Vanished into the Fog (Montsec Bikepacking Loop)

Vanished into the Fog (Montsec Bikepacking Loop)

Beautiful morning. Buenos dias. Very beautiful. Lucky four days in a row. This is where I slept. Nice and dry. There’s a little bathroom there as well. Making breakfast. Loaded up on water. And the fog is getting higher and higher even today. Leaving Orcau. Very, very good night. Slept like a baby.

And I drank half a bottle of wine. It was pretty good wine. Easy drinking. It was an easy wine. I don’t really like descending into the fog. I prefer climbing out of the fog. It is what it is. Another day alive. Another day to be grateful to be on the road.

Montsec Bikepacking Loop. Let’s double check because I don’t trust this map. All right. Let’s get into the fog. It’s four days I stopped to take the anti-inflammatory, the meloxicam, and the tendinitis is under control, but yesterday and the day before yesterday because of the mud

Yeah, I kind of strained a little bit the tendon, Let’s see. I climbed out of the fog. I think I’m going back down again. What a beautiful route, so peaceful, no noise. Here they are getting rid of the almonds. Be nice to know why. Last night it felt colder when I stopped

To get the water and see if I could camp in the village. Maybe it’s the humidity, but even this morning it feels colder Let’s see. I start to see Christmas decorations in some of these villages. It’s not a bit early, just at the beginning of December for Christmas decoration already.

This is quite muddy. Let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse than this. The sun warmth, makes everything look better, even the mud What a nice ride. What a nice ride. Let me check the map. Farmhouse, very very nice. Wow, what a view.

That house could be bought and fixed up and turn it into Casa de Ciclistas On the Montsec Bikepacking Loop. What a beautiful place. I’m having lunch here because now I’m going down. I already descended a bit from the top and before I was going down in the valley that is a bit

More cold I thought I would have some food here and I usually end my lunch with something sweet and yesterday remember I bought sobaos in in Tremp and I said that they tasted funny and look they have mold in it fuck it. Let’s start to descend Cold. Chilly.

I knew the sobaos were not good. This charming village is Isona, seems pretty modern. See if I can find a piece of bread but very unlikely. Everything seems to be closed. Let’s check out this La Butiga. La Botiga. Is it open? Is it closed? La Butiga is closed.

Let’s see this other side of the city. Hello! Tobacco is closed. Bank is closed. Energy shop is closed. What’s going on in this village? There’s nothing open. The bar is fucking closed. Pizzeria is closed. Hello! No, pizzeria is open. But I don’t want to buy a pizza. Leaving Isona.

Continuing having fun on the Montsec Loop. It’s getting colder by the minute today. What’s going on? What’s going on? Covet, another one of these villages with like two people living here. Beautiful church though. Charming little village, like one, two, three, four, five, seven houses I think, and one car mechanic.

Let’s keep on going, very slowly, my legs do not want to turn. I wish I could record all of this route because it’s so nice not just pick and choose, but who would sit to watch, 12 days of riding? But trust me guys, even the parts that you didn’t see,

They are really good. Just wish the temperature was a little higher. I’ll give you some visual of the valley I’m in now. There you go, another paved bit. I need to check my map, because I don’t know how long is the descent. I’m already pretty cold.

I might better stop and put on my jacket. Quite cold Why they didn’t pick the grapes? You know what? Maybe they are still edible. I’m going to get shot here. Must go before they shoot me. I think they let them… They picked them in December, very late.

So the grapes, they lose a lot of water and they are very sweet. And they make wine like passito. So good those grapes. Approaching another of these little villages. Little hamlet. But look at this house, so beautiful. Stonework. Very very nice. This one seem like a new one.

The olive tree is nice, very nice. They are restoring these houses, look at the stones. It’s a castle. Nice spot to live. I smell good food. Very nice. I’m in time for the barbecue? Yes, get ready. Those gays told me that there is only 1 person living there permanently

The other houses are just vacation homes they live in Barcelona anfd they are here for the weekend I don’t know why he said weekend It’s Wednesday it’s a long fucking weekend. I don’t know why today feels so cold, even though it’s sunny Let’s try to enjoy the climb though.

The serenity and peace of these trails. One hour to sunset, steady climbing. Let’s see where we end up in one hour. On top of the hill, now I’m starting to go down, one hour to sunset. I would have preferred to camp higher up, but let’s see.

Let’s see what’s going on today, maybe I’m gonna be lucky again. Wow, just wow! This is a climber paradise. Look at that. There are loads of climbers around here. Now climbing again for about 10 kilometers. Let’s see if I find a place to camp halfway through.

It feels very cold now, after the descent. It’s getting dark. Still about six kilometers of climbing to reach the top. I could camp somewhere here, well actually here no because it’s fenced, but it’s the first piece of fence that I’ve seen in the last four kilometers, so that’s that, so

But anyway it’s very humid, the terrain is very humid, I kept going in the hope of finding something, I don’t know what, but maybe I was gonna get lucky with something It doesn’t seem the case, but let’s keep on going. I’ll go another 10-15 minutes,

Maximum 20, and then call it a day.

Cycling the world – Europe: 148 episode
Dive into the ninth episode of the Montsec Bikepacking Loop in Catalonia, Spain, where adventure and the unexpected are part of the journey. Leaving the village of Ocau after a cosy night in a community room, I was immediately enveloped by a thick fog that covered the valley, bringing a cold and humid morning. Despite the challenging weather, the trails of the Montsec Bikepacking Loop remained a joy to ride, showcasing the beauty of the route from valley to valley and hamlet to hamlet. On a side of Montsec that turns into a winter haven for rock climbers, I found myself cycling into the sunset as the day’s light faded, embarking on a long climb into the dark, moonless night. Pushing almost to the top, I found a perfect spot to camp. Exhausted, too late, and too cold to cook, I settled for a few cookies and some lukewarm tea from my bottle, marking the end of another remarkable day on the loop.

MY GEAR FULL LIST: https://kit.co/davidetravelli

SUPPORT my round the world bike expedition:
Donations: https://www.paypal.me/davidetravelli
Postcards’ Club: http://alaska2patagonia.com/postcards-club

Follow me:
Blog: http://alaska2patagonia.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidetravelli
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidetravelli
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidetravelli

#bikepacking #biketouring #bikelife
#bicycletouring #cycling

*Some links in this description are affiliate links and therefore when clicked, if you buy the service or product I may make a small commission off of that sale. My opinions on products and services remain unbiased.