Day 8 - Cycle to Olot

Our route today takes us to the foothills of the Pyrenees which means rolling hills and a big climb at the end of the day. The landscape changes as we ride along. No more cornfields and agriculture but green rolling hills with the Pyrenees in the front of us. This is a unique region which was carved out by ancient lava flows from the four volcanoes that border the valley. Everything is very green and we ride through the woods on pretty shaded roads. The weather is perfect for riding which certainly helps and the roads in Spain are really nice. Even the secondary roads are smooth and nicely paved. We stop for lunch by a scenic lake (Estany de Banyoles). We keep moving today because of the climbing and distance so don't spend too much time at lunch. There is another large bike group at the restaurant with Bike Adventures. The ride is uphill all day but is broken up by some nice downhills. I am quite proud of myself for doing this kind of riding. I do fine and really appreciate the low gears on my bike, but I am ready for the top! Philipp meets us at the top with the van and some chocolate. The ride down from the top is really fun! We have ridden 78 km by the end of the day. A delivery truck is parked over the arrows pointing to the hotel so Dave and I ride past a kilometer or two but then realize that we must have passed the hotel so ride back. By now, Rick has asked the truck driver to move forward a little so we can see the arrows.

Our hotel tonight is a restored manor house just outside of Olot. Our hotels have been really nice with nice bathrooms and showers that work. The public bathrooms have also been very nice.

We have talked quite a bit with our leaders about the serious crisis going on in Spain. It is interesting and enlightening to find out more about what is going on. Spain has really suffered with the crash of the European economy and the end to easy money which became available when they joined the European Union. The unemployment rate is somewhere around 25% and young people like our leader Alex cannot find good jobs. Young adults like him are delaying starting families and having a sense of despair about the future. Many are moving back home with their families. It is apparently getting worse because of the conservative government which was voted into power a couple of years ago by voters who thought this government would bring needed reforms and change. Instead they are taking control and making laws which are restrictive and in some cases repressive. People are quite disillusioned with the government. As tourists on the outside, we have noticed little effect of the crisis but hearing about it from our leaders really personalizes it. 

I will talk about the Catalonian independence issue in another blog post. 

                                           The view as we ride along today

                                      We see lots of very o,d buildings

                     We see beautiful vistas as we climb in the foothills of the Pyrenees 

                                      We have finally come to the top of our climb!!