Off on the scoot at a reasonable hour towards the coast. We
had decided not to try to stay a second night in Spain. There are just too many
people about, and we can’t be bothered with mucking about trying to find a
room. And it’s not as though it is very far for us to come back next year. Besalu
was only 130km from Céret including the 30km side trip down to Beget. We
thought we might have a quick look at the shops in Besalu before we left but
extremely few were open before 11am so we left, without breakfast even.
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| Roses, Spain |
We
headed straight out to the coast to Roses, a large seaside resort on a huge
beach that stretches some 17km in a big arc to the south. We parked right on
the beachfront (scooters can park anywhere!) and wandered through the city to
find something to eat. We were looking for a patisserie or baker but it took us
ages to find one – plenty of restaurants but not much else. The town and beach
were fiercely busy with tourists.
A good coffee and a croissant later we were
back on the scoot cutting across the peninsula back to the coast heading north.
Plenty of nice towns and beaches to see, but we were not yet tempted for a
swim. Finally at Portbou (the last Spanish town) we stopped and sat down for
something to eat. Again a nice meal taken under trees, surrounded by Spanish
families lunching too.
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| Paulilles Beach, France |
Back to France. We thought we better spend some time in the
Med again so we called into Paulilles, where Nobel had a gunpowder factory
which has recently been made into a heritage site. A nice lie in the sun, followed by a swim.
The water was a bit cool to get into, but lovely once in. Home again. We feel
like we’ve had half a week away rather than a single night. It’s shown us a
number of things.
- Overnighters on the scooter work out really well, with a minimum of baggage needed, and could easily be stretched to 3 nights.
- Don’t travel peak season, things are too crowded.
- Short trips feel like longer trips.
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| Our entire luggage |
