Day 56 - Camprodon to Ceret - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

June 12, 2023

Day 56 - Camprodon to Ceret

Crossing the Pyrenees

We had some IT issues last night that caused me to loose everything that I wrote about today, yesterday. I’ve forgotten most of what I wrote so I’m starting again to write about yesterday, today.

Still with me?

We really liked Camprodon. The only reason that we were here was that it was on our way over the Pyrenees divide, something that we thought we needed to do, but like many low or no expectation things, it turned out to be wonderful. We also wanted to cross the divide and get to Ceret so that we could cross back over into Spain on the D13 and go by the monument to Lluis Companys on a route that TA and Leo Woodland have done and written about. More on this in tomorrow’s write up, which I will do later today.

Still there?

What was not unexpected though was the weather forecast. Once again we had a beautiful blue sky morning with perfect cycling temperatures with the only clouds on the horizon being, well, the clouds on the horizon and rain that was forecast t0 arrive at around 2 pm, just like they have every day for the last few weeks.

With this we were motivated to get an early start and notwithstanding the 8:30 breakfast time at the lovely Hotel Placeta (I have to consciously avoid adding a ‘n’ to the hotel name) we were pedalling away at 9:15. after a few routing issues in town, which a zoom in on the GPS track will reveal, we were straight into our 20 km, ~600 m gain climb to Coll de Ares.

We were a little concerned about what the road conditions were going to be like as the road, the C-38 was a full two lane hwy with a reasonable amount of traffic on it as we left Camprodon. Almost like magic though, the traffic more or less disappeared after a few km’s and once again we had the road more or less to ourselves, and a bunch of roadies, all the way to the Coll the score was something like roadies 20, motorbikes 15, cars 2 (one being a particularly nice silver Boxter GTS just as we reached the summit).

To add to the private road experience, this was also the easiest climb that we’ve had. The road was in perfect condition, the grades were a consistent 4-5% with only the odd short 6-8% section to give a little aerobic work …. And we had a bit of a tailwind.

We reached the summit after about 1h45m of pedal time, old hat for K but more or less a record for me, driven largely by the near absence of stopping for pictures. The few that I did take show the dark clouds that were building around us … no time to waste if we wanted to stay dry.

To add to this, the check in time for our Chambre d’Hote in Ceret was 4 pm, well into the ‘rain zone’. K had sent a message to them requesting an early check in between 1 and 2, and when we got to the summit there was a response that said if we made it there before 2 we could check in early, otherwise it was 4 pm.

It was still before noon, and we had about 42 km’s of downhill riding to go … over 1300 m of elevation loss … we could do this if I kept the camera stowed as much as possible.

That was a tough task, as the ride down was stunning, the few pics I did get just give a small taste of what the ride really was.

We managed to roll into the B&B at 1:48 pm and could claim almost 100% success. The only damp squib (just read an Economist article today that used that classic British term and I’ve been dying to use it here!) was that the rains came a little early, 1:34 pm to be exact, and we rode our last 1 km through the streets of Ceret under pretty heavy rain.

We did get checked in, showered and dried out, and had a wonderful afternoon checking the place out and finding the one open restaurant for dinner … France again, on a Monday!

So tomorrows it’s back over the divide into Spain again, for what will be the last day of our Pyrenees segment. After that we head to the coast for some Beach Blanket Bingo. We can hardly wait.

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SOTD - Call it Stormy Monday, classic T Bone walker song covered by Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan … great song for a great day that turned out to be pretty stormy in the afternoon

Super friendly stay at Hostal La Placeta

Retrieving the Tout’s from their resting place

Another morning, another climb. About 15 minutes into the day we hit the first sign. This turned out to be one of the most pleasant climbs we’ve had

Looking back to where we started … beautiful

Looking forward to where we are going … ominous!

Looking back on Molo, Camprodon is further back in the valley on the horizon. Last pic till the summit, the clouds are gathering

My turn for the Coll shot. This was our high point for the Pyrenees yet it was one of the most benign climbs and bucolic colls we had.

And down we go, 40+ km’s and 1300 m of elevation drop … and it was just starting to spit a bit!

Still green and still beautiful on the French side

Prates de Molle la Presta - that’s a mouthful! Impressive castle overlooking the village

Nice church too, but no time to explore … gotta stay dry!

Just another one of 40 km’s of great downhill riding into Ceret

1:48 arrival at the B&B … but 14 minutes after the rain nailed us!

Stain glass refractions … still one of my favourite things

Lovely dinner outside at Can Bigoti. We are only a few km’s from the Med and at only about 150 m altitude. It is noticeably warmer … no sweaters!

Still raining pretty good though but we’re safely under an umbrella

Followed by Loup de Mer (sea bass), rice, ratatouille and an orange sauce that went amazingly well with the fish

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 2,416 km (1,500 miles)

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