10 Août

10 Août
Col de Palomère à Cerbère
About 95 km via
Col Xatard, 752 m
Col Du Fourtou, 655 m
Total ascent: 818 m
Total DESCENT: 1853 m

Je suis fait avec la route des cols. Je suis très fatigué.
Je vais dormir ce soir, magnifiquement.
It was all downhill with a tailwind à la mer Méditerranée. From my sweet perch, I sang down through the two cols listed above. They were descents, not climbs. The hills towns of La Bastide, Prunet, Calmeilles, Oms, Llauro and Vivès were absent of people. Beautiful, but empty. People obviously live in them, but no one was home when I passed through. Plenty of cyclists, though! And cork trees.
It was very hot once on the flats. About 40°C. Waited out the hottest of the heat in a tiny salon de thé, Étape Amistat, in Le Boulou. From there to the sea it was all on piste cyclable.
Then the work started. From Argelés-sur-Mer to Cerbère, it is up and down for every bend in the coastline. But I am not complaining! The towns become nicer and nicer the further south you go.
At last I reached the terminus of La Route des Cols, asked where I could lay this tired body pur la nuit, was directed in the most kindly fashion to several hotels which turned out to be "complet," and ended up backtracking a few km to the shady Camping Municipale. I hear the ocean lapping the shore as I type this.
Bon nuit!

Map for today: http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=uqfswmocrerceugb