La Seu d’Urgell to Vinebre

Church bells rang every hour, on the hour all night. But despite that noise we slept quite well until 7am when there seems to be a crescendo of bells to wake the village up so that’s when we got up.
We were eager to get going today so by 9am we were ready to move, we refilled Wanda’s water tank ready for a few days away from people and then drove around the corner to the main high street of La Seu d’Urgell.
Today was our first washing day and there was a laundrette just behind the camp on the edge of the high street, we parked up right in front of the building, Ellie took the washing in and I decided to go down the high street to look for the bike shop that was advertised on google maps.
It was now 10am, the time the bike shop was meant to open. I needed 4 CO2 canisters and a couple of inner tubes and a spare pump because the stuff I had brought with me was crap. I didn’t think for 1 minute this bike shop would even be there, let alone open, so I was really surprised to find the shop and it was open and it was stocked from floor to ceiling with quality gear. The owner didn’t speak a word of English but through google translate he gave me 4 CO2 cylinders, 2 inner tubes that were the right size and he gave me a light weight quality pump. I did tell him he was a hero, and told him I loved his shop all through google translate and now I could go back to the trails without having to worry.
With the washing done we plotted the sat Nav, did a quick Lidl shop en route and then drove 50 miles to La Bisbal de Falset to our first Catalonian destination.
The Cave Hospital of Santa Llùcia. This was a remarkable place which as it’s namesake says is a cave and was used as a hospital in the 1938 civil wars of Catalonia. There was even a remarkable story on the boards about a welsh guard who got injured and an MP from Norwich who went over there to comfort him while he recovered from his injuries.
Time was now ticking on and it was 3:30pm, so Ellie looked on Park4night and found us another free airè in the town of Vinebre. It was a newly built Airè, with a dump station and water for free and when we entered the car park we saw a board with hiking and biking trails marked off all starting from there.
We parked up, made a cup of tea with some biscuits and I downloaded a 5 mile walk through town and along the Ebrè river and then back in a loop.
We set off about 4:30pm and it was a beautiful walk that started from the airè, down the main high street, through a purpose built subway and then out into the countryside surrounded by apple and olive trees. We passed a few locals all out for walks and then we came across a Dutch couple down by the rivers edge who were looking for somewhere to service there motorhome. I looked somewhere up and emailed them the directions and then we were on our way along the river bank.
The trail continued for about a mile and a half along the rivers edge before turning right and heading back past more olive trees before coming to a very quiet road that led us all the way back to town and eventually back to Wanda.
It was now 6:30pm and we were quite worn out so we both had showers while we could refill the water, had a very late dinner and then settled in for the night.Read more