Spanish Tracks

Pat Lloyd

We had taken the European Bike Express to the hotel at Rosas which replaced the fixed tent campsite at Empuriabrava. The weather for the first week had been extremely windy which had rather curtailed our cycling. But at last a decent day, so I rather tentatively suggested to the others that they might enjoy a little roughstuff that Fred and I had done a few years previously.

The six of us set off along the G1-614 out of Rosas and were soon climbing the Coll de la Perafita. An hour brought us to the right turn for Cadaques. Unfortunately the bar at the road junction was closed but there was the long freewheel to enjoy all the way to the sea at Cadaques.

The artist Salvador Dali had a house somewhere here, which we failed to find, and the road beside the sea was dug up and being made into a promenade. So after lunch we headed south to the end of the town to find the start of the roughstuff.

When we did this track before we had been told by two mountain bikers that it was far too rough for our touring bikes, so when we had seen a footpath sign for San Sebastia going up a track we assumed that was it. After climbing over rocks and tree roots, ever upwards, we spotted a cart track on the other side of a ravine and realised that was where we should be. So this time we made no mistakes and got on the correct route.

It was quite rough underfoot and even Ron on the mountain bike had to walk to the top of the first rise, with many stops to photograph the profusion of flowers alongside the track. There were extensive views over the hills towards the sea.

We were able to ride long stretches when it levelled out and then came to a halt where the track divided. The one on the left had a private sign and went down to a campsite beside the sea and then looked to have a steep climb up to rejoin the track. So we did as we did previously and kept to the right, hoping to contour round.

It was pretty rough in parts. Fred came a cropper last time and Brenda was not happy on her narrow tyres and had a few sudden stops.

We had a steep drop down to cross the river and a steeper climb back up but eventually we reached tarmac. Things seemed to have altered since we were last here as we ended up on a very scary descent which brought us out in the back streets of Rosas and before we had ended up on the sea front. So it was probably a new road as there had been extensive building since our last visit.

I think the other four had enjoyed themselves, at least when they were back at the hotel and after a hot shower.

It was about 7 miles of track and the map used was Mapa comarcal de Catalunya no 2, Alt Empordà, which shows the track as a white road.

Pat Lloyd
(Halton, Lancashire)