I prefer not to plan my trips. Sure I generally have a guiding star that gives a trip purpose and direction. I do prepare. To me the two are different. Preparation is about making sure you are in a position to be adaptable and able to react as circumstances change.
My Pyrenean trip is one of a number of activities that are there to help prepare me for the big adventure that’s yet to come.
Given I’m going to the Himalayas I wanted to take some time in the mountains to test my bike and also to get more used to living on my own on the side of the road.
I’m now in the final couple of days of the trip feeling good. I have some things I need to fix mostly small. My sleeping mat goes down and I wake two or three times a night and have to re inflate it. It’s had an impact on my sleep. I realise I need a piece of string to hang my washing on. I’m carrying a lot of weight. These are minor things and easily fixed.
Yesterday while stopped in a village in the Corbieres outside a bakery I came across a German couple also cycling. I enviously looked at their bikes – modern, with very light bags. We struck up a conversation. Both of a similar age they were cycling to Mallorca from Düsseldorf. They’d been on the road for three weeks and had a few thousand kilometres on the clock. I didn’t get their names. She had arranged the trip as it was always his dream to do something like this. They were definitely on a high having only a few more days to go before they reached Barcelona and the ferry to Mallorca.
They asked me a lot of questions and were interested in the fact that I would be going to the Himalayas on a 40+ year old bike.
I asked them what was next and they didn’t really have an answer apart from they prefer to live in the moment. Given we’d agreed that the clock is ticking and none of us know how long we are lucky enough to have on this earth, I found the response a bit strange that there were no other dreams or guiding stars.
Today I am staying on the same campsite. This gave me the opportunity to explore on my bicycle unencumbered with the weight of my panniers. And so I decided to explore the minervois hills to the north that I can see from the campsite.
Without much of a clue I picked a place on google maps and have been rewarded with one of the most exquisite days exploring. Winding out of the flatlands around Lezignan-Corbieres north towards the hills. Through ancient villages. Along the canal du midi for a short while before finally starting the climb. Stopping half way up to take my helmet and glasses off I was rewarded with some lovely bird song. As I came over the top of the climb below on the other side a deep gash in rock. A deep wound inflicted on the land over the ages by water flowing innocently. The further down into the gorge the more intriguing things became. An old village perched precariously a top a sharp bend. Below the dry river bed. Venturing further down, a cave can into view. At first sight small. But only when I cycled along the pebbled river bed did the full wonder become apartment. The water had cut a natural bridge upon which part of the village rested. I cycled through at times forced to walk too rocky the bed. Truly amazing experience. Something that you’d see on a Richard Attenborough life on earth documentary. The atrium in the middle vast. Birds nesting on the roof of the entrance, their purple droppings on the pebbles over which I pushed my bike.
Totally Unexpected and unplanned. Just the way I like it. If you don’t plan the detail then you have to expect the unexpected. Today that mantra was rewarded with a jewel so beautiful. So wonderful and inspiring it’s hard to do justice to the feeling of being alive that I was left with.
Long live adventure. It nurtures and challenges. It refreshes and renews.
And I know how lucky I am to be able to adventure.
