Cycle trip day 12: crossing into France
Written by Kat
We've made it to France! After Sitges we followed the coast through Barcelona but made a change to our planned route to stay in Girona, stopping at Figueres on the way. This gave us a chance to visit the incredible Dali gallery/museum/theatre which did not disappoint.
Girona was our stop for the night after Figueres. It's a lovely city and we enjoyed exploring the city walls and historic centre. It's also a massive hub for cyclists with fancy mountain bike shops on every corner, very different from our cycling. All the bikes are super lightweight, no-one is carrying luggage and their gear is 10 times more expensive than ours. It's a different world!
Going over the Pyrenees
From Girona we carried on to the Spanish border, passing through the foothills of the Pyrenees. The border town on the Spanish side was wild - the biggest truck stops we'd ever seen and wall-to-wall duty-free style hypermarkets full of French customers stocking up on products that are cheaper in Spain. It's a shame the aircon in our room was broken and we had to sleep with the window open because this was the noisiest place we've stayed so far.
Crossing the non-border was slightly surreal, passing through unused customs booths. We quickly left the busy highway and followed a totally empty country road which gave us fantastic views of the historic forts on both sides of the pass and huge snowy peaks of the Pyrenees to the west.
Canals, coast and Catalan
We arrived in Perpignan for our second work/rest day in a gorgeous little apartment in the centre of town (unfortunately we weren't allowed to bring the bikes inside the apartment so they lived on the landing across the front door and we had to step over them each time we went out).
We're trying to remember our very rusty French, but a surprising number of people speak Spanish as well as Catalan, which is the main identity of this region. Bike paths are much better signed and maintained, and the cycling has been an absolute joy. From Perpignan we followed an almost entirely traffic free route along rivers down to the coast and then along a branch of the Canal du Midi called Canal de la Robine. We're now in Beziers and have 5 more cycling days before our next work/rest stop in Cannes.