Friday 25 May 2012

France Cycle Tour: Racou to Roses

Collioure
Cerbere
Portbou from the border
El Port de la Selva
Roses
Eigenbau and  Al
From Racou to Roses is 77 kilometres, and as good as any Kilometres I've done over the whole fortnight. The coastal scenery on this section is superb. The Cote Vermeille is a series of rocky headlands and sheltered coves. Quite "lumpy" on here though, the signs "Cote de le Cols" should have given me a clue. The towns of Collioure, Port Vendres, Banyuls-sur-Mer each required a climb followed by a cooling descent. The sun was at its warmest today, with little breeze. Cerbere is the old frontier town before the climb up through the redundant border post takes you over the border into Spain. Another great descent on a beautiful road surface led me down into Portbou, where lunch was taken. The first climb in Spain uses a couple of tunnels rather than over the top, which I was grateful for. More captivating rocky coastline, then Llanca and a final stiff climb over the Cap de Creus peninsular. A superb downhill led me all the way into Roses, which perhaps wasn't what I was expecting, but a pleasant enough place on the whole. Hey, its Spain and the seaside, what did I expect? I found a really good campsite, I was the only tent, but certainly not crowded. It was heavily occupied by the camper vans of the "grey wave" from Germany and The Netherlands. So today I completed my tour from Valence to Roses, although I had changed my route to suit the weather. I have enjoyed the trip immensely, and wouldn't hesitate to do it all again. Well except for the wet sunday! I will blog at a later date on the gear I used and more thoughts.

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