Carcassonne to Girona

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Carcassonne to Girona





Espagne 2012

June 10, 2012

We are on a train heading south where the promise of warmer and sunnier weather awaits. We spent two days in Carcassonne and departed by train this morning with our ultimate destination being Girona where we plan to spend one night. It looks like we will forego our conquering of the Pyrenees till another time. The weather is unusually cold in the Languedoc Roussillon (highs in the low 20’s instead of high 20’s) area and with rain forecast for the next few days on the route through the Pyrenees with highs around 14 or 15, we are going to try our luck south of Barcelona where it is warmer and sunnier.

The train network in both Spain and France is exceptional, and although you can’t take an unpackaged bicycle on the super fast trains, you can transport them for free on the others without packaging them. The only problem with travelling with bikes on the trains is that often the track (voie) is located a few rails from the station, requiring you to carry your bikes etc. down stairs under the rails and then upstairs to the appropriate voie. The only elevator that we saw was in Barcelona, so I have no idea how people in wheelchairs manage.

We had another great ride (80 km) yesterday through the vineyards and hills of the Laguedoc Roussillon and finishing up along the Canal de Midi for the last 30km. Sunny for the most part and very pleasant temperature for cycling. The roads were very lightly travelled and the route along the canal is restricted to bicycles and pedestrians. We saw many self bargers in squat power boats making their way along the canal at a very slow pace. Lots of waiting for locks to fill and empty. I think I would tire of it pretty quickly. Cycling is much faster and offers more options.

We have been using Trip Advisor to search out restaurants and have had pretty good success. We found a little 20 seater gem called Le Trevalou where we ate dinner for the two nights we were in Carcassonne. I had their Suggestion de Chef the first night which was roast pork rib and absolutely perfect along with a great bottle of red from the Corbieres region (24.5 euros). Debbie had seared tuna and it was a ten as well. Total bill including tip 70 Euros. The next night I tried the Cassoulet de Maison and a bottle of red from the Minervois region…incroyable…total bill 60 euros.

So far the French food we have had has been superior to the Spanish, more likely because of going to inferior restaurants in Spain, something which we plan to change in the next week.

Girona to Tarragona

Had a great night in Girona, walked around the entire old fortifiied town on a wall that was a 100 feet high in places affording great views of the city. Met a bunch of roadies from calgary who were there for a week of cycling. Hd dinner in a wonderful little Basque restaurant with excellent pintxos, a delicious lamb stew and of course a bottle of teh local priorat. total cost 50euros.

Hopped a train to Tarragona today nad just arrived a few hours ago and settled in a nice little hotel outside of the city a bit. I am sitting on our terrace looking out at the blue Mediterranean. Went for a walk on the beach and the rocky bluffs only to discover the beach was clothing optional and the rocky bluffs were populated with nothing but men who seemed to be there for something more than a suntan and excercise of teh normal kind. Very relieved to have Debbie by my side or should I say behind me. Regardless, a beautiful beach and loads of room for everyone. Temperature reached over 30 today, and the weather looks great for the next few days.

Getting on and off the trains today was an adventurer as we had several steps to navigate to get into the cars. The first train was a Rodalies and didn't have a designated area for bikes so we squeezed into one of teh cars and leaned our bikes against other peole's lugggage. Had to stand for about half an hour because of the number of people.

The second train was a Media Distancia which has a designated car for bikes but even more stairs to push, pull, lift and drag your fully laden bikes up. We just about missed this train because there was no indication of which one was going to Tarragona. Luckily I asked someone "Tarragona?" when she answered si, we ran to the end of the train where the bicycle car was and scrambled aboard. This train was much nicer and faster and took us 100kms south to where we are basking in the sunshine today.

Tomorrow we plan on making up for the lack of cycling over the last two days. There is the priorat wine region, and the penedes where much of the Spanish cava is made, along with many medeival villages and ruins in and around the city.

We are heading off now into town to look for a locals' restaurant.

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