Camping Le Moulin de Saint-Laurent was a lovely place to spend a couple of nights before cycling to Agen to catch our bus home. We thoroughly enjoyed the pool and the peace.
There was quite a tropical feel, with banana palms bordering the pool.
On our last day we had a circular ride of about 30km to Buzet (including a visit to the Cave des Vignerons to buy a celebratory bottle) and back.
Finally we said goodbye to the campsite goats and headed off to Agen along the canal via another bastide town - Serignac.
The journey home was uneventful and allowed time to reflect on the adventure of the last seven weeks.
Here are some of those thoughts:-
Flora and fauna: In Spain the fields and roadsides were covered in wild flowers and looked spectacular. Poppies were a huge feature, but the variety was enormous. It was noticable that in France the verges were completely clear of flowers which makes me suspect a greater use of herbicides here. In the south of Spain olive groves were everywhere, holm oak was very common too.
We went through some beautiful pine forests in all areas.
Birdsong and birds were our constant companions, especially in Spain. Especially noticable were the cuckoos (many each day), vulture colonies in the high, craggy areas, two golden eagles seen from the pass above Cazorla and a nightingale who sang all night in the campsite at Segovia. In some areas there was scarcely a post without a storks' nest perched on it and every church spire or tower had several.
Storks had colonised the Roman aqueducts in Merida too. There were many smaller birds -sparrows, skylarks, blackbirds and many others which we didn't recognise.
In Spain we saw lots of snakes, at least forty or fifty dead in the road and ranging in size from about one metre long to a few centimetres. Some were green, others obviously vipers. We only saw two live ones crossing our path a little distance ahead - a very good reason to brake! We saw none at all in France.
Lots of lizards and bright green geckos.
Very noisy frogs in several areas.
A few deer, generally quite large.
Red squirrels.
Many butterflies and dragonflies.
Route and standard of driving: The route was well thought out and generally used very quiet roads (often only one or two cars an hour), vias verde (old railway lines converted to cycle ways), irrigation canal service roads and some rough, unsurfaced tracks. Inevitably some more major and unpleasant roads were essential to get into towns and to link up the quieter routes. Some of the minor roads had lovely smooth surfaces, whilst others were full of potholes and almost unridable on a laden touring bike.
In Spain most drivers drive much faster than in England or France. Even on small roads the speed limits appear to be flouted and 100kph would seem to be the norm. On the other hand there is generally a good awareness and courtesy towards cyclists. Most vehicles wait behind until it is safe to pass and then do so wide and not too fast. Of course, in 3250km there were some exceptions to that!
Landscapes: Most of the route went through very beautiful and at times spectacular scenery. We saw a huge variety of architecture, learnt a lot about Spanish history and got a real feeling for rural Spain as well as visiting a few of the obvious "sights" such as Granada, Ronda, Seville and Merida, El Escorial and Segovia.
The route was very mountainous - many days we had to climb at least 1000m, sometimes on very rough surfaces. We found it heavy going and with the time span we had available to cover the distance it was on the top end of what we could do. At times we were exhausted, but even at the ages of 74 and 64, we did it and really enjoyed the challenge! Of course, the great thing about mountains is that the scenery is so good and there are always the descents to enjoy.
Weather: Unseasonally cold and wet for the first week or two and blisteringly hot by the end.
We achieved our aim of getting through Andalucia before the real heat of summer, but that heat certainly caught us up in the north!
Equipment: Problems - Ben lost a cleat from his (aging) cycling sandal on the first day and cycled the whole trip without it (and without the other one when that fell off a few weeks later!).
- Ben's derailleur broke. It was replaced in Zaragoza, but with the wrong sized one. This made cycling over the Pyrenees a challenge for him and has resulted in a lengthy email correspondence and eventual successful refund today.
- Tent zips - we have had difficulty with two of the zips on our lightweight Terra Nova tent, but have just about managed.
- lights - my dynamo operated back light has been intermittent and unreliable. We haven't been able to fix it which makes it dangerous at night or in tunnels as I think it is on, then it will suddenly go out.
Other than that the bikes have performed very well - my gears have been perfect throughout (thank you Angus!), we've had zero punctures in 3250km, some very rough (thank you Schwalbe).
The camping chairs have been superb - a real luxury - we'll never tour without them again.
