Day twenty four

 

A gloomy wet view from my hotel window.

I awake to a gloomy, grey, wet day. Traffic rushes past the hotel with lights on and the Pyrenees are hidden by cloud. It's not how I imagined crossing into Spain would be. I slept well, although my app says otherwise. I would take a rest day but cannot stay in a hotel for another night, so eventually I will have to venture out. There is no breakfast served here and it seems all hotel restaurants in France are closed due to Covid, yet there are plenty of normal restaurants open. Just the usual continuing confusion over Covid restrictions. 

I leave the hotel around 09:30 and return the way I had come last night, to the outskirts of Perpignan, as ahead there is little chance of finding any breakfast soon. I shop at an Intermarche where the bike is sheltered and I can eat my breakfast in relative peace and out of the rain. The rain looks like it's in for the day so I don my blue plastic rain-wear and head out into the weather. An hour after leaving the hotel I ride passed it again but at least now I am on my way again.

Rain and spray as traffic roars past. 

The first stretch is a major road with a continuous procession of heavy traffic sending spray over me as the rain beats down. At least there was a hard shoulder for the most part allowing me to ride safely. Eventually I am taken off the road onto the EV8 again and a wonderful route that climbs and curves its way through a wilderness of bird calls that I have never heard before. The weather begins to improve too and the Pyrenees are visible at last.

I stop for a short pee break on the EV8 and enjoy the sound of the birds calls after the raucous traffic noise. 

In Le Pertus I seem to have reached today's summit after a grueling climb and the weather changes dramatically for the better. I stop in the village at a restaurant and have an excellent 'Salmon a la plancha', which costs a mere 10 euros. I pass through customs afterwards with no checks but it seems those entering France don't have it so easy as a long queue of traffic waits.

The French/Spanish border which I rode through unchecked.

I am headed for a specific campsite that I chose last night and after Le Pertus it is mostly a fast downhill stretch to reach it. 2km before the campsite I am guided by Google maps off the main road onto a non existent track. I carry on and a few hundred meters later I am told to turn left again. There is nothing else in sight but this track (see photo below) which is clearly what was meant. I try it anyway despite it looking very steep and rough as I am so close to the campsite. Then I reach a padlocked chain barring my way. I do a U-turn and decide to return to the main road and head for Figueres. Clearly there must be a road somewhere to the campsite. Eventually I do find the road that winds its way uphill to the campsite and just as dark storm clouds begin to gather. It starts raining but I reach the shelter of the campsite before getting too soaked again.