Sorry Brandon…

  Canet-en-Roussillon, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Today we bid Barcelona adios. Candido and Carmen jumped on their old Honda CB750 Custom and we followed them to the coast town of Mataró, just north-east of Barcelona.  They were nervous about taking the bike as one of the cylinders was acting up.  That was a bit of an understatement, especially following them from behind with the blue smoke billowing out of the right side.  We stopped on the beach at Mataró for a café and a quick bite of Croquettes and fresh Mussels and also to say goodbye to our gracious hosts.  A big thank you to Candido and Carmen, who welcomed us into their home and made us feel like familia.  We look forward to returning the favour in August when they come to Canada for  a visit.

Before departing, Candido looked over the map of our route of the day and noticed we were going through the town of Figueres, birthplace and home of Salvador Dali.  Of course, we simply had to go there and visit the Dali Museum, our son's favourite artist.   Sorry you couldn’t be here to see it Brandon, but you will need to make the trip, it’s truly fantastic and Dali certainly was one wacked out guy.  We spent almost two hours wandering through the museum.  We were surprised to learn that Dali lived almost 85 years and you could really see how his art transitioned over the years with much of it on display in this museum.

We continued our trek back towards the coast and ran along the road that hugged it to the French border.  These roads were amazing with many corners and undulations up and down over the hills where the Pyrenees’ meets the Mediterranean Sea.  Small quaint fishing/tourist towns were bedded into the various little coves along the way.  We stopped for the obligatory photo op of the border signs before entering France.  Amazingly, along the coastal road there were quite a few vineyards.  I’m not sure who the poor people are that have to get the grapes off the vines with the steepness of the cliffsides.

At the town of Canet we decided to call it a day and started looking for a good campsite.  Campsites were in abundance here along the coast and we could be a bit choosy.  We took a back road towards three campsites and stopped at the last one.  It was quite elaborate and very well laid out, with each tent area surrounded by hedges on three sides.  The bathrooms were amazingly clean.  The central area had a huge pool along with a restaurant, large bar and separate bakery, meat and vegetable/fruit stands.  We set up camp and stepped into the restaurant for supper and relax a bit before heading back for the night.