Sunday, August 1

I was greeted by clear, blue skies and had a hearty breakfast, served by an Italian waiter, we chatted about our love for his country. Sort claims to be the capital of whitewater kayaking, I saw quite a few lanes on the river Noguera Pallaresa.

Now I felt to be in the Cascades in Washington, such was the landscape, a lot more barren, quite wild. Traffic was super light, the one thing I did see often were buses carrying folks going rafting up the river. Here again, nice mountain villages lined the road.

This is how I got to the pass called Port de la Bonaigua at 2,072 meter, riding through yet another skiing area. Here I met a couple of friendly motor bikers, we chatted for a while. More wild horses right after the pass, they were gazing the high grass while bathing in a river.

In the late afternoon, I was cruising in the Aran Valley, surrounded by mountains that are up to 3,000 meters high and was a pristine paradise, with cycle paths, ski slopes, trails. I visited more Romanesque churches, such as Sant Andreu de Salardú from the 12th century, with wonderful frescoes. I enjoyed even more of the mountain village with the stone churches, stopping in most of them.

Google Timeline tells me I slept in Camping Artigané at Arrós, honestly, I have no recollection of this whatsoever, but am sure I was not up riding all night, so let us assume that it what happened. Well, probably this was due to me travelling back in time, riding through all these wonderful settlements I was thrown back into the 17th century or so...

Here you can see the trip in Google Maps, it was 86 kilometers, with 1,376 meters of climbing and 1,972 meters of descending.