The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Catalonia - Pyrenees, Cava and Costa Brava

May 29th to June 12th

Ride Coordinator: Nelson Diaz
Report by: Mike Raudenbush

Catalonia -- Pyrenees,  Cava and Costa Brava 2023

May 29th to June 12th

Ride Coordinator: Nelson Diaz

Report by: Mike Raudenbush and Virginia Cottingham

Catalonia is a semi-autonomous region in the northeast corner of Spain.  Just don’t call it “Spain” to the locals, who have their own language (barely decipherable to the Spanish speaking members of our merry band), customs, and culture.  Its capital is Barcelona, a vibrant, exciting city well worth a visit prior to or after the cycling trip, which began in Girona, 50 miles to the northeast of Barcelona. Most riders arrived in Girona a day or two early, giving them an opportunity to explore this medieval city and its magnificent cathedral, completed between the 11th and 13th century. There is also a Jewish Museum documenting the historical significance of the Jewish settlement in Girona between the 9th and 15th centuries.

Our route took us on a grand loop through Catalonia, first through rolling forested hills of cork oaks and olives and lush farmland of the interior of Catalonia, then over the Pyrenees (well, the foothills of the Pyrenees) into France, then down along the azure Mediterranean and the magnificent Costa Brava (roughly translated as “wild coast”) and finally back to Girona.  Roughly 450 miles and 30,000 feet of climbing in our 13 days of cycling, a good solid 2B ride. The trip was a point-to-point ride, with 2-day stays at most destinations.  There were alternative rides most days.

Our trip was led by Nelson Diaz, supported by Simon Proffitt of Iberocycle.  These two, plus our mechanic Borja Fernandez, are a time-tested combination, having organized and run many BAC trips in Spain.  Plus, they are all bilingual (although the local language, Catalan, befuddled even Nelson). Simon picks the routes and provides thorough briefings at each Happy Hour, briefings that include the history of the area we are about to traverse.  This area is rich in history, as it is at a major crossroads between Spain (excuse us, we mean Catalonia), France, and the Mediterranean, easily accessible to the Greeks, Romans, Franks, Carthaginians, Moors, and the list goes on.

Our first riding day was a 48-mile, 3400 foot shakedown ride to the east of Girona.  It began with a climb into forested hills up to the “Sanctuary of the Angels”, a small chapel where Salvador Dali and his wife Gala were married in a small, secret ceremony. This fact is apparently of great interest to Dali fans, and you may as well get used to hearing about Dali and Gala, because this part of Catalonia is chock full of Dali-related points of interest.

The views from the Sanctuary were followed by a long, pleasant ride through a beautiful countryside of wheat and cypress and that unique southern European landscape: gentle, sunny, and ageless.

The next day we left Girona and biked to Olot, a 37-mile ride through a land of very old, very dormant (hopefully) volcanoes at the base of the Pyrenees. Again, another lovely ride with many forests, hills, and farmland. We had a few sprinkles cool us as we entered Olot.

Two nights in Olot, so on the optional day we rode out to the very picturesque medieval town of Besalu, with impressive walls, towers, and a Romanesque bridge of the 12th century.  Click, click went the cameras. Enroute to Besalu we passed Castellfollit de la Roca, built on high volcanic rock some 1000 years ago.

From Olot it was a ride of 46 miles to the town of Figueres.  And what a fine ride it was, through the Garrotxa Volcano National Park, with forests and views galore, a ride along a lake, harvested hay fields, and all the while heading towards the coast.

We spent one night in Figueres, where the main feature is – wait for it – the Dali Theater Museum!  Figueres was Dali's birthplace and the place of his last big art project -- this, his very own museum! This guy had an ego for sure. The museum exudes the artist's outrageous public persona.

The Pyrenees mountains run west-east across the north of Spain and provide the border between Spain and France, then plunge into the Mediterranean Sea. From Figueres we rode north over the Pyrenees into France.  Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  Actually, at this point the mighty Pyrenees are mere foothills, but lovely foothills nonetheless.  The route took us over the Col de Banyuls, a pass into France that is dripping with history.  It was one of the routes of exodus for Spanish fleeing Franco’s Fascist regime that seized control of Spain in 1939 following the bloody, brutal Spanish Civil War.  Pablo Picasso was one of the refugees who fled Spain to live in Paris, vowing that he would not return until Franco died.  He never returned. Dali, however, remained in Spain, unmolested by the regime.  Hmm.

Our destination for our short stay in France was the lovely seaside town of Collioure, famous for its anchovy fishing (well, you have to be famous for something). Our timing was perfect: the Anchovy Festival was in full swing, with live music and the townsfolk selling their food and wares and the families enjoying it all.

Two nights in Collioure gave us an opportunity to ride up the Medoc Loop, a steep, narrow (and lightly traveled) road up into the mountains behind Collioure, with sweeping, magnificent views up and down the Mediterranean coast.

After our two nights in France, it was back across the border, this time at the Coll dels Belitres, another of the escape routes from Spain used by the anti-Fascists.  The route from Collioure to Cadaques began to show us the true nature of the Costa Brava: breathtaking scenery (yes, that was a cycling pun), azure waters, rugged hills dropping to the sea.

Two nights in Cadaques gave us a chance to ride out to the wildly beautiful Cap de Creus, the easternmost point of mainland Spain.  Bougainvillea and oleander bushes of hot pinks and blooming cactus flourish in this dry, rugged landscape. And at the end of the road, the Pyrenees drop finally into the sea by a (very necessary!) lighthouse marking the rocky shoreline that vessels must navigate around to reach the southern Iberian Peninsula.

The other attraction of Cadaques is Salvador Dali’s home, open to tourists. One member of our group referred to it as “livable and lovely, but with other parts a bit too fantastical/nightmarish”.  There was a voyeur side to Dali that we will pass over, in the interest of keeping this tripper G rated, but it was on full display in his home.

After the exhilarating up, up, up from our perfect little beach town of Cadaques and the always fun down, down, down, it was a flat ride in the plains 40 miles to our luxury hotel out in the countryside near Torroella de Montgri. Enroute we passed lovely beaches and, of historical significance, Empuries, a city founded by Greeks in the 6th Century BC. After the invasion of Gaul from Iberia by the Carthaginian general Hannibal in 218 BC, the city was occupied by the Romans. In the early Middle Ages it was abandoned as it was such an exposed coastal city and subject to many marauders. Now it lies in ruins, a testament to the fleeting nature of civilizations.

The next four days were, without a doubt, the cherry on the tasty cake of Catalonia.

Riding a loop to the south of Torroella, we first meandered through a couple of medieval villages which were ever so lovely and are now preserved, then we rode along the coast, past one “cala” after another.  A cala is what we would call a “cove” – a quiet, sunny beach between steep hills. Enroute back to Torroella we passed rice paddies (!) And we thought this was a dry climate.

From Torroella we rode 30 miles south to the seaside town (and seaside hotel) of San Feliu, where we had time to bask on the beach under a warm sun, beside the sparkling turquoise Mediterranean. Enroute, we passed through the village of Peratallada, another charming medieval village, this one carved of stone from the moat that surrounds it. The village reached its splendor during the Middle Ages, and the castle became an epicenter of a feudal domain with a marriage in 1250 between the families of Peratallada and Cruilles.

The next to last day was, in our humble opinion, the crème de la crème of Costa Brava rides, a challenging roller coaster 30 mile, 3100’ ride up one hill after another, then the exhilarating rides down, all the while overlooking the lovely green coast against the blue Mediterranean.  At Tossa de Mar we were treated to a busy, lovely seaside town full of tourists, restaurants, and a fine citadel, from which we could survey the entire scene, then the return ride to San Feliu.

Our last day was a fine grand finale, back down the coast halfway to Tossa del Mar, then a turn inland and steep 1200’ climb over the coastal hills, then a fast charge across flat farmland to stay ahead of an advancing rainstorm and into Girona.

So we said goodbye to our beautiful Mediterranean and the ruggedly beautiful Costa Brava; farewells to vast, fertile agricultural lands and adios to the rolling hills and mountainous Pyrenees we called home for these last weeks. And farewell to our fine group of cyclists and our magnificent leaders, Nelson, Simon, and Borja.

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