9th July Torreilles plage to Pere Pescador

The wind was light early in the morning but still in favour and the journey on down the coast was pleasant passing by various beach resorts, st marie plage, canet plage, st Cyprien plage; all the time the pyrenees grew in size and knowing how hard this rig was to push over mountains I was a little fearful. I arrived at the foothills to the town Argeles sur Mer. Here I met Andreas; it was like he was stopped waiting for me 'follow me I'll show you the best way through the town and the best way up the mountain. I know it like the back of my hand' At one point two litres of water went flying off the back of my bike to the other side of the road and Andreas jumped off and stopped all traffic to retreive them.
He was from Cologne in Germany staying in the town on hols with his family and talked about the times he went cycle touring with his wife years ago three months at a time. He was looking forward to start it again after the children grew up.
The climbing proper starts at Port Vendres rises steeply and descends to Banyuls sur Mer, then rises again for a few miles and descends again to the border town of Cerbere.
Up to this point the form was good and the climbs not as bad as expected; but the worst was still to come. At Cerbere I ate at an outdoor restaurant in the centre and chatted to an elderly Dutch couple who took some photos.
From Cerbere the road again rises steeply for a couple of miles to the Spanish border where the views are breathtaking.
There is also surprisingly little traffic on this road. Again the road descends to sea level to the town of Port Bou. At the tourist office I was given the advice to go the old road or route ancien out of town and not the tunnels. This turned out to be crazy advice (unless I picked her up wrong) as the old road climbed right over the top of the mountain through endless loups and hairpins. Not another car or person did I meet on this road in three quarters of and hour of climbing. Even after descending this one there were more climbs out of Colera and out of Llanca. By this stage every last bit of energy was sapped from me and I sat at a roadside cafe and downed two cans of aquarush.

The target was to reach Pera Pescador and one consolation was the land here was completely flat and through lovely countryside and after the town of Castello d'Empuries through a national park Parc Natural Dels Aiguamolls de l'emporda. By this time the wind had changed to the south and would stay so for the rest of the journey. Saint Pere Pescador was a popular camping resort with mostly Dutch and Germans. Again I checked out a couple of campsites and chose one beside the tourist office camping Riu Here I treated myself to an Indian massage part of the campsite service. The facilities here were top class and indeed the quality of the campsites seemed to get better and better from I left Nice. By this stage I had perfected the camping experience packing and unpacking in half the time with everything in its own proper place. To do the whole thing smoothly while staying clean and comfortable really required to be organised like a soldier with a good work rate off the bike and early to bed early to rise.
67 miles
Have a look at the map and more photos here