Day 55 - Castellar de N’Hug to Camprodon - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

June 11, 2023

Day 55 - Castellar de N’Hug to Camprodon

Outrunning the Weather, again!

A short but super sweet day today - the downhill was double the uphill. As per the norm, the weather in the morning was beautiful but clouds and rain were forecast for the early afternoon, we were incentivized to get moving early and to keep moving.

There was nothing we could do about the breakfast time though, 8:30 it was, and there wasn’t really any other option. The simple but nice Hostal Llobregat was about the only place open in Castellar, as it was last night.

We were packed up and ready to go before breakfast and were eating at 8:30 sharp. Pedals were turning shortly after 9:15, and we only had to turn them for about 10 minutes to climb out of the town, then it was a creamy 25 km downhill run, with over 700 m of elevation loss, to Ripoll where we picked up a paved rail trail for the final 25 km to Camprodon. This final 25 km was uphill, in theory, but the total elevation gain over this distance was about 250 m, on a rail trail where the grade was never more than 3%.

We had thunder and black clouds looming around us for the last 8 km’s into Camprodon and we made it to our hotel at 1, the time K had requested for early check in. The folks at La Hostal Placeta were incredibly friendly, and they weren’t quite ready with the room when we got there. No bother we’ll have our post ride bevy while we’re still all sweaty (adds authenticity) in the very comfortable bar while we wait!

Camprodon it turns out is quite an interesting and beautiful village with several very nice restaurants. Since it’s Sunday, just about all of them are open for lunch … and lunch only! We hadn’t really done the Spanish Sunday lunch thing yet so we got ourselves cleaned up and were soon sitting at a lovely table at El Pont 9 for a lovely laid back elegant lunch.

This set us up for a post lunch wander around the town … the rains were still holding off … until about 5 pm when it finally decided to rain. Perfect timing to retreat back to the room to get this journal written and have a siesta.

There will be a few more days like this before we’re done. Every day we have left is relatively short with more downhill than uphill and we will soon be on the coast where it is noticeably warmer.

Heart

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SOTD - Bones, Fat Freddy’s Drop

A long song for a short day!

‘Take me over the cloudy rains,

The world of peaceful boarders, babe

The road is long, the nights are dark,

Get a little closer everyday.’