October 4, 2018
Holy Multimodal Rounders
25 or Carrefour
It’s our third full day in Spain and I have not even mentioned the weather. Well, it’s pretty darn good. Mornings start out chilly. Then the sun rises and things heat up. Then the breeze picks up and cools you. Great for riding.
Jet lag returned with a vengeance last night. I slept for 90 minutes, then woke up fully for about 4 hours. Then it was back to sleep for 3 hours. I felt like I had wasted our nice little luxury camping experience by not getting enough rest.
After “breakfast in bed” — really just spreading our little table cloth out for pastries and instant coffee — we bid farewell to Camping 3 Estrellas and rode peacefully to the train station at Gavà. The plan was to avoid what looked like a pretty hairy stretch of road near Sitges. About 3 minutes before the train was scheduled to arrive, we realized we were waiting on the wrong platform! We scrambled for the elevator, and we quickly discovered how tiny it was. Sunyoung’s bike fit, but she was sure that mine wouldn’t. At this point I just trusted in the gods and told her to go ahead. My first attempt was indeed fruitless, but I quickly wrestled with the handlebars and just baaarrely squeezed everything into the compartment. I then had to work the same contortions on the second elevator. And we made it onto the train in a nick of time!
We got off to a slow start from the last station, and never really picked up the pace. At first we followed our nav app’s suggestions, and while interesting, they felt rather inefficient. It also took extra effort to keep up with the frequent turns. I eventually just decided to stay on the main road N-340. By the time we reached Tarragona, Sunyoung could go no further without a real meal. She ducked into a Chinese takeout place and returned with enough calories to keep her going.
Next stop was Carrefour, a French-owned megastore that somewhat matches a Super Target store in the U.S. The main difference being the prominent display of jamón in the deli section. Next door to Carrefour was Bauhaus, a Home Depot clone. The whole thing felt very American. It must be what a Swede experiences when walking into an IKEA in New Jersey.
Anyway, it was time to start looking for a campground. We have settled at Platja Cambrils. It’s a fine place, close to the beach. This keeps our streak of camping uninterrupted, and it's the first night of our trip using our stove and sleeping in our own tent. It just feels right.
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Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 119 km (74 miles)
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