Day 12 – Portbou (my first rest day this trip)

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If you read day 11′s post before this one then you’ll understand I was quite chuffed about getting to the coast and had been in awe of the towns as well as the windy roads that lead to them.

I probably could have continued on like a boss but my knees had been aching for a couple of days and after not find the right way to the coast before now and not having had a rest day either I thought I deserved a break.

I’d stopped the bike by the sea front for all of 3 minutes when a dude sat down in front of the bike and started chatting. Turns out he’d ridden his scooter all the way down from Germany and had been coming to Portbou for the past 15years that way. As soon as I mentioned I might stay the night he recommended a “clean and cheap hostel” just around the corner. I was sweaty and needed to shower and relax so I went and checked in right away. At 22e per night you can’t really complain. The room was a single bed, sink and storage with a shared bathroom/shower in the corridor. All I needed and a bit of privacy too. And, of course, they had WiFi (I think the Spaniards say it like the French – “WeeFee”).

Downstairs was a bar with the football playing and all the punters watching Barca beat ManU intensely. I geeked out on my laptop and made a bit of small talk with the folks in the bar. I had a play with the little man who helps run the place too – Juan. He can’t have been more than 3 and as kids that old can’t do too much speaking we were on a level playing field :)

I found out Portbou really is tiny. It can’t have a population of over 1000. Probably closer to 500 + tourists.

I took a dip in the sea (of course) had a lounge about on the beach (tiny and stony as it is) and checked out the awesome boats that were moored up. There were some great looking yachts. Even the size I would feel comfortable having a go with… and the estate agents have 2 bed apartments from 50k euro. Mind keeps flitting to the dream of a holiday home & boat  in Portbou.

The slightly strange thing I found confusing was the angled roads & alley ways. For somewhere only 1mile square it was easy to get lost and pretty tough to find things or find your bearings.