Up the Muga Gorge

March 26, 2022

Today’s ride was a bonus, one we didn’t expect to fit in. Even with the improved weather rain has always been in the forecast for today and we assumed we’d spend the day poking around town, visiting the Salvador Dali museum, and keeping dry in our room reading our books.

This morning though gave us this beautiful surprise when we looked out the window of our fourth story room:

The view from our hotel this morning excites us about the ride ahead.

Checking the weather, we see that rain is still expected - but not until three in the afternoon per Weather.com, and not until 4 according to YR, the sunnier alternative weather app Rich Frasier recommended to us. In either case, it’s enough for us to get out for some sort of ride. I stare at the map and come up with an out and back north to the Muga River and up its gorge to pavement’s end. If we’re lucky we’ll get our 42 in, but if not we can always turn around early.

We don’t get started until after ten, but once we do we have fine riding conditions as we ride out of town. After about two miles we’re out in the country on a quiet road pedaling west with a fantastic view of Canigou straight ahead. We’ve never been here at a time that there was so much snow on these mountains.

Heading north toward the foothills, we enjoy a spectacular mountain view for the first five miles.

Our last and best view of Canigou. After this we get too close to the hills and our view is blocked.

It feels like we have plenty of time, so when we see an attractive bell tower in Cistella we pull off the road for a look around the village.

Then, back on the road heading north now. We’ve been gradually climbing as we leave the plain and approach the nearest low foothills of the Pyrenees, and soon we’re close enough to them that the mountains disappear from view behind them. As we gain a bit of elevation the surroundings change as well - we’re out of the pastures and into oak and pine forest.

I’m glad to see this showy plant again. I spotted it at a few places on the ride to Cadaqués, but never at a spot where it was convenient to stop.

Rachael’s gotten a short ways ahead of me, but not as far as she thought apparently because she decided she had time to pull off at Terrades for a quick spin through the village - just long enough that I bike past her unknowingly and thus initiate a new round of one of our favorite games, Who’s in Front? I bike along for a mile or two past Terrades thinking I’m behind when the phone rings. It’s Rachael, wanting to confirm where I am. She wants to know if I’ve come to the circle by the village yet, which I misinterpret as referring to the next village ahead, Sant Llorenç de la Muga.

Terrades. For reasons that are unclear, Rachael pulled off route and biked into this village - for just long enough that I biked past without either of us knowing of it. It initiated our first game of Who’s in Front that we’ve played for awhile. Great fun.

This misunderstanding doesn’t produce a good result. She decides to backtrack to meet me while I continue biking forward. A second phone call resolves the matter, but we’re lucky - we’re just about to lose our cell phone coverage and can barely understand each other. We agree that I’ll wait for her at the top of the drop down to the Muga, which starts just ahead of me.

I wait there for about five minutes, intermittently zooming in on the long, straight stretch of road for a first sign of her. Finally a bike appears.

But it’s the wrong solo bicyclist, I see as a black-clad guy gradually comes into clearer view. He stops when I beckon him, and tells me he hasn’t seen another cyclist; but then he just pulled in from a side road so hopefully she’s still coming. And then, a minute later she rounds the bend.

Game over, but there’s still fun to be had. We drop a steep mile plus down to the Muga, not thinking for now about how we’ll feel about this on our way back.

Sant Llorenç de la Muga greets us with an attractive medieval arched stone bridge, now pedestrianized and bypassed by a newer one nearby. We spend some time admiring it and then bike through the small town, taking note of the interesting church and fortifications obviously worth exploring also. It’s too early for lunch yet, so we decide we’ll bike the remaining six miles to our turn-back point and stop here for lunch on our way back.

There’s more to be seen here than just this fine bridge, but we’ll stop to look around on the way back.

An interesting thatched roof structure, Sant Llorenç de la Muga.

The next six miles go quickly as we follow the Muga up its narrowing canyon, a tailwind pushing us up the slight incline. When we reach the end of our marked route we find an attractive stone perch above the river that looks perfect for our lunch break, so we stop here and break out the snacks. Mine today includes a wedge of cheese, which I appreciate not just for the cheese itself but for the rind, which is perfect for erasing the sprocket marks I somehow collected earlier.

Video sound track: Que Nos Paso, by Kany Garcia

Lunch break. A perfect spot, complete with back rest.

In case you didn’t know, here’s your tip for the day: cheese rinds work remarkably well for scrubbing off sprocket marks.

And then, a change in plans. Suddenly the wind picks up, feels chillier and even dampish, and we look up at the overcast sky and get anxious about our prospects. Our plan to stop and look around Sant Llorenç on the way back goes out the window and we decide we’d better concentrate on trying to make it back to town before the rains come. With twenty miles to cover we don’t like our chances, actually.

We’re fine though, and YR is proven right this time at least. We make it back to town somewhere around 3:30, with conditions even improving somewhat after we leave the hills behind us. The rains do come eventually, but not until after we’re safely back in our room.

On the way back to town we get a nice view of Cistella and its church that we didn’t notice on the way out.

A monk parakeet, one of a noisy flock in a palm tree busy snipping off twigs for their nest.

Heart

Comment

Link

Ride stats today: 43 miles, 2,700’; for the tour: 212 miles, 11,700’

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 211 miles (340 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	9
Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Suzanne GibsonHow come you couldn't locate each other on your Garmins?
Reply to this comment
2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonI forgot to mention that. We apparently were outside cellphone coverage and lost contact.
Reply to this comment
2 years ago