This time last year: May 21st, 2007 Monday 10:00pm.
Cycle Europe Day 5: Gerona - Perpignan, 61.3 mi.
Cycle Europe Day 6: Perpignan - Beziers, 58.23 mi.
Missed yesterday because I had a good chat with Dean, booked accommodation at Beziers for tonight and planned today’s route. Too late to write after all these.
Anyways, let’s start with what I could remember from yesterday. Breakfast at Gerona, old town Gerona, was a buffet. Cereal, muffins, bisgedi, ciabatta, cinnamon roll (like ham cheen pheng only). Quite a lot in the end. A large breakfast like that was necessary to conquer the Pyrenees!!!
Today’s ride (yesterday: Gerona - Perpignan) reminded me of the driving trip from California to Camas, Washington. Getting to Figueres was relatively uneventful. Right until McDonald’s showed up at 25 miles. Perfect! Was starving. It was more downhill from Gerona to Figueres, which was worrying because it meant that I might be starting from bottom up the whole 290 metres that I saw on a Michelin map at Bayswater.
After Figueres, it really looked like some Mexican countryside. It wasn’t as big a climb as I thought it would be but it was still something. There were a lot of bordering towns near the borderless boundary. Missed the “1 km to Franca” sign thinking that there would be one “0 km” one but there wasn’t. Crossing the border was unpleasant. Too many cars up a hill climb. Touristy almost for no reason. Just shopping. Here’s where I used my one bike-push for the day.
Then came the peak! And it was some downhill ride! Wow. Could have gone really fast but the road was too narrow and winds were too strong. Pictures of Pyrenees to mark my climb was vital proof. There were still some minor climbs after that to get to Perpignan but it was fun overall. Really felt like going through the forest reserve on the way to Oregon. Zoom!!!
Found the hostel. Beautiful specky reception girl. Casino for some groceries, kebab shop for ‘American Steak’, sat and chat with Dean, who was a biker doing a European trip albeit a mini one compared to mine. Diagonal across France, Switzerland, Millau for that cool long bridge that we always see on Top Gear. Millau is a bit out of the way so I considered it as not viable.
On to today, Day 6. Breakfast was limited to only french loaf and cereal, not worth my €3.50. Started to rain a bit. But I could feel my legs getting weary early on. Saddle sore also kicked in quite fast. Route was mostly, almost exclusively N9. Long and straight. Only characterised by olive trees left and right all along the way. Stopped for some uncooked ham sandwich which was really salty. Girl also advised against buying sparkling water since she ran out of still ones. Journey was feeling very long, too many days in a row. More uphills and felt that there were less downhills, not enough. Finally, finally, finally got to the hotel.
Room was up on the 2nd floor, 3 flights of stairs. Single private room, messed the place up real quick as I unpacked. Strange lock and door, wallpaper coming off, hotel wasn’t easy to find. Plusses include privacy, close to town centre, friendly reception. One night will do though. Moving to Montpellier tomorrow.
Managed to ‘wash’ my cycling clothes to wear for a couple of days more before a major laundry for cycling pants and Japanese workshop jacket.
Tidur… spent a lot today. French McDonald’s more expensive than Spanish McDonald’s by €0.50.
There was this woman who was surprised by my ‘gentlemanly’ gesture of opening the door for her. She even smiled at be as I left after that. Hmm… and all French women are beautiful, man! La Belle…
And another thing. Dropped my satellite navigator on the road after a bump. Bag was open, I was looking at it to follow directions. Bump before a bridge, could have fallen of it into the marsh but didn’t. Cracked the display a little and scratched the back casing. Sigh… nevermind. Funny how I managed to stay on my bike!
Day 5 Accounts
Lunch €4.50 McDonald’s
Hostel €15.10 Perpignan
Groceries €3.12
Dinner €4.50 American Steak?
Internet €1.00
Total €28.22Day 6 Accounts
Lunch €3.50
Water €0.17
Hotel €23.35 Beziers
Dinner €5.80 McDonald’s
Internet €1.50
Total €34.32