2018 Espana - Girona Saturday 07 July 2018

Two years in the planning, we have returned to Europe to ride on the correct side of the road and find some hills.

Flight Perth to Dubai to Barcelona is as draining as expected in economy class A380, but it could have been worse.Leaving home was tough but knowing my lover would meet me in Madrid made parting easier and exciting.
Puppy dog knows something is afoot.

Get the rental cars and leave the airport carpark onto to the expressway and immediate traffic jam.
Communicating with the airbnb contact Marta was simple enough and after a 90km trip to Girona took two and half hours we are pretty knackered.
Bikes assembled, no-one is interested in riding tonight, so a wander through the cobbled streets past sets of Game of Thrones and we find Plaza de Independencia, cold beers, a menu, a glass of red and much joyful tired chat.

Wander back and see the rubbish bin where Lance A threw away his syringes.
Crash.
Awake at 5am, cycling kit donned and a coffee consumed. A quick ride though Girona and soon we heading into the country and up a lovely steady 4-7% climb to Els Angels.

Nice. Warm, not much breeze, maybe even humid.

I read somewhere that there is a helmet exemption if climbing a hill, so straight into it.  No way I would countenence this on a descent.

Greeted by a drunken bloke in the church carpark wielding a sausage which he offers to us. Both SuperModel and myself eye this suspiciously and thank him as he breaks off a chunk and when he wanders away we donate to the ants.

Nice descent, and clearly I have lost my knack, so I back off and enjoy the roll down the hill.

Rural quiet back roads, sunflowers, wheat, cork forests and wander into a walled village named Monells for coffee and cake.

Another climb for 6km and I find my legs and enjoy the descent a bit more.
A nice descent where I seem to go quicker thaan the GPS can accommodate and then a busy road and back to Girona to find a phone sim, got sold a dummy by Orange, seems we cant send texts, can make a few calls, have got data so we can use Viber app. The lack of texts is curious.

Roll through town looking for a beer, under an arched verandah deep in the oldtown I also grab a jamon sandwich.
The ride can be viewed here 

Back to the apartment, watch the first day of Le Tour, wash up, and later go looking for a bar showing the England Sweden game, back to Plaza Independencia, cheap stodgy carbs are the go again. Just the third beer for the day patatas bravas and frites disappears, along with the comped sausages.

Back to the apartment, crash agan for an hour, and hang washing up, walk to the car at 8pm for a twenty five kay drive back to Monells for dinner.

Lovely.
Now midnight. tired.