June 26, 2011

Another hot and windy day.  We luckily find a cycle track alongside the main road heading for the coast.  This is a blessing as we were particularly worried about the traffic on this section of today´s ride.

The wind is troublesome again but the scenery is spectacular which takes our minds off the hard work we are having to do just to make a little progress.  The terrain is up and down with twists and turns all the way along a rocky coastline, with bays and coves and little villages all the way, which reminds us of North Devon or Cornwall.  Eventually we cross the border into Spain and arrive very hot and sweaty in Llança, find yet another dismal camp-site, which we again reject, and decide to stay in a hostal overnight instead. 

We remember how much we noticed crossing the border from Spain into France early on in our tour and again the contrast seems incredible.  We take a leisurely shower and stroll into the town well after 9 pm to find it absolutely packed with people, a street market in full swing and the bars and restaurants absolutely heaving. We have a choice of any number of restaurants – no pizza out of box tonight. We eat at our leisure, the first time for a long time, and when we leave a couple of hours later everywhere is still bustling full of people.  Only 20 or so kilometres away in a town of a similar size in France you certainly wouldn’t find anywhere open to eat or drink and you would be unlikely to see anyone on the street – they will be all tucked up behind their shutters by now.

We see the Spanish news for the first time in weeks on the television in our room – the main item of the day seems to be the heat wave hitting the whole of Spain.  We did think it was hotter than we expected but thought perhaps we needed to acclimatize.  If it stays like this we may find a nice little beach somewhere to stay and wait for cooler weather.