Catalunya

After the excitement of Cap d’Adge we would have liked to have gone a little deeper into the mountains, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favour so we decided to head to Cerét a little earlier than planned. This town has the museum of modern art as well as apparently the best street market in the whole of France. Quite a claim!

We arrived on a dank Friday evening and parked under the Devils bridge. The following day was market day so we set off bright and early to see what the fuss was about. And we have to be honest and say that this was definitely the best street market we both had ever seen. The quantity and quality of local goods and produce on offer was quite amazing. Everything you could want in home grown organic foods and grains, flowers, and some pretty decent clothing as well as a lovely buzz to the town.

After the market we went to the museum of modern art for a couple of hours of stimulation. Cerét is famous for housing a few of the so called greats including Picasso, Chagall and Max Jacob. They were attracted by the bohemian atmosphere and openness to male orientation. Although it didn’t fare so well for Jacob when the Nazis came rolling through. The works on display were very impressive as well as being very priceless and it was an enjoyable current instalment also.

The next days forecast was terrible but fortunately for us it was completely wrong so we went on a long hike to a waterfall which was overtaken by locals and continued deep into the forest and came across an amazing pool where we could swim and have our lunch in the sun in this secret natural paradise. Saying goodbye to a nice few days in the foot of the pyrenees we cleaned and serviced the van so that all 3 of us were respectable enough to head for Spain!

Crossing the crazy border towns of Le Perthus we headed for the Camper Aire of Montmeló, just a stones throw away from the F1 circuit. The park up was absolutely terrible. Full of rubbish, a service point drain full of human waste as the black waste was broken and total and utter morons pour their toilet cassette into the open drain. And a fresh water connection you had to disinfect with a pressure washer. But it was late and we wanted to visit Barcelona the next day so we just closed the doors and blocked everything out which is our way in situations like this.

The next morning we were on the train and very slowly heading toward the city, seemingly stopping in every town in Spain on the way. But after a slight backtrack from missing our stop we were emerging into the crazy Barcelona city atmosphere.

Covering over 26km in the day we pretty much saw everything we wanted and more. The city is really diverse and there is pretty much every cross-section of human there as well as every type of business that you could possibly want. We very much enjoyed the tiny streets, the seafront, and especially La Sagrada Família. Its worth the effort alone to walk around this incredible structure.

Returning back to the van after an exhausting day we were good for nothing and even the thought of making a meal was too much for us, so we had a cold beer and called it a night.

Leaving the filth of the car park the next morning we first had to find a clean camper service and then headed for the beach. This would be our last day together for a couple of weeks as unfortunately Leela had to head back to America to sort some things out once more. So we found a lovely naturist beach near Calafell and spent the day in the beautiful sunshine whilst getting sandblasted in the process as the wind was still haunting us.

Leaving Leela at the Airport again was not easy and the next few days I was a little lost so I just stayed where I was to work out a new plan for myself. It really was a lovely place with an amazing seafront and a wonderful Naturist beach where I enjoyed to run each morning and swim in the afternoons. I also managed a well needed hair cut with Abdul, the charming yet ever so slightly menacing local Moroccan barber!

The next days were spent in the quiet and picturesque hillside town of Prat de Comte in the Serres de Pàndols-Cavalls national park where I done some hiking, visited La Fontcalda (not so) hot springs and rode the impressive Terra Alta bike way before returning to the coast.

Finding a safe and very nice place a stones throw away from Playa del Torm, a quite amazing naturist beach, I stayed still for the best part of a week. Just running, hiking and enjoying the freedom of nature at this incredible beach before driving back up the coast to pick up the returning Leela from the train station so that we could be back on our way together.

We did take a detour to get four new tyres for the van which were much required and with new running shoes on, we then spent some lovely time back at Playa del Torn together which brought an end to our Catalunya adventure.