Up to yet another fine day. It has been sitting a little
above the 30 mark for the last month, sometimes getting up closer to 35. We
would like just a little break, maybe a 26 or 27 degree day for a change. Every single day for the last month has been
above the normal average by 2 to 6 degrees. From emails and Skype, NZ weather
sounds awful, so we are of course very lucky with what we have here.
We packed two little bags for a 3-day 2-night trip on our
scooter, and headed off. Unfortunately we only got 100m before we stumbled
across a potters’ market in one of Céret’s main squares. There is so much on
here we have stopped trying to keep up with it all and just enjoy what we find.
The pottery was very good and pretty serious. I loved some gorgeous
steampunk-style teapots and vessels, and we ended up buying a bowl to take
home. Back to drop it off then finally onto the scooter and away up the valley
at 11am.
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| Steampunk pots |
After about half an hour we pulled into the village of Le
Tech, a bit before Prats-de-Mollo, to have a coffee. A scooter feels a lot more
free than a car – you can stop anywhere more easily, and you are right out in
the breeze. We do need to get an intercom system though as talking is tricky in
the wind.
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| The church at Beget |
Up through Prats and the road starting heading quickly
uphill into the Pyrenees. It’s a little narrow twisty road, initially in
deciduous but increasingly into alpine-style trees. We went through a couple of
minor passes before we hit the top (and Spain) at 1550m.
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| Lovely polychrome interior |
The temperature had
dropped quickly from 25 to eventually 19 at the top pass. What luxury. Like a
lot of the Pyrenees it wasn’t just a ridge with slopes up to it from each side,
but a bit of a plateau on the top. There are walking trails everywhere.
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| Walking in the Pyrenees is serious business |
From the pass, a quick downhill to turn off at Mollo for the
tiny village of Beget deep in a valley off to the east. Fifteen kilometres of
narrow winding road past Rocabruna and we arrived at a quaint wee village. Quite
an Italian hill town feel, mixed with a bit of Alpine style. Very tidy and
gentrified, a bit too much so in some ways. We had a good wander down through
the village, then had an excellent menu
du jour (½ a rabbit, veal) at one of its three restaurants.
Back out to the main road, then down to St Joan des
Abadesses for the medieval bridge, but it turned out to be younger and less
interesting than our own Pont du Diable and we simply did a U-turn and started
the eastwards leg of the trip.
Our next destination was Besalu, an attractive town on the
banks of a river. Found our way into the main square where we parked and asked
about accommodation at the info centre. We knew that travelling before 16
August was likely to be tricky, and so it turned out. Unfortunately the two
B&Bs were full up so we had to go for a more expensive but very ordinary hotel
room. Out into the square for a long, slow and well-deserved beer. At least it
is San Miguel beer here – the French beers are really not good, and it seems
daft to come all this way and drink the Heineken or Stella that we can have at
home.
We had a long walk along the river – it is an old town with
big walls, a lovely defensible bridge and some Jewish persecution in its
history. The local tourist office does guided tours which would have been good,
but were a bit late in the morning, so we will have to save them for another time
(and with fewer tourists about).
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| Yes, camels in the eye of a needle |
Prices here are definitely below France. We had a look at a miniatures
museum with some remarkably tiny and detailed work, then a huge grill for
dinner for 7€,
watching the myriad happy yelling children biking and scooting and running
around the big square. Again it brought home the differences between Spain and France – so
much noisier and more free for the children.
