The French Ardennes were lovely to cycle through and we really got into this typical French holidaymood. Every morning delicious smelling French baguette and cheese, and in the evening some nice red wine. Mmmm.The following north part of France wasn't very exciting but it became more pleasant the more we got in to the south. Nice small roads through beautiful countryside, picturesque little villages and the smell of thyme and lavender. We both will always stay 'in love' with France.
The author of this route had a weakness for pilgrims and pilgrimroads so we met a lot of hikers and a few cyclists who followed these old roads as well. In Oloron, a little town just before the Pyrenees, we stayed on this campsite with some cyclists. Most of them were Dutch so we could talk in our language again. Nice for a change.We stayed a few days to check out our bikes and prepare ourselves for our first 'big climb', crossing the Pyrenees into Spain.But before this 'big happening' we both got really sick. Probably one of these lovely delicious French little cheeses which 'lived' a bit too long in my warm cyclebag.
We had to take two recoveringdays but the campsite was one of the most beautiful spots ever with this great view at the Pyrenees, so it wasn't that bad after all..Well, after two days the moment was there. First we had to climb a pretty big hill before we arrived St.Jean.It was already half past three when we finally got at the Roelandspass. But actually that was a bit of an advantage because now we could cycle mostly in the shadow. (it was extremely hot in our beloved France). Apparently the Roelandspass is the easiest but it was difficult to figure out on our map how much we had to climb. it was more then we expected but about seven o'clock we got tired, hungry and thirsty at the top and we felt like.YESSSSS, WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We forgot all about our exhausted legs when we went downhill. What a great feeling.The first night in Spain we realised that the Spanish like to party, like to be noisy and like to go to sleep very late. The Spanish campsites are very different from the French and because there aren't a lot (only at the touristic spots)
We first had to camp in the field. It's officially not allowed but, what can you do? We just had to..Spain was much more adventurous because we cycled through these rough, desolate and pure Sierras and canyons. Absolutely fantastic.As I mentioned before we camped a few times in the field. The first time we put up the tent just on time before heavy rainfall hit us and the next morning we got some company ??.about a million mosquito's were looking for a nice breakfast!The second time was more successful. We found this beautiful spot 'in the middle of nowhere' and when we had breakfast the next morning in the sun, in this untouched environment we felt happier than ever. Life is good!!!!!The third time is a different story. It had been a hard day, hot and quit a lot of climbing. And at the end of the day there was no single sign of a campsite, but in the meantime we had seen some spots where we could put up our tent for the night. We did some shopping in the little village a bit further and went back.We thought we found this nice quiet spot for the night but we made a big mistake. At the moment we wanted to go to sleep we heard constantly noise, talking people, driving cars and smashing car-doors. It was scary and creepy we even scared each other with our own heartbeat. Yeb checked the area around our tent but there was just nothing and nobody. So after a bit of a sleepless night we were glad to leave this place the next morning. We cycled through the village were we shopped yesterday and not even one mile further we just couldn't believe what we saw. A real campsite, a real brand-new campsite. God, we could have slept quietly and safely. We looked at each-other and burst into a big laughter..Unbelievable!!!!!!! Why didn't nobody tell us?Anywaylife is full of surprises. We were on the road again and we enjoyed.The last day to Madrid was the worst day until so far. An absolutely disaster.
