Blogs from Perpignan, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Europe

Our next overnight stop was a small out of town aire in the tiny village of Bram . It was a decent site with automatic barries , a dump, free water, a fishing lake and was very quiet . We shared our night stop with two others. It had no infrastructure to speak of and we were only using it as a nightstop. Leaving the site we headed off to the town of Elne or Elna depending if you used French or the local dialect . We had planned a night stop on a camping car site . We had topped up the card before leaving home so it was only a case of finding the site, putting the card in the machine and it should let us in . We had heard some poor reports ... read more

I recently had the most amazing experience at the Eastern Pyrénées Ride near the village Opoul Perillos. It was the most refreshing trip I have ever had, I surely will never forget any single moment spent up on that trail. I was lucky enough to get the booking early summer, in June so the temperatures were really cool and allowed for long ridding hours on the trail. Also, since it was summer I managed to squeeze in some swimming in between the ridding sessions. One advantage I had was that someone told me to prepare myself for a real difficult time as the Eastern Pyrénées Ride terrain is a bit challenging. So I prepared in advance by doing some intense physicals and cardio in the gym. I arrived at the Catalonia airport late Thursday afternoon and ... read more

Sorry, been without internet access for a while! Will get up to date over the next few days... From Carcassone we did a stop at Torreilles Plague, about 10k down from old Port Leucate then went on to Leucate , It was on a lovely beach, not at all crowded, and in the evening had a lovely meal at a beach side restaurant. The campsite left a bit to be desired though, very small pitches, but it was a very enjoyable stay.... read more

Geo: 42.7016, 2.89415 GUN23 Günlerden PAZAR Sabah erkenden uyandım.. Çok rüzgarlı bir gece geçirdik ..dün akşam üstü başladı.. Sordum .....meşhur "Mistral" rüzgarı buymuş.. Bazılarına göre, bir kısım insanı deli ediyormuş.. İfadeye göre üç gün sürer ve kesermiş … Eğer devam ederse bir 3 gün daha esermiş.. Sizin anlayacağınız potları üçlük… Dün gece eski patronum Müfit rüyama girdi.. Bir mesaj çektim .. Bu arada büyük kızım bir aktivist ve memleketi kurtarmak üzere, taa Hasankeyf ten Ankara ya yürüyor, bir takım eylemcilerle.. Haber geldi gezisi bitmiş.. Ankara'ya sokmamışlar.. Onlar da gerekli izni almamışlar …falan filan… Severim böyle planlı programlı işleri… Sen, Hasankeyf'ten Ankara'ya yürüyeceksin fakat kente girmek için gerekli izinleri almıyacaksın... No comment !!! Bugünkü planımız Perpignan ve Narbonne…PHOTO_I... read more

In Perpignan to be exact. Actually in North Perpignan to be exacter. To be exactest I am in the Ibis hotel in the middle of a hotel district, which has all the charm of a parking lot really. Arrived just after half seven after another 8 hours of cycling (115 miles) in 30+ degrees, saying my final farewell to the Pyrenees with another couple of climbs. Andorra is genuinely just one long hill, topping out at 2,400m with an amazing 30km descent into Ax les Thermes once you're over the French border. My triumphant 100km descent into Perpignan didn't quite pan out as expected, partly because I didn't pay enough attention to the profile of the map beforehand, but primarily due to a strengthening easterly breeze. In the end I was struggling to keep pace with ... read more