Coll de Nargó to Sant Llorenç de Morunys - Looping the Pyrenees - CycleBlaze

May 19, 2024

Coll de Nargó to Sant Llorenç de Morunys

Today's ride was the fifth challenging day in a row—for me, anyway. Al told me last night that he wasn’t finding the riding all that hard. However, my bike and bags weigh about the same as his and there’s less of me to make it go, so his options are to do some waiting or carry some of my stuff. You can guess which he always chooses!

The route was scenic but no motorcycle event today.  We were quite happy about that. Instead, we saw quite a few road cyclists. 

Looking back at Coll de Nargó. Our hotel was near the bottom, not far above the water level.
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After turning onto L-401 and crossing the river, we soon started climbing on a road built on the side of a rocky gorge.
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There were 5 short tunnels in this section (and just a few motorcycles). After the last tunnel, this one, we were in a green landscape once again, with herds and pastures below.
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Approaching Alinyà, where the route crosses to the other side of the valley, I was surprised to see plane trees planted along the road.
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Looking across the gorge at the road we were on just a few minutes ago.
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Finally at the top of the first and longest climb, but not the highest summit. Just as I created, a pack of roadies passed me in the opposite direction. Another group followed them and among these was a one-legged cyclist. He turned around and passed us later and there was no way I could catch him. We were impressed!
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No summit sign so this will do.
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Looking back whence we’d come
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The flowers on the other side of the road
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More flowers. Taking photos as an excuse for a break!
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The waterfall comes from the Fuentes del Racó. There’s a waterfall on the uphill side of the road as well.
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The exposed rock here looked rounded and smooth, in contrast to the craggy rock before the first summit.
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I was interested in the different colours of rock exposed by the road cut and the smooth-looking surface of the rock beyond the cut.
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Flower of the day, seen beside the road through the high plateau.
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Finally!
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The rain is coming! Can we beat it to Sant Llorenç?
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We took a risk and enjoyed some fries and a crêpe at a stand near the Coll de Jou. They were delicious!
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We found our hotel easily and had already arranged early check-in this morning after seeing the weather forecast for today. The next bit of difficulty was finding food in a small town in Catalunya on a Sunday.  We were too late for the restaurant across the street from our hotel, but they gave us directions to Cal Martinu, a small coffee bar that should be serving food. 

Late lunch or early dinner. The tortillas were excellent, the chicken a bit underdone. These plates plus two bottles of beer were 24€, rather steep but no other options on a Sunday, as far as we could tell.
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As I post this, it’s 7:15 and there is thunder and lightning and pouring rain outside. At least we’ve eaten and don’t need to go out again. 

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Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 733 km (455 miles)

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Comment on this entry Comment 4
Rachael AndersonIt certainly isn’t fair that your bikes and packs are about the same weight! He definitely should be carrying more. My load is somewhat lighter than Scott but I probably carry more than I should. I can’t help but load up on food in case we can’t find some which has happened several times in the past.
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3 months ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Rachael AndersonI’m not sure how much I could give him to carry that would make any difference. I like having my own tools with me—the last time I had a flat when we were riding together, I had it fixed by the time he came back to see where I was. I can’t let him carry my camera or extra layers because they’d be up the road when I need them. So I think of it as training for my solo trips.
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3 months ago
Susan CarpenterOne year on RAGBRAI I was passed by a one-legged cyclist - both humbling and impressive!
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2 months ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Susan CarpenterYeah, that happened to me in Tour de Victoria, on the timed climbing segment. However, I recognized him as a Paralympic athlete from Whistler so it wasn’t so bad.
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2 months ago