is still quite sharp in my mind. The
first 50km was paved, beautiful and easy riding. Huge grey Sycamore trees
lined the banks their branches entwining over the canal creating a tunnel
of fall color for us to ride through. The day was foggy and cool. On the
way out of Toulouse we passed just about every type barge imaginable.
Plain old shipping barges, two floor restaurant barges, discotech barges,
spa barges, old shipping barges converted into expensive looking house
barges. At the Col de Naurouze, the high point of the Canal u Midi, just
after the paved portion of the canal ended we left the canal and rode
regular roads without much traffic into Castlenaudry for the night.
Castelnaudry is the home of the famous dish, Cassoulet, which we didn't
try until the next night. The hot beans and meat were great after being
in a cold wind most of the day.

On our way out of Castlenaudry we rode down to the canal to see the Grand
Basin and get a picture back toward town. The low grey clouds did nothing
to help the image but the view was still nice. From Castlenaudry to
Carcassonne the canal was no less beautiful but the surface was much worse.
We rode paved bicycle track, hard packed gravel, dirt road, dirt single
track and everything in between. Lots of roots, rocks and ruts to
navigate around fortunately the beauty of the canal easily made up for
the tough riding (I wouldn't recommend trying this for your first bicycle
tour. Know that you are going to be riding mostly unpaved and be ready
for some rough riding and you'll be fine. We rode it on 1.25 inch tires
and didn't suffer from any flats). On the outskirts of Caracssonne we
stopped to get our bearings and picked up a motorscooter escort to the
doorstep of the Tourist Information. We spent the next day touring the
Medieval city which Erich has previously described.

From there we took a slight detour away from the canal and up into the
Alaric mountains and Lagrasse, "one of France's most beautiful villages"
according to signs at the entrance to the city. The ride to Lagrasse was
hilly and the terrain and vegetation was very reminisent of Southern
California. It certainly was a nice small village with an old Abbey that
was in the process of being restored.

The next morning in Lagrasse the winds had increased in velocity and we
were a bit nervous about riding in them. Faced with few better
alternatives we decided to head out into the winds and see how the riding
was. Most of the day was spent running down wind, the traffic was
extremely light and we managed to soldier through the few strong side
gusts. We even had the energy for a side trip to the Fontfroide Abbey
that made us feel as if we were in Southern California. Shortly after
leaving the abbey our road merged into a very busy one. We managed to
find a dirt road that we followed only to find ourselves on an even
busier highway. Fortunately we only had to ride it for 100m before we
turned of it and headed into town on a bike path.

From Narbonne to Gruissan and the Mediterranean we again had a down wind
run. At one point Erich and I were being pushed by the winds at 34kmh. We
had reached the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately it turned out be a
windsurfing hotspot.

Stacey composed the following (bad) limerick while fighting a headwind
back to Narbonne:
In a wind called the Tramontane
They blew to Gruissan down a lane
Where they stayed by the sea
In apartment for three
Until they left for Spain.

For those of you that are interested the daily distances are:
Toulouse to Castlenaudry 65km
Castlenaudry to Caracassonne 46km
Caracassonne to Lagrasse 42km
Lagrasse to Narbonne 49km
Narbonne to Gruissan 19km

The Legendary Carcasonne Castle

After two days of riding down the Canal du Midi we were riding across the
bridge to our hotel in Carcassonne when we looked around and then and
there we saw an immensely huge castle looming up on the hill in front of
us and I about fell of the back of my bike in shock. It was just like all
of the paintings of castles with the towers and the walls with bow slots.
The next day we went into it. For the first part it looked like any old
European city until we got to the end of the street when again we see the
huge towering walls and I'm reminded we are in a castle. At 2:45pm we go
to the inner castle to take a tour around the walls. It was amazing and
there were holes in the walls where they could have dropped their stones
or explosives or what ever they had down on the enemy. After that we went
on a tour of the inside of the inner castle and walked around more of the
ramprts. I will never forget that day in the Castle of Carcassonne.

The Story
The Franks and The Saracens were fighting a very bloody battle with the
Franks laying seige to The Saracens who were in the Carcassonne Castle.
They were one week into the battle and the Saracens were down to
starvation and the woman leader of the Saracens, Carcas, had the people
of the town sweep up the last of the corn and stuff it down a pig. She
then had them throw the pig out at the enemy who then thought that if the
people in the castle had been under seige for 1 week and were still
feeding the pigs corn that it would take weeks to take over the castle.
The Franks then started retreating. The Saracens then invited the head
honcho of the Franks in to have a feast and then the two leaders married
and Carcas, the leader of the Saracens, rang the town bells and every one
shouted Carcas rings which translates to Carcassonne in French, which is
the legend of how the city got its name.

Thats it for now folks.
Erich