Bot

Last night we slept like the dead after our previous 2 nights of not a lot of sleep. It was quiet, peaceful, no vanlifers turning up at all hours so we woke up at 6am refreshed and awake. Although Ellie was still feeling a little rough. Her fever has gone but now she has the symptoms of a cold.
Our first port of call for the day was to get some shopping, so we doubled back on ourselves for 6 miles and went to a Mercadonna supermarket back in Molina d’Ebre. We stocked the cupboards for the next few days and then set off, heading back through Miravet, out the other side to a place we had just found on google maps called Prat de Compte. The drive was beautiful with lots of green Rocky Mountains and switchbacks and the roads were super quiet.
We had found a little airè on park4night and arrived just before lunchtime and we were the only ones here, this would be night number 11 with no electric hook up and it would also be our 10th free night so we are super pleased with how our solar is working.
We filled the water tanks, emptied the grey waste, had a cup of tea and then went for a walk around the town. We saw just 3 people in total and checking on google it has a population of 178. The streets were beautiful with ancient buildings and and brickwork everywhere. Tiny narrow streets crisscrossed each other and the whole place was a rabbit warren of little wooden doorways and shuttered windows with the church in the middle. This was the only building open and as we poked our heads around the door there was an elderly nun in a beige habit with a mobile phone in her hand and an open laptop in front of her and she beckoned us in to see the inside.
It was a beautiful building with all the gaudily pomp of the European churches we had seen before. Gold leaf everywhere, pink walls and a highly decorated ceiling and statues of saints everywhere. We aren’t religious atall but we do love a nice church.
The hot springs we are going to visit are just a few hundred meters down the road, but it is a steep climb and Ellie is still feeling wiped out so we returned to Wanda where Ellie could rest and I decided to go on a bike ride.
The Viaverde greenways are a network of disused railway lines that have been recovered for use by walkers and bikers and they crisscross the whole of Spain covering thousands of miles and one of those lines is in Prat de Compte.
I set off at 3pm and and headed down the hill towards the railway lines. I hit a new top speed of 82.9kph on my bike, that’s 51mph in old money but I knew I’d be a lot slower on the way back up. At the bottom of the hill I saw the Prat de Compte railway station looking pretty sorry for itself. That’s part of the attraction of these old railway lines. The rails have gone and have been replaced with tarmac but everything else of the railways is still there.
I turned right onto the paved track and almost immediately had to put my front light on as I entered a tunnel that was pitch black and 900 meters long. I came out the other side into bright sunlight, albeit rather windy into a canyon like landscape with a beautiful gorge and river running underneath the raised trail I was now riding on, then I crossed a huge viaduct and entered another tunnel, this one was 700 meters long, and when I came out the other side I was entering the village of Bot.
Here there was a small car park with 3 motorhomes parked up with there owners either walking or riding the greenway and there was also an airstream style railway carriage that had been turned into a restaurant and bar.
I carried on, passing through several more tunnels, crossing over huge viaducts that were hundreds of feet above ground level and passing old abandoned buildings, coal houses and stations. All the while I had beautiful mountain views either side of me.
At the 25 kilometre mark I came to a river and a waterfall just after the town of Arno. Here I turned back on myself and headed for Wanda.
Back at Prat de Compte station I turned left back into the road and headed uphill. This was going to be the longest climb I had ever done in real life and it was steep.
I knew how far I had cycled already so I knew when the Speedo readout said I was 46km I had atleast a 4km climb. I dropped down some gears, saving 3 in reserve incase I got really knackered, stood on the pedals and went for it. My plan was to look at the road in front of my front wheel rather than ahead so I couldn’t see how steep it was but 1km in I looked up and saw tarmac and switchbacks curving up and out of sight. I dropped down 1 gear but kept pushing. A year ago I knew I couldn’t have done this, I kept thinking about all the cycling I’ve been doing. All the AR climbs I’d done, all the fake mountains I have climbed. Has any of it worked? Is indoor cycling really as good at getting me fit and prepared?
It turns out it is. I climbed 3.2km at a gradient of 7% rising to 14% for 90 meters and stayed a steady 17kph all the way up. I was super proud of myself.
Back at Wanda I cleaned up and told Ellie about the ride and where we would drive tomorrow to join the greenway so she could come and she cooked us some burgers for dinner. The food was well needed.
Sitting in Wanda, we can hear the church bells going off every 15 minutes. It’s not a normal bell sound, it far more musical and it proved that at 9pm by playing a tune for 2 minutes building up to the hour. We thought that was the final crescendo for the night but at 9:15 they continued and are still continuing every hour. I quite like it but it’s driving Ellie up the wall.
Let’s see how we sleep and pass judgement in the morning.Read more