After deciding that we should leave the
Duilhac area for a change, we thought about killing two birds with one stone; Andorra and the Pyrenees in one sightseeing day.
The road to Andorra was amazing, perfectly long corners, well crafted hairpins and the views of Alpine ski resorts in summer time. However it became quickly apparent of the intended use of my little 500cc commuter bike. It’s already restricted fuel/air flow (due to the UK 33bhp laws) it already stumbled at the higher rpms and this was worsened by the assent starving the bike of more precious oxygen, couppled with it’s low rate suspension and brakes left it behind many other touring motorcycles as they ascended the mountain faster than 35mph. Despite this, we still had great fun.
Once we got to Andorra, we quickly realised that in summer it’s only for the rich, seeking high quality 5 star hotels on a mountain biking adventure holiday. And those seeking the tacky, barely legal duty free shops, selling items that could earn you a few hours questioning at customs. After filling up on cheap fuel which was €1.2 a litre and failing to find a nice, respectfully priced cafe, we left hastily.
The route back was equally as nice, taking a more major route west this time, avoiding the smaller mountain roads. Although I/we had our first police pull over, with the very broken French we both spoke and the fact that we were British gave us a huge inadvantage of communicating to the officers. Luckily, despite all our fears they just wanted to check my license due to the non French licence plate and we moved on pretty quickly after that, avoiding any confrontation.
At the end of the day we were pretty tired to say the least, but we still had one last thing to do; attend the village sardinas, which offered dancing and included beverages and a three course meal with the whole town. We joined our neighbours on our table and a lady who knew Cara’s family due to the discoverey of a dead cat many years ago. The evening was lovely, the whole town came out to eat, endulging impressivey in free wine and dancing till the early hours, however we had to leave after our meal, wine and a brief dance viewing as we couldn’t keep our eyes open.
