Week 4

Saturday, 3 June

Camping Le Mediterranee Plage, Rest day(s).

This place is really nice, were 30m from a very nice and long beach. A bit too cold for a swim but its nice just to stroll around and collect seashells.
Most of the campers are from Germany a few Dutch and even fewer English.
After all the campsites we've have been to this is one of the better ones. A good place to eat drink and just chill.
After a nice restful night, we have decide for the rest of the tour we will find a good campground and use it as a base camp and do day rides to check out the area.
I knew it from before we started that as soon as we see the water we wont be going back into the hills. And if we had any other ideas, the weather we've had almost the whole tour just convinced us to do so.
We'll hang here for a couple more days check out Canal du Midi and Bezier.
Get some information about the trains from Bezier to just over the border into Spain and see from there.

The very nice camping at Le Mediterranee Plage, we recommend this place for all the tired travelers passing through here. Click on the link above for more information.

Sunday, 4 June

Camping - Bezier - Camping
39 kms 3 hours Av. 13.3 Total 1504 kms

Another lazy day today, got up around 07:00 and started for Bezier around 08:00.
Very nice and peaceful ride along the Canal du Midi. We couldn't figure our what was so special about this canal we got better ones back home. A lot of boats riding on it though and we could imagine what it would be like in the summer, one boat behind the other.
In Bezier we naturally got a bit lost but found our way to the famous nine locks that go up about 100m or so. Again not so special just many locks, one behind the other that raise the canal boats. One nice thing that we saw was the canal went over the river Ord on a bridge, that was something to see, a boat going over a river on a bridge, lol looked very strange.
We asked for information about trains and could only get tickets to Portbou, just over the border into Spain, from there the ticket clerk said we would have to get other tickets for the Spanish trains. When we got back to the camping we saw on the news that tomorrow the winds will be gusting at over 90kph, so we had made a good decision to get the tickets. As nice as this camping is we are getting tired of sitting around and doing nothing.
We had another milestone today we got over the 1500kms mark, we felt proud and treated ourselves to a dinner out and lots of drink.

        
Left to Right:
1- Posing next to the Canal du Midi.
2- Another milestone 1500kms hip hip hurrah!
3- Canal boat going over the canal bridge that's over the Orb river.
4- View of the canal with the Orb river bellow.

Monday, 5 June

Camping Mediterranee Plage to Mataro, Spain.
32 kms 2 hours 15 min. Av. 14.3 Total 1536 kms.

We got up very early around 04:00 and got under way by 05:40. It was still dark out and by the time we were leaving the campsite it was just getting light. We got to the train station very quickly and had to wait for the train a bit.
When it did came the conductor came out and said something in French and pointed to a picture of a bike in a box/bag on the side of the train, I said no way the bike is going in, I was told it can and I bought the tickets, he just shrugged and walked off.
We had to fight a bit to get the bikes in between the carriages and had to stand there for the whole trip holding the bikes. That didn't go down well I would expect something like that in Greece not France, but then again what can one do.
We got to Portbou and went through passport control (yes passport control inside Europe).
I went to an English speaking ticket clerk and got tickets to Mataro.
I noticed many Americans here mostly students. Anyway when the train arrived it was new had plenty of space for the bikes in the middle of the car or all places and everyone spoke English when we had a question, what a difference. We had to change trains half way but no problem everyone was helpful even helping load and unload the bikes.
The French could learn something from their neighbors.
We got on a very busy dual carriageway N II (bikes aloud here), and made our way to the most expensive and dirty ANWB promoted campsite so far. Between it and the sea lay the very busy road and the train tracks.
There wasn't any other camping further down the road and we didn't want to double back 10/15kms so we stayed for the night. Just in front of us was a young couple that came later on and started drinking vodka and orange juice and smoking hash, later on in the evening came what seemed to be the dealer and a couple of his mates and they partied all night.
On the brighter side we saw another lone cyclist that started to pitch his tent so I went over and offered the only stone around to help with his tent pegs.
After we all settled down I invited Kim Jae Myeong (not sure of the spelling) over for a couple of beers and we found out that he just graduated from a South Korean U. and got his degree to become a lawyer. So to celebrate he took a 4 month tour of Europe, now that's a real nice way to celebrate. He flew in to Amsterdam cycled through France to the Atlantic ocean south through the Perenies to Andora, stopped to visit Barcelona and now was going to Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, than North through Germany and finally back to Amsterdam to fly home. We hope to stay in touch he seemed such a nice and interesting fellow.
The plan for tomorrow is we cycle to Barcelona check it out a bit get some information about camping in the area and get out.
We plan to find a good base camp so we could check out the area.

Having a cold one with Kim. OK I admit I had quite a few more that him.

Tuesday, 6 June

Mataro to Gava, Spain
71 kms 5 hours 20 min. Av. 13.3 Total 1607 kms

The day started out slow we left camp around 09:00. The road to Barcelona on the N II was very busy and noisy, the drivers were very cautious and courteous. We found out later on the ride that there are many cyclists on this road which looks really like a highway.
The problem that we saw was that there is a highway running the same direction but most drivers (trucks included) are still using the National road.
We found Barcelona extremely busy and very touristy, we rode around looking for the tourist information office and when we did find one they only had information about Barcelona and nothing else, like a campground nearby, or a way in or out of Barcelona, very annoying.
So by asking some locals we found out the campground south of Barcelona called Tres Estrales, it was located 5 kms south of the airport. So as tired and hot as we were we road on the very busy road (3 lanes in either direction motorway) heading for the airport.
That was very nerve wrecking as the traffic was zooming by at over 100kph. We stopped at a gas station and asked if there was another way and they said no this is the only way, but there is no problem all the cyclists here use this road and not to worry LOL we can laugh about it now but it wasn't funny then.
Anyway when we did find the camping we got a shock, the place is right next to a highway, under the flight path of the airport and next to a river that was red and had green fungus growing in it, and the smell was something else.
And being the only camping nearby it wasn't very cheap either. We were tired and just wanted to rest so we found a place as far away from the river and highway as we could and pitched our tent.
If we had a car we would never stayed here.
Right next to us were six Dutch kids camping for a week and they said it was OK and that the planes stopped at 23:00 and started again at 07:00 so we could sleep at night also we met some other tourists in caravans that came back year after year to this camping and they liked it we could never understand that, not a place like this.
We also had another problem we pitched our tent under some pine trees for shade but found out after a couple of days that it was raining sap all over our tent. That really had us worried but after doing some research on the net, we found out one could just get it off with some water, using a quick drying towel, and a lot of patience.
There was a very long beach but seeing that river there was no way I would even get my feet wet in that water.
That camping also charged high season prices but did not have all the facilities running.
The pool was not open, even though it was next to that river and I would never get in the pool, the supermarket was only open a few hours a day, one toilet block was never cleaned and the restaurant was open from 20:00 to 23:00.
We were very surprised to find out that this place was promoted by the ANWB.
The inspector but be a rich man.
All in all we decided to hand around till Sunday morning, looking back we would have done better to leave the next day head inland for the nearest campground and come back on Saturday evening.

June 7 to June 11

We hung around the campsite and relaxed, think back at our tour, took long walks along the beach, eat and drink, just some R&R. Oh and watch the football matches
We also played the tourists and took a day to discover Barcelona, visit the sights, took the tourist bus around the whole city and looked for some bauble wrap and tape for the bikes.
I found Barcelona to be a very beautiful city, very clean, with huge boulevards, cycling paths, plenty and easy to get too (also very cheap) public transportation, the people were kind and very helpful. Best way to describe it, REAL COOL CITY.
I would not mind visiting this place again.
Anyway on Saturday we cleaned house, dump the stuff we would not be tacking back, and prepared for the next very early departure.
Leaving early Sunday morning was a very good idea as there was not much traffic and getting to the airport was easy.
We got the bikes wrapped up and checked in, but ran into another problem as I forgot to check in the cable lock and it was not allowed on the plane I had to leave it, I don't know why there isn't much one can  do with a cable lock but I didn't care to argue with the police.
The flight home was quick and when we got there we found daughter and her boyfriend were waiting for us at the airport. That was a very pleasant surprise.
They had also rented a van to get us and the bikes home.
Ones there we found the house decorated and a table set up. Some family and friends showed up and we had a very nice barbeque and plenty of beer to wash it down with.
A great end to a nice but very difficult tour.

                        
1- This is the best sign we could find showing Barcelona.
2- Barcelona coastline looking North.
3- And looking South towards the center.
4- Christopher Columbus statue.
5- The sun got so hot I started to hallucinate, I thought this giant lobster was going to eat me.
6- Cathedral Sagrada Familia.

                             
7- Wrapping the bikes at Barcelona international airport.
8- The very nice surprise the kids gave us at Brussels international airport.
9- They had the house and yard all set up for a nice welcome home BBQ.
10- The very nice table our daughter Femke set up very impressive indeed.
11- Just as impressive was Maurice's skills on the BBQ.
12- Chilling with my (from left to right) my friend Pierre, yours truly, my father in-law Leo, my daughter Femke, Monique, my sister in-law Liselotte and Maurice is behind the camera.