Day 14 – Girona to Pineda De Mar
I’m not going to go on about the rain I faced 5km after I left Girona. I’m just going to show you this vid and then talk about something else.
Well it got cut off cos my phone’s evil and hates me but you get the gist – it was raining (really frickin hard) and I had to cycle through it. So I did. Like a boss. It started off feeling horrible and before long I was soaked through completely despite my “water-proof” jacket and getting paranoid about my laptop not being in any way water-proof contained for safe keeping but I knew it was going to rain like that all day so I didn’t have much of a choice. It did make a me chuckle a bit too… like “there is nothing I can do about it so just stop trying to fight it and let go” sorta chuckle.
Well like I said – I’m not going to go on about the rain. Instead I’m going to try to sum up what it’s like to do this sort of trip. It’s not going to be easy so just bear with me.
You know when you’re in the airport or on a plane, at a station or on a train, in a car travelling far… Shit, this sounds like Dr Seuss. I’ll start again.
Whenever I travel I get a transient feeling of freedom. You aren’t tied to one place or one set of ideas or what may otherwise feel like a situation you can’t change or a routine you were sick of years ago… you’re just in a comfortable limbo that allows you to take everything in anew and experience things in a sort of default state that we would all be in if it weren’t for life’s usual burdens and responsibilities getting in the way.
I think I recognised this feeling from a young age. I was certainly aware of it consciously for years and years. And I liked it.
Well that is part of the feeling I get whenever I leave a place, move through a place or finish up somewhere on the bike.
Seeing new things is so much fun. I think that’s what people mean when they refer to the “travel bug”. It’s the picking yourself up out of your routine and dropping yourself somewhere completely alien and hitting Play. It’s infectious.
Travelling solo I’ve really enjoyed too. Not always, but the majority of the time it’s great to have your own space, relying only on yourself, pacing only yourself and not being tied to anyone else’s whims or difficulties. I’m pretty certain that I could not have done the cycling with other people involved. Definitely not more than one.
Then there’s the camping! I love camping and the pitch-it-anywhere feeling of freedom. I had done (just) enough prep beforehand to make this bearable and with camping stove, tent, sleeping bag and rest of the gubbins I managed to see myself ok with just one supermarket/boulangerie trip per day. If you’re carrying everything you want to survive for that day you don’t want more than a day’s reserve of food/drink. The weight is just unnecessary.
The views… are just… awesome. None of the pictures or videos will do them justice. Getting to them using your own steam as well gives you a real sense of accomplishment for getting to look at it. When I saw Geneva lake after a full day of cycling up through the mountains I felt this. When I turned corners to see the sea when hitting the coast on this trip I felt it too. Looking back to see how far you’ve come in what feels like just minutes. You start to appreciate the scale of the trip and that day’s adventure. It’s something… a feeling, that you will only get by doing it I think. You couldn’t get the same thing by driving to somewhere. You’d have to trek it somehow. The bike is probably the most forgiving physically – even if you are carrying your life on the back. Use a bike if you have the option 
The atmosphere. As your environment is constantly changing so to does the accompanying atmosphere. From bustling streets in cities to tranquil open roads and beaches. This change is refreshing. Too much of any one thing gets boring and with the constant touring you are exposed to so much on a daily basis you never get bored. I’m not sure I always went in search of the grandest scenes or most “hip” (yeah I’m old I’m gonna put it in quotes) places but I always appreciated where I found myself. I seem to land on my feet with finding a good atmosphere. I either approach or attract cool people or I am easily pleased – I’ve not decided which, I’m just content with what I’ve found.
I think that sort of sums it up.
As I’ve said – I think some of it is purely a feeling you get and hard to put in to words or for you guys to empathise with unless it’s a life experience you’ve had yourself but I guess that goes for so much in life.
One day to go. Tomorrow is the finale! So… for the last time: Please. Make. A Kiva loan.
Cheers.