Today is the date for casting a vote on the Catalonian independence referendum: "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the format of a republic?". A simple yes or no question.
Voting begins at 9:00. The polling station in Sant Llorenc is in a school, about two blocks from our hotel. I slept through it, but Rachael said she heard crowds assembing before six this morning. We walked over to the square before breakfast, just before 9, and found the square packed, with pitched tents and a barbecue going. The Spanish government has declared the vote illegal and has vowed to shut down the polling stations. It looks as though people had camped out to protect access to the ballot box, and the entrance to the square is blocked off by private vehicles as well as one from the local fire department.
Right at nine, two policemen round the corner and walk up to the square, and enter the crowd. Immediately it quiets, and cameras come out. The police say a few words, and the crowd erupts with cheers and applause. Apparently the local two man force does not intend to interfere with the vote, and they quickly exit the square.
Over breakfast, we see that this is not the case elsewhere. Everyone in the hall is riveted to the news, and scenes from Gerona and Barcelona - huge crowds are facing off against solid lines of police in riot gear; people are being wrestled to the ground; police are smashing windows to break into ballot stations to confiscate voting boxes.
Si or no? We'll learn more tonight, but for now we have a few hills to climb as we turn north to the French Border and our last evening in Spain/Catalonia.
At the polling location in Sant Llorenc, just before voting opens
As the church bells announced the hour of nine, two local police officers walked quickly toward the polling site, weaving through a barricade of automobiles.
After the police presumably announced that they did not intend to interfere, the crowd broke into cheers and applauded them strongly. At this station at least, it looks like the vote will proceed peacefully.
We face a rather grey ride today, but one that hopefully will stay dry for us. Looking around at the hills from Sant Llorenc, I'm not so sure. The clouds hover not that far up the slopes, and they day starts with a fifteen hundred foot climb. We could easily find ourselves biking through a dense fog an hour from now. We'll see.
The first mile out of town is a bit busy, until we reach the turnoff to our quiet mountain road. After that it's pretty much traffic free all the way to the outskirts of Berga. The climb is fairly gentle, and goes down easy in the cool, windless morning. And, it's less than the fifteen hundred foot climb we'd been anticipating - it stops about two hundred feet shy when we come to a tunnel that lops off the peak. Once again, I've been misled by MapMyRide's mapping tool, which seems not to acknowledge the whole point of tunnels. Overall, this has probably reduced the climbing I thought we'd be doing on the tour by about 5,000'.
From the top we have a chilly descent to Berga. We're dry, but the visibility is pretty limited; I use my imagination and envision the great rock formations hidden behind the clouds. Beyond Berga we turn north toward the French border, playing cat and mouse with the busy highway for several miles and doing our best to find nearly abandoned old side roads that let us avoid the tunnels. If you come this way, it's worth doing some careful road research before you get here.
Actually, chilly isn't quite accurate - make that cold. By the time we stop at an unexpectedly good gas station cafeteria, Rachael has a good case of the shakes. We're relieved to stumble upon this cafeteria, and decide to save our bread and cheese for another day. We warm up over tea, coffee, and great tortilla combination plates. We hang out for about an hour and take advantage of their wifi to catch up on what's happening with the independence referendum. It's clear enough from the images on the TV though, with distressing scenes of crowds and police in riot gear. We've certainly chosen an interesting time to be here.
A look back at Sant Llorenc, before beginning the morning's climb. From the looks of it, we'll be in the clouds before long.
This interesting old tunnel at the top of the first climb shortened our day's work by a few hundred feet. Unlit, stone paved, a bit of a rough ride - we were glad the road was so quiet this morning.
Berga, one of Catalonia's larger towns. We stayed above it, skirting its northern edge on a narrow, shoulderless balcony road with a sharp drop off and a bit too much traffic for comfort. From far below we could hear the sounds of a large and loud crowd, presumably from a polling station.
Just hanging out, La Pobla de Lillet. The youth on the right looks a bit assertive, but I've just caught him in an odd moment - they were all cool with being photographed, waving and calling Ola! As we cycled by.
Pont Vell (the old bridge) in Le Pobla de Lillet, put to good use on this, the day of the independence vote. Here, like everywhere else we've seen, there doesn't appear to be any question about the outcome.
Surprisingly, El Pobla de Lillet has two well preserved old stone bridges, just yards from each other. The larger and older one is just around the bend in the river, facing the large white building on the right.
There is a small tourist train that runs the 3.5 kilometers between La Pobla de Lillet and the old cement factory/museum. We were lucky to see it in action.
This dramatic outcrop stands just above the steepest part of the climb to Castellar. For about a kilometer it must be over ten percent, but most of the 2,500' climb has been fairly gradual. This is all part of the long climb to Col de Crueta, the high point for us in Spain on this tour which we'll reach tomorrow morning.
Total elevation gain: today, 4,800'; for the tour, 63,400'
The restaurant associated with our lodging, Hostal la Muntanya. A very attractive and welcoming place with an outstanding restaurant. Rachael had trout, and described it as the best she can recall having anywhere.
The restaurant features this wall sized photograph of nearby La Pobla de Lillet. The hotel owner told us that it's a sixty year old photo, which must be from when his grandfather first opened the restaurant.
The walls of Hostal La Muntanya's dining room are lined with branding irons, forged by the grandfather of the restaurant's current owner. If we understood him correctly, his grandfather was the last in a line of village blacksmiths and quit the trade to open the restaurant in the 1960's.
The illuminated church tower in Castellar de n'Hug, with the flapping Catalan flag casting a long shadow across its face. Today's independence vote was not close: 90% yes, 7% no, 3% blank. What now?
