In Figueres: Col de Banyuls

November 10, 2024

The morning emails have been unusually interesting in the last few days, a welcome change from the last-minute urgent appeals to help underwrite doomed political campaigns. Two days ago we got before and after images of Levi, our favorite service dog in training. This morning we received words of concern from Steve Grampy, hoping that we weren’t impacted by the latest flood catastrophe in the region - this time in Girona province. We aren’t far from Girona but haven’t seen any adverse weather other than some evening rain and an evening thunderstorm two days back.

But then I read the news to see what Steve was concerned about. And he’s right, there was another weather catastrophe and it’s in Girona - but in Girona the province, not Girona the city. It was in Cadaqués, the coastal village at the end of Cap Creus that I considered biking to from Roses last week. They experienced a flash flood that completely inundated the creek that runs through the middle of the village, flushing over thirty automobiles and vans down the creek where they piled up against the bridge by the sea.

It’s a huge and costly mess of course, but nothing like the disaster that devastated the Valencia region two weeks ago. Cadaqués was lucky that the torrent came through in the middle of the night when no one was about, so no lives were lost.

In Cadaqués, the morning after. The videos of the event are pretty spectacular, with a raging river running through the heart of town with vehicles floating helplessly toward the sea.

Coincidentally, I knew immediately where this was and had no trouble envisioning the scene. One of our travel memories that’s stayed alive in our with us was the one time we’ve been to Cadaqués ourselves, two years ago in early Spring. We were booked for the night in Hotel Octavia, the same white hotel that’s shown in the photograph above. We were stymied at first after arriving in town because we couldn’t figure out how to reach it, on the opposite side of the street from us but with a robust creek running between here and there. Looking now at the photo from our visit, it’s shocking to imagine the water level being high enough and the current so strong that it just floated the cars away.

A river runs through it. Cadaqués is split by a creek that overflows and fills the street after it rains. You need to plan ahead to make sure you’re on the right side of the street before entering it.

That’s not our situation this morning though. We’re in Girona Province too, but other than a robust wind the weather is excellent again today. And, as planned, Rachael decided to forgo a hike and join me on my bike ride, the first discretionary bike ride she’s taken in a long time. Before we leave I tape up her problem left hand to reinforce it, the one that’s become painful when she rides. we get an early start, leaving about 9:30 with the usual game plan of making it back in time for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

The ride we’ve picked today is a climb up toward Banyuls Pass. I’ve mapped it as a 34 mile ride to the summit, but we don’t have expectations about whether either of us will make it that far. It’s an out and back, by far Rachael’s favorite script for when we bike together: she can bike ahead at her own speed when I stop somewhere with the camera and turn back whenever she wants, secured by the knowledge that if she has a mechanical issue I’ll be along eventually to help her out.

I developed several candidate day rides from Figueres and this is one of the most challenging ones - there’s more climbing than yesterday’s ride to Canallops for example - but this one got the nod today because of weather conditions. 15-20+ north winds are in the forecast, so we picked the ride that heads north straight into them with the idea that when one or the other of us is ready to call uncle we can just make a u-turn and coast back home.

The first seven miles are identical to yesterday’s ride, beginning with the five mile run north to Peralada. I just saw this stretch of road so there’s no reason for me to stop with the camera again, especially because we’ve got the GoPro along.

It’s really simple to leave Figueres going east. A short, quiet descent through the outskirts of town and you’re out.

This is worth stopping for though. The dense clouds above the Pyrenees are totally amazing today.

Seven miles into the ride we fork off toward the crest of the mountains, diverting from yesterday’s route to Cantallops; and barely a mile later the inevitable happens when we come to Mollet de Peralada and I need to stop to explore it a bit. Rachael continues on up the road, with me reminding her to turn back by noon at the latest so we won’t miss lunch.

Like so many villages in Catalonia, Mollet de Perelada has enough character and features of interest to reward even the brief look I give it before chasing after Rachael again.

The doror to the village church, Mollet de Perelada.

At a crossroads. I’m bound for Espolla, the next town up the road to the pass.

I didn’t really come to today’s ride with any preconception about what it would be like; although I might have, because Jacquie and Al crossed it just this Spring if I’d only remembered it. I’m surprised by how strikingly scenic it is as we gradually climb through a succession of zones - vineyards, then lush, brilliant pines, then a stand of cork oaks. And other than the wind factor which grows more inhibiting the higher we climb up it’s a brilliant day for a ride accentuated by dramatic, dense cloud layers.

Along the way there are long stretches where the road is lined by exposed schist (or is it gneiss? I always get them confused). I especially liked this spot where it’s been capped by a stone wall.

Here comes Espolla, the next and last village before the summit. Just look at that sky above it!

I’m tempted to stop and explore Espolla when I come to it but decide to be content with the scenic look I got of the village climbing up to it. Rachael’s getting close to a mile ahead now, and I can see on the Garmin that she’s slowing to a crawl here and there and even stopped. I’m concerned that if I stop to explore the village she might double back in the meantime and miss me. So I keep climbing.

The climb surprises by being more uneven than it looked from the RideWithGPS profile. It’s basically up, but there are several spots where there’s a significant dip where you lose elevation that you just have to gain all over again. Like here, for example.

I’m over fifteen miles into the ride and about convinced that Rachael, who I assume is still a mile up the road, is going to surprise me and reach the summit. I don’t really know though because we’re apparently in a satellite dead zone and I can’t tell her location any more. I start watching for her though, and it’s not long until I see her round a bend and coast my direction.

She didn’t make it to the summit, but she got within a mile and surprised herself by how well she did given that she hasn’t done any real climbing for a while. She eventually turned back not because of the difficulty but for safety reasons. The wind has gotten steadily stronger as we near the summit and she’s been anxious about keeping control, especially when cars pass her on the narrow winding road.

Some photos of the mile she saw that I didn’t:

It’s amazing all of the places spray painters choose to make their mark.

Almost there! Another mile she could peek back into France.

By now it’s getting close to noon anyway so lunch is on our minds. The ride back is the expected blast downhill and with the wind, slowed down only by those few dips and by the decision to stop in for a good look around Espolla when we come to it. Even with that we make it back to the apartment by 1:30, and ten minutes later we’re sitting down at Brasic for lunch - our third restaurant here in three days, all within a half block of our apartment.