L'Estartit (Day 4)

You wont forget, will you? Hopefully not Marge. Every morning John sprays his deodorant and shortly afterwards Angela lights the gas to boil the water for the morning coffee. So, she has to make sure the van is well ventilated before she does it otherwise it will be 'goodnight, Vienna' as the saying goes. 

Chores out the way we cycled in to town to buy provisions for lunch and to visit the tourist office to pick up a cycling map for the area. We chose the ten-mile circular route which would take us to Torroella de Montgri alongside the Baix Ter Natural Park. The cycle out took us along country lanes passing small farmhouses the colour of the arid ground they sat upon.

Vegetables grew in the parched sandy soil alongside apple trees heavy with blossom.

High on the hilltop overlooking the town sits the thirteenth century castle. We arrived at Torroella de Montgri just as the morning church service ended. We were surprised at just how large the congregation was. As they left the church, many people were carrying fragrant sprigs of bay leaves as part of the holy week Easter celebrations. 

We found a place to sit in the main square by the town hall and ate our lunch whilst admiring the architecture that surrounded us. Architecture that we imagined the local residents probably didn't give a second glance at.

Just around the corner from the square we stopped to look at the window display of Easter chocolate and cakes in a pastisseria. The shop now closed for the day, we could see a table had been set up inside with twelve place settings ready for a family lunch. Conscious we may be intruding we spent less time than we wanted looking at the fascinating and beautiful creations. 

Our ride back to L'Estartit took us along the river Ter. An annoying head wind hampered our progress. The same wind forced its way through the reeds along the river bank causing them to struggle to remain upright.

Eventually we arrived at the coast, the breeze still brisk we stopped a while to watch the wind ruffle the waters of the lagoon that sat behind the white sands of the beach. Reluctant to return to the campsite as this way our last day here we rode down to the marina and sat outside a cafe.

Angela's coffee arrived with a miniature muffin, which was very nice but a full size one to match the size of her mug of coffee would have been nicer. 

The weather today has been lovely, despite the wind. Our faces red from wind burn we returned to the campsite where we found a very sad Marge. No Marge, we're not happy either about the new neighbours, their dog, and their badly behaved children. So Angela went to the reception, paid the bill for our four nights stay and asked if we could move as it was very windy up at our end of the site. Which it was. Tact, Marge. Tact.

We have enjoyed our time at L'Estartit, as we have every time we've been here. Tomorrow we will begin our return journey back into France, as the weather forecast there is looking a lot better than northern Spain. We know the next few days will pass quickly, and intend to make the most of everyday. Just two more weeks and we will be at Cherbourg ready to catch our sailing back to England.