Saturday

We all make mistakes and not for the first time on this trip I led the group a merry dance in search of our goal. 

Previously it may have been exiting a town or just me deciding to employ an artistic twist to a route, rather than following the instructions displayed on the satnav screen and accompanying commentary being fed into my helmet. But unlike Avila, today’s rather avant-garde approach didn’t involve a brush with the local constabulary, as I ignored the name of our hotel and just bumbled around the village in my hap hazard way. Maybe it was a combination of a number of things like the heat, feeling a little worn out by another long (but enjoyable) day in the saddle, or my frustration at crawling along at escargot pace behind locals who seem to be in no urgency to do anything? Whatever the excuse we did eventually find our hotel nestled away within the beautiful little village of Moureze.

As we all dismounted the bikes Jenny pretty much summed up all our feelings with “Can we stay here a week”?

We had departed our rustic hotel high in the low Pyrenees at our usual time of 9am and took the recently gravelled minor road east over three cols. I certainly didn’t want gravel rash on the bike, nor myself, so plumped for a very modest, some may say novice’s speed, through the accumulation of deep chippings which had gathered on the bends. After several miles the surface improved to good and we could all relax and enjoy the numerous hairpins up and down each pass.

It was cool, with the early morning low cloud clinging to the forested hills, but we knew that the sun would burn it all off as the morning progressed. As we summited the last col our temperature gauges were showing 7c, but we were in good spirits as the sun was now breaking through and making the scenery quite spectacular.

After the ‘Three Col Challenge’, where we attained about 5,500’, we dropped down significantly in altitude and by the time we’d grabbed a McDo’s coffee not that far from the border with Andorra, the temperature had become acceptably warm in the now permanent sunshine.

On our ‘planned’ route to Moureze it was only right that we visited Carcassonne which, despite its mightily impressive appearance, particularly from a distance, has become a bit too touristy for my liking, said the tourist! This was my second visit and it just reinforced my thoughts of the place. ‘La Cite’ has harnessed every opportunity to squeeze the last remaining euro from its millions of visitors, and it’s just a blessing that the place, which must have the highest concentration of cafes and restaurants per square metre, has not succumbed to the likes of McDo’s, Starbucks and the numerous other global enterprises which seem to fill every high street. However, if you’re after a wooden sword and shield or a plastic medieval helmet then look no further.