REVISITING BIKING ROUTES COLERA, SPAIN

 

Gallery

My friend Stanley from France has a house in Morocco and has invited me to visit.  If I’m going to go that far, I’ve got some people & places I want to visit along the way.
Bike touring brings you places you may not experience, otherwise. When I biked through Colera, Spain 5 years ago I was only going to stay 1 night. After setting up my tent, I biked into town, I was here 2 weeks. I met Nuria a local artist who had her signature ants walking the street.  Hiking, Biking, Beach walking, kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving & more can all be found in Colera.
(3 Photos from 5 years ago)

Gardening with Nuria, (you can see why I came back)

I asked to stay for 10 days? OK!  But like everywhere I stay, I contribute to the house.  I stacked and hauled firewood, washed windows, weeded some too.  Just lying around isn’t how I got here.  I’ve been hiking & biking some while I’m here.

 

Walking around Colera, there’s lots to see, lots of Nuria

There’s lots of work going on here: the camping’s new pools, railroad bridge and the housing. The sidewalks, parks and streets are all in great condition. When you travel and see how much crumbling infrastructure there is in the world. When you see it this nice you have to say “Thank you.”

Colera is one road in and one road out. The town square: grocery store, bank, bar and community center.

Outside of Colera is the abandoned city of Molinas. I biked out one day, then the next day Nuria decided she was going up, to work some on her house. I took a few photos, but also made a video of the bike trip and our return trip to see her rehabbed stone house.

I walked 7km along the beach to the nearby community of Llanca. I brought a garbage bag and picked up 2 bags worth of plastics along the beach. I always get more from giving to a community than taking.

 

Salvador Dali’s home is Figueres, Spain, which is a 20 minute train ride from Colera. I’ve been there 2 times before, but I could never get in because it was FULL. The advantage of off-season travel is that museums, restaurants, buses, trains and more aren’t crowded. Nearly had the museum to myself.

Hiking close in around Colera is pretty great too.

They got some spiny sea-creature that we cut in half with scissors and ate the center of goop with french bread. It was just OK, a lot of work for little reward.

I’ll be back to Colera soon, not soon enough but soon. Tony at the campground said Sept. was the best time to come. I think he meant the kids are in school. Enjoy the blog.

JEFF