Day 136: Sant Corneli (Cycling)

A view a little beyond the Coll de Salamó summit: "before the descent returned to ascent"!

Even lucky people encounter bad luck! If you insist on going out when the weather forecast is predicting showers and thunder, even if the probability of a shower event is no more than 30%, eventually you will get caught in one: As happened to me today! The shower lasted for approximately 4.5 kilometres, leaving only four to go before I reached the van ... those last 4 kilometres had an average up gradient of 10%!

Other than the jeopardy of getting caught in a shower, the other great unknown of today's cycling adventure was the state of the 1.8 kilometre section of unpaved road that I would need to traverse in order to reach the Rasos de Peguera (altitude 1894 metres) from the Coll de Salamó (altitude 1680 metres): would I be able to cycle it or, would I have to partake in some hiker-bike nastiness!

As it was, I was able to cycle 1.4 kilometres, the rest involved taking my bike for a walk! This 250 metre section had a gradient of about 20%, so I decided to walk it!

And at this point, the unpaved was soon to give way to the paved:

And this is what greated me just over the rise:

There were more photo opportunities on the descent from Rasos de Peguera and beyond but, at the first opportunity I could see the rain closing in, so continued on with what was an excellent descent. The rain eventually arrived at the summit of the penultimate climb but, with only 8.5 kilometres left to do!

Despite the rain and the hiker-bike, it was an enjoyable ride.

• Distance driven: 0
• Distance cycled: 53 kilometres
• Weather: Blue skies becoming increasingly cloudy until intermittent rain and thunder arrived - this has been a common theme over the previous few days.

Today's route: