pk

Barcelona → Sulzbach

2021-08-26

At the end of summer 2021, when Corona was still in summer break, my colleague Biel and me took the chance for a small cycling adventure through northern Spain, France and southern Germany. For some days we took the same route as I did in spring time, but continued through the Pyrenees, following the the Mediterranean Sea to Montpelier, then along river Rhône to Lyon and further along the Saône and Doubs to Basel, Ulm and finally Sulzbach.

Getting to Barcelona

I again took the train via Paris to get to Barcelona. It takes quite long (about 13 hours) but it’s very comfortable and you get nice and very nice relaxing views while riding 300 km/h through France. You can take the bike in pretty much every train as long as the overall package is not too big, so I had to disassemble it a bit. Luckily the train station in BCN was still busy late at night so I could reassemble it indoors with a lot of light. Arriving at the hostel was interesting as of course they forgot that I bring a bike, but after a bit of a heated discussion with the older gentleman (he didn’t speak a word of English, and I pretty much only know 5 words of Spanish) he agreed to leave the bike in his living room behind his TV chair :-) I arrived a day early to visit the Sagrada Família, which was closed on my last visit and this was definitely worth it.

Raining in Backnang
Disassembly and preparing the bike for the train to Barcelona
Budget accommodation or prison cell? ;-)
Visiting BCN office for some tarta de la abuela
Sagrada Família

Riding to France (28.08 - 31.08.2021)

We started early on the 28th of August. Biel and his parents arrived from Santa Eulàlia de Riuprimer, close to Vic. After a warm welcome and a quick good bye, off we went. The tour was taking us along the coast to L’Escala for some anchovies, then towards France with a little detour to Cadaqués to visit Salvador Dalís house museum and have some paella. After that we took some smaller roads through the Pyrenees to France. Spain does not have a lot of dedicated cycle ways, but drivers are very relaxed, friendly and respectful.

Arc de Triomf is a pretty starting point
First flat after 15 km ;-)
Fancy old olive tree farm
Sant Feliu de Guíxols
Guardia Civil hard at work
Pals
Snails looking for some shade
L’Escala
End of the road to Cadaqués?
Alternative route to Cadaqués
Just a completely normal room at Salvador Dalís house museum
Breakfast in El Port de la Selva
Side street through the Pyrenees after Espolla, ascending to Coll de Banyuls, to France

Track

Through Lyon (31.08 - 07.09.2021)

First thing in France, we took a wrong turn descending and had to take a little detour with lots of traffic. After passing Argelès-sur-Mer which had very confusing routes leading to dead ends we reached a nice cycle way along the coast with seemingly endless sand beaches. The first day in France lead us to Perpignan, where we had made a reservation on booking.com. Arriving there we got ditched at two places with either claiming to not speak English or simply nobody answering the phone. Quite annoyed after a long day of cycling we had to take another long detour to the outskirts to a hostel in the middle of nowhere. A quick trip to the supermarket got us fueled up for the next day, which lead us through Narbonne and then following the Canal du Midi to Béziers. From there we ran into some head wind, passing Montpellier, spending the last evening at the Mediterranean Sea in Le Grau-du-Roi. There we entered the Via Rhôna, one of the biggest cycle ways in France. We made a quick stop in Arles, but had to push through heavy winds and rain to Avignon. There we had a nice little down town apartment and stayed for two nights stretching our legs a bit.

Argelès-sur-Mer
House-Boat-Contraption
Canal du Midi
Béziers / river Orb
Flamingos
Biel still fighting his tires (actually swapped them in Avignon)
Looking for a nice place to eat in Le Grau-du-Roi
Aiming north, heading to Arles
Day off in Avignon, looking at the remains of Pont Saint-Bénézet
Palais des Papes (Avignon was the home of many popes before they moved to Vatican)
Bourg-Saint-Andéol
Lyon

Track

To Sulzbach (07.09 - 16.09.2021)

After passing the huge city of Lyon, we left Via Rhôna for a long stretch of gravel following the river Saône and later Le Doubs and Canal du Rhône au Rhin towards Germany. We did another day off in the nice city of Besançon before heading to Basel and further to the Bodensee (Lake Constance), then following the river Donau (Danube) towards Ulm before finally turning to Sulzbach.