Day 8

Gosol to Olat

62 miles 3,900’

Headed out around 10 (everything is later in Spain) on a beautiful morning. Cool, since we were at almost 5,000’ last night. First up was the Pedraforca (pitchfork), along with some (more) great views of the mountains.

Next stop was the Gaudi gardens in La Pobla de Lillet. Pretty cool to walk around (photos below), but turned out to be a mistake to take the hour off the bikes.



We finished climbing the Coll de Merolla (minimal effort), followed by a gradual descent. Next up was the Coll de Sentigosa. Since the skies were getting dark, I didn’t stop and headed up the hill. Sure enough, 4K from the top it starts r**ning. I pushed it harder over the top, hoping to find dry conditions on the other side. Nope. I put on my arm and leg warmers, but didn’t have my vest or rain jacket –they were in the van, which was somewhere behind me. I start down the hill – it’s about 20K to the hotel – and it absolutely dumps. No place to wait for the van, so I just went for it.

In town it was hard to navigate, since it was still a downpour. I had to stop at each turn, find a place to get out of the rain, and get my route sheet out (which was falling apart) to determine the next turn. Finally made it to the hotel; nice to take a hot shower and start drying everything out.

It was supposed to be an easy day!