Craig's blog

We had a quick bite (coffee and croissants) and then met at the bikes for a quick route rap.  Two of the families left early this morning for other trips, so it was just ourselves, one other family and Diane & Jim. 

We did a 25km easy loop, with me hanging with Jessie.  It was a pleasant and easy end to a great biking trip.

I think I managed to ride all the optional km available (which isn’t what I had particulary set out to do).  The days, in order, in miles were 17, 40, 43, 45, 47 and 16.

After our return we gathered our stuff like our pedals and returned things like our helmets and showered and packed.  We then had the great buffet breakfast at the hotel (but it was more like a brunch this time) before getting on the bus and heading back to Barcelona. 

When we got to Barcelona, we had to take two taxis from the drop-off location to our hotel.  We had a quick lunch and then went back out to visit La Sagrada Familia which is a huge church designed by Antoni Gaudi.  It’s unlike any large church we’ve been in before.  It’s very open and modern looking and the light inside is beautiful.   It’s still under construction (construction was started in the late 1800’s). 

We then went to a local restaurant and had our last Spanish dinner.  I had paella.  J

We’re about to go to sleep.  Tomorrow we get up at 4:00 and head to the airport for a long day of travel.  We’re all excited to get home and at dinner everyone was talking about how much they’ve missed Teddy.  J

Today was our last full riding day in Spain.  We enjoyed an excellent breakfast with a great buffet at our hotel Mas de Torrent.  Then we suited up and headed off.  I hung with Jessie for the first 12km and then the kids went off on a ceramics activity.  Kelli and Kate did it too, but they’re a little bummed that they’ve had to select between the activities and riding much.

Then the adults mostly hung together, for a 600’ climb and descent on the way to the sea.  We then road along a boardwalk (slowly) while people watching, until we came to a little hut that Backroads stops at for coffee and snacks.  We sat there for an hour and watched the local beach goers which was fun.  Then we rode another 15km to our lunch stop which was spectacular.  It was about 150’ up on a cliff above the Mediterranean.  We sat under the shade of cork trees and had a great lunch while watching the sea in the distance.  The setting was a little like Nepenthe, but bigger and with a view that had more houses.  After lunch we walked part way down the cliffs to a place where you could jump about 25’ into the sea.  Katie went first, then I went.  Eventually Jessie went too.  I sat out on a little island rock and watched all the others jumping or thinking about jumping.  Finally Katie and I swam around a little point and in to a different beach (maybe 200 yards) and then climbed up a ton of stairs to get back to the cliffs to get our stuff.  The water was probably 75 degrees.

Nine people had said they would probably ride back (instead of taking a van), but in the end only myself and one of our guides, Andres, went back on bikes.  The rest went in the vans or a taxi.  We had a good hard ride back, climbed over a bonus hill to check out a view, and got to know each other a little more.

When we got back to the hotel (around 5:15), I went down to the pool and read for a couple of hours (dinner wasn’t until 8:00).  At 8:00 we had our goodbye speech and then sat down for a nice meal.  The kids all sat at one table, and the adults at another.  It’s amazing how well and quickly the kids on this trip bonded with each other.

This morning we woke up in our beautiful Spanish farmhouse villa (our room in particular is amazing – Patty and I are sharing ~1000 sq ft, 400 of which is the bathroom!) and went down and had breakfast outside in the beautiful Mediterranean air.

By the time we got on our bikes (~9:00) it was probably 80 degrees.  We had an easy ride to the sea, although I stayed back with Jessie, Diane and Jim and another family, so it was a very leisurely pace.  It was 43 km to the lunch stop which was right on the Mediterranean.  It was a beautiful spot, where we sat outside looking at the ocean while eating lunch, and then relaxed on the beach for about an hour (and cooled off in the water).

Around 3:00 most folks shuttled to our new hotel, but 4 of us did the 30 km ride to the hotel.  It was pretty warm (~90 degrees) and there was a headwind, but it was beautiful and we weren’t pushing too hard.

We arrived at a gorgeous hotel called Mas de Torrent.  Big, beautiful rooms, spacious grounds, big swimming pool and we hear they have a spectacular breakfast buffet.  I sat by the pool until about 6:45 and then quickly got ready for dinner.

We vanned up to small, old village of Pals that was built in the 16^th century.  There we walked around and found places to eat on our own (not selected by Backroads).  The kids split off in their own group and we ate with Diane & Jim.  We ended up at the same restaurant as the big group of kids (but sat far away where we couldn’t see each other).  Jim and I had paella which was good, but not at all like the paellas I’ve had and made before.

Today was the big biking day for this week.  The kids weren’t offered bikes – they went on a ropes course instead.  The rest of us headed on a 70 km trek up over the highest paved rode in Spain (6200’).  It was only about 3200’ of climbing, but it was a long, constant climb, like Mt. Hamilton.  Patty and Jim did almost all of it, they took the van “boost” for the middle 8K of the climb.  We then descended 25 km to lunch which was an awesome descent.  We then descended another 10 km to get on the bus (and meet up with our kids.

It was a spectacular ride, certainly in the top 10 I’ve done, maybe the top 5.  The terrain was varied and spectacular.  The ride up reminded me of Passo Giau that we did in the Dolomites.  The descent looked more like the Sierra with pines.  The weather was perfect – cool and cloudy, but no rain.  It was awesome.

We then boarded a bus and drove to the town of Figueres where we went on a tour of the Teatre Museu Dali – a museum made by Salvador Dali, who was a wild artist of the 20^th century.  It was pretty crazy and great to have a tour guide to help us understand the unusual works.

We then took the vans and a taxi to our hotel just outside of town.  It’s an old Spanish farmhouse that is beautiful.  After showering, we had a wine tasting and then a nice dinner outside in the very comfortable air.  Another great day!

Today we went to breakfast at 7:30 and had the “route rap” where they tell us about the day at 8:30.  We started riding around 9:00.  Today the kids had an activity in the morning and the adults had a pretty decent climb / ride to lunch.  The kids activity was rock climbing (on real rocks up really high I understand).  They had a great time.

We climbed 2400’ and rode about 25 miles to lunch.  It was an absolutely gorgeous ride – the scenery reminded me some of the great rides we had in the Dolomites in Northern Italy.  Weather was perfect – 60-65 degrees and the roads were smooth and had almost no cars.  It was a perfect riding day.

We had a great Backroads picnic lunch which was delicious and then we rode back to Llivia with the kids.  Then 6 of us took an afternoon extension of 15 miles with another 1000’ feet of climbing.  That ride was gorgeous too.  What a great first full day to the Backroads trip. 

Overall the biking took us around the surrounding hills of a valley with constant views of the valley, evenually from all sides.  It was very awesome.