Day twenty three

 

 

The village square where I almost took a siesta on a wooden bench.

Another night battling with mosquitoes and also tiny ants invading my food bags, I awake less than refreshed at 07:00. The high humidity and heat has brought these critters out and they mean business. I even manage to slash my nose with my thumb nail trying to swot one mosquito. Blood dripped onto the ground sheet, the mosquito got away of course and probably invited its mates over for a party. It only goes to show you should always keep cool and never get angry. I chat with my French neighbour, Pat, an architect and adventurer who has traveled all over. He recommended the Girovelo app., which looked like a good compromise between Maps.me and Komoot, so when I find it I will give it a go.

I had dreamed of rice crispies or cornflakes with cold fresh milk for breakfast, something I have not had for decades, so I travel 2km to Lidl to buy my fare. I spent at least half an hour looking for milk and soon realised they don't sell fresh milk in Lidl in France. When I ask an employee I am guided to the long-life section. I find two small bottles of demi-leche (Spanish for cream I think) but take it for half fat milk. I also take with me a variety pack of mini cereals and only realise my mistake as the thick cream oozes out onto the meager cereals. I water it down but it was needless to say a huge disappointment. 

I have a good start today anyway, if rather late (12:00) due to my shopping trip. I soon pick up the EV8, which takes me much of the way on an excellent surface. This is the Mediterranean coastal cycle route and much of it is still under development. The heat however is murder and there is little shade these days as many communities have cut back the foliage on trees, I assume to reduce the risk of wild fires. I have already seen one fire with about six fire engines surrounding blackened charred hay bales on a farm and today I passed another area which must have had a small wild fire quite recently.

In the afternoon I find a perfect place to rest and check on where I might stay the night. The small village, like many in this area, is already very Spanish looking and I note that the Catalonians consider this part of France to be northern Catalonia. The small square is like an air conditioned room, a cool sea breeze sweeps in filtering through the trees and the thick foliage provides perfect shade. I could easily have gone to sleep on the bench and it did seriously cross my mind. When I leave I can hardly believe how hot the sun is and what a difference those few trees had made.

In the end I opt for a cheap hotel as I desperately need a decent night's sleep and could really also do with a rest day. However the last campsites have been too expensive and not places I would want to linger long in. I choose Google maps to guide me to the hotel, which is still 10km away and up 'moderate hills'. It is another difficult excursion. I make the mistake of taking a short cut down a grassy track parallel to the road thinking I would be able to cross over to the road at some point. However I come to a dead end wilderness and a drainage ditch between the track and road is too steep and deep for me to push the full weight of the bike over it. I am forced to ride back up to the round-a-bout I had bypassed. Another kilometer of wasted time and effort. Then Google maps confuses me further and I end up going back and forth for an hour trying to follow the blue arrow on the screen, which is my position and this keeps vanishing off the screen. Anyway I do find the hotel and will be thankful for a decent shower and bed.

I am south of Perpignan now and will hopefully cross the border into Spain tomorrow. There will be mountains to cross and the Pyrenees were faintly visible today but the hazy atmosphere meant a photo would not have done them justice.