19. Bike with Earl, Puivert-Chalabra, Prep to fly Home

Surprise bike ride today with Earl, what a fun way to finish off a 3 week visit. He was interested in retracing my ride from yesterday, starting in Puivert, then into the farm country. After fortifying ourselves with coffee and pastry from the local boucherie, we drove up to Puivert to begin. Paulita and Lynn stayed behind for fun of their own…as it turned out that was a great idea! 

The weather today was at least 10F degrees colder than yesterday, with overcast sky and stiff wind. It looks like fall weather is blowing in to this area with a vengeance. We rode into Rivel after a stiff short climb, followed by a long, ripping descent, then headed out on the unmapped roads I found yesterday. It turned into a tough day on the road, we weren’t even able to find a cafe or Tabac open for snacks or drinks in the little villages we rode through. Bummed by the conditions, we decided to head for the Voie Verte, and take a more relaxed ride into Chalabre, thus avoiding the final tough climbs we’d planned. Remember, Voie Verte is a converted rail trail, so no part of the path is steeper than about 3 degrees…because trains couldn’t climb steeply! We hammered on that for awhile, until coming up with the bright idea to see if Paulita and Lynn would drive out to meet us in Chalabra, with a bike rack to haul us and the bikes back to Puivert to pick up my rental car. 

Old railroad bridge on the Voie Verte trail into Chalabra. Look closely, there's a Petanque tournament going on in the park down below

We made it! Earl recognizes this landmark church as the place we get off the trail to meet the ladies!

Amis de Velos, with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza statute in background

Sweet as they are, the ladies set aside their own plans and drove out. We all arrived by coincidence into Chalabra at the same place and time, at the very statute of Don Quixote where I’d taken Earl’s photo 2 weeks ago! This was a good omen. Strapped the rack onto Pauilta’s car, tied the bikes down, and took off, still without finding anywhere to eat or drink. Nourishment happened after we got back to Quillan, safely and still healthy. Lynn had already eaten lunch at the nearby restaurant Le Galerie, and saved her leftovers for me!

Earl wastes no time in installing the rack upside down, which we later fixed

The rest of the day was devoted to packing up our things for travel back to the USA, with about 2 hours eaten up by disassembling and packing my bike into it’s hardcase. We put the rental house back into order, battened down the shuttered windows, etc. Then it was supper time: our last meal here was all the leftover contents of our little refrigerator. Bon Appetit! 

Tourist photo  of Quillan and its valley from mountain observation point, en route back to our home in Quillan 

We'll miss the beauty of this place at the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains

We’ll head for Barcelona tomorrow morning after a Farewell visit to our favorite Coffee Truck, here for the Wednesday market. Hoping to stop at the Dali Museum on our way through Spain, then hotel near the airport, and early check-in Thursday morning for the flight back to North Carolina. Well, that’s the plan anyway, but we know travel stuff is always fluid and changeable. Hoping for the best!