Barcelona
Solo Trip to Barcelona
November | 2021
Normally the blog you will find in the we-form, but as it is only Steffi doing an excursion, all written in I form - we hope you will enjoy it the same:
I (Steffi) thought it might be a good idea to work on my offroad skills on Schimmelchen, in preparation for our trip in 2022. There are plenty of companies offering courses, but the decision was made for TwinTrail Experience in Barcelona. That means doing the long distance again, only 2 month after the Pyrenees.... However, once up there, I planned to make the most out of it and visiting finally Barcelona, that was already for a very long time on my (and my mums) bucket list.
Friday night I left the Algarve towards Mérida, so at least 400km of the long trip are ticked off. In Mérida the receptionist came shooting out (even it was light raining) to the parking lot as soon as I got off the bike - not to assist or help me at all. No, no, just to tell me that I cannot leave my bike THERE, as I haven't booked, but I could park it with additional cost of EUR5/night. Serious, is that your only worry in that weather at that time of the day after 400km?!? I gave him a really snappy reply in my turtle spanish, but he must have gotten the message as he then appologized. Seriously!!! If it wouldn't have been raining, pre-booked and paid and money no issue I would have left and looked for a friendlier place. I unloaded the bag needed for the night, reparked the bike so that everybody has space to park whereever at the parking place, locked up / secured the remaining luggage .... and there comes my friend from the reception! Again, to discuss again with me that the remaining parking spaces is for pre-booked clients and the fee for the night EUR5. I explained him that even a lorry can get around to park in the parking lot and that I will pay! Then he went off again - again still not offering to take any of my bags down to reception; still baring on mind it is raining!
The check-in with my new friend carried on to be customer friendly, that finally his colleague realised that I really got fed up! Hurray, finally someone gots the message! Well, took a beer to the tiny room (bathroom bigger than the entire room!) that was not really 100% clean, but bed and washing fascilities were clean, and that counted. I couldn't be bothered anymore as it is only for sleeping. However, there is no star or thumb up for Deluxe Hostels & Suits in Merida that is for sure! Glad no breakfast was booked ;-)
Next morning the sky still grey in grey, but at least during packing it was not raining. However, wrapped up in rain gear I left about 9am the hotel, trying to find the access to motorway by not using the GPS - using the motto "one avenida will eventually get me to the motorway". Probably there was a shorter way, but finally I got there, and at the same time it started to rain. After a good hour I stopped for some breakfast (same time as a fully loaded bus) - hahahaha! However, good decision as after that the clouds openend up and the dry weather continued all the way up to Collbató. In Madrid my famous Garmin Montana GPS decided it is time for some sight seeing right across the centre of town!
About 20h I arrived up in Collbató at the lovely hotel Cán Missé. What a difference in service and the room towards the previous night! After I have settled in it was time to fill my belly with some Patatas Bravas and beers. The next morning, after a lovely breakfast, I wanted to do the little tour around Montserrat Mark from TwinTrain Experience sent me. The idea was to go into the complex of the famous area of the monestry to find out about the entrance (fee & time) of the Basilica with the black madonna. Has anyone tried to get there on a sunny weekend day? If not, don't try it during the weekend, especially if you are in a car, unless you try to be there ridiculously early in the morning!
It was really nice to see the mountain of Montserrat hidden partly behind the clouds at the morning. The road up to the monestry area is a lovely twisty mountain road, which was more than welcome after all the straight motorway riding! About 1km prior to the parking the traffic stopped. First I didn't know why the cars suddenly parked/stopped on the road, until my common sense told me that they are waiting to get to the same destination. Here is the advantage of being on 2 wheels; passing them all, slowly as there are still cars coming from the other direction. Up at the parking area, it was of course completely full. So decision was done, to carry on the route around Montserrat and then to make a plan for ridiculous-early-hours tomorrow morning. As soon as I carried on the route, after about 500m I glimpsed in the corner of my eye a gap between a campervan and a car that suited perfectly for Schimmelchen. OK, change of plan again ;-).
After all was tucked and secured on the bike, it was time to walk to the monestery area. Unfortunately I was not aware that this would turn out to be a nearly 1km walk; fully geared up (offroad course = offroad boots!) in about 22ºC. As used to the quiet life in the Algarve, with various lockdowns the past 2 years, I got godsmacked with the amount of people visiting the place; face mask up was my natural reaction. Incredible how this pandemic can change your behaviour!
I went up the hill with the furnicular and enjoyed the panoramic view and the silence. Not much hiking possible due to my offroad boots though ;-) On the way down, two canadian guys started talking to me (due to the bike gear) as they just got back from an organised motorbike tour at the Sierra Nevada. Was really nice to chat to them!
Back on the bike, all was still where it has secured, which was good to know as it was the first time using the pacsafe-locking system. Also it was good to get away from the crowd of people and back on the bike for some more twisties. Later that afternoon I wanted to buy a bottle of red wine and some crisps to take to the hotel room, but in Spain shops close mainly on a Sunday afternoon! This is really different to Portugal where shops are mainly open 362 days a year! However, no worries, I will get my bottle of red and some food, as no lunch or snack since breakfast.
As the tapas bar close by was over-flocked with people I googled the next open bar in the hillside village, which was finally a bakery just down the road - and it was open! There I got a massive sandwich, some beers and a lovely chat with two local ladies. The sandwich were big enough to last me until breakfast! The bottle of red wine I got then from the tapas bar on the way back to my hotel room.
Next day, I decided to ride through the natural park "Sant Llorenç de Munt i l'Obac" full of twisties and switch backs which was really nice to ride. Unfortunately no place for taking pictures as either no place where you could take picture, or parking places with a view, so no pictures of that lovely surrounding :-( Back to Collbató this time I was lucky to get a seat outside at the terrace of the tapas bar to have some batatas bravas and beers.
Later that day it was time to pack up as tomorrow morning early start as meeting with TwinTrail at their premises was 9h00. Do you also have always the feeling that suddenly the bags are either to small or big, but the amount of clothes / stuff the same? Some scratching-the-head-time later it was nearly all in the side panniers-bags on the bike, ready for tomorrow early morning.
Early next morning I rushed through the reception as still had to pay, breakfast and last packing, to be on time for 9h00. Arriving at TwinTrail Shop it was still closed...?? I looked at my clock on my bike and it took me a minute to realise that I was one (!) hour too early!! Welcome to the modern technology! I forgot that my alarm is set for Portuguese time, which is 1 hour earlier! Great, I could have slept an hour longer!! No wonder I was so tired when I had to get up; even the summertime change to winter time this weekend. As there was a petrol station just down the motorway I drove back there to get a cafe and read in my kindle.
At 9h00 (this time correct Spanish time) I met Mark from TwinTrail Experience and after I have unpacked Schimmelchen we drove off to the nearby training area. I recognised it directly from one of the last vlogs of Charly Sinewan ;-) Mark gave me a short theoretically introduction (as I already ride offroad) and then we went on to start training; so essential for me practising the slow technical parts, and look-where-you-want-to-go! Ah yes, it took me about 2 years to stop me gripping on my bike with the knees tight (especially with amarelinha (DRZ) and now I learn the opposite! So lets see if it will take me another 2 years ...? However, I guess it will be with the fully loaded bike in future a mixture of both! And then we of course, trained my favourite: downhill! Ask James about my downhill-paranoia! It is really difficult for me to get the foot up and go ... So you can imagine how much I screamed going the short hill down! (Un)Fortunately no video evidence existing ;-) Lets see how we do in future with rutty, stoney, washed out downhills on a fully loaded bike - hahahaha! To be honest, I better train parallel the picking up! Just in case ;-)
It was a very good and informative day, also with a little ride around their backyard to put the practice into action. As it was one-to-one I couldn't cheat, so fully focussed all the time! I really enjoyed it and now it is to find time to practice, practice, practice! Thank you Twin Trail Experience for the posibility, and "Muchas gracias Mark para tener la paciencia para mi! Me encantada, me gusto mucho este dia!". Why not say ‘hey’ to Marc over on Instagram!
In the evening I went into Barcelona, to our hotel right next to the Las Ramblas. After the bike was parked and unloaded, I quickly changed and met my mum on the Las Ramblas to find somewhere to get some tapas and a drink, which is not difficult in such a big city.
The next day, we did walking for our sight seeing tour 15km! As it was such a cold wind blowing, we went in one mega-store to get a woolie and a scarf!! Then we visited Arc d'Triump, Sagrada Familia and La Pedreira. I can highly recommend the visit into the Sagrada Familia, amazing and very interesting what Gaudís idea was! I was also impressed with the Avenidas, main connection streets here, as they look so well organised for the traffic with own bus/taxi lanes, lanes for cyclists, electro scooter, etc and then of course pedestrians. I would even consider driving with Schimmelchen through here if needed; whereas Lisbon will remain for me a horror!
The next day we only did 11km walking ;-) We did mainly the other two main areas along the Las Ramblas, visiting Palacio Guëll, churches, famous covered markets, park Citadela, etc. In the evening we had pre-booked a flamenco show at Tablao Cordobés and it was worth each cent! It was so great to see them dancing and feeling the "duende"; and it reminded me all time to one of the books of Lucinda Riley of the "7 sisters" (I highly can recommend all 7 books!).
Our last day we mainly spent on one of these sightseeing-buses, in the freezing cold as temperatures have dropped some more degrees to the previous days! After that we went to the restaurant / tapas place called "El Nacional". It was really good and finally I got warm again! That was a perfect finish for our Barcelona trip!
Later that evening it was only packing (see above about sudden changes in bag sizes) and our last drink on one of the main squares close by; well a mulled wine would have been nearly the choice as so cold!
The next morning (Saturday) I left already at 8h the hotel, meaning being packed up sitting on the bike, actually driving out of Barcelona. I was originally planning to stop for the night somewhere after Madrid, but as it was soooo cold (average all day 8ºC and some windy areas) I drove all the way home. I didn't got tired as it was too cold; after Madrid I was determined to get home into my bed for tonight! Not another day in the freezing cold!
Now, you would be thinking, where my problem is with the temperature! Very easy, by the time I left the Algarve, the weather forecast didn't show these freezing temperatures for the next week ahead! Max temperatures at night were 12ºC forecasted, during the day 22ºC! In other words I had no clothes to keep me warm! I arrived at 22h (23h Spanish time) at home. I directly brewed me a hot tea with lots of Jameson! As I was soo tired after 15hrs driving (1350km) I went immediately to bed, wrapped up in about 3 layers of blankets!
Places | Cities:
Collbató, Barcelona
Driven km | Trip:
Stefanie: 2950km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
None
Health issues:
None
Special thanks to:
Twin Trail Experience for the great input on the one-day offroad training course
Barcelona for being such an interesting city