Medieval Bouldering

Today we had a good morning's bouldering at La Riba - amazed at the quality of the area which has been recently cleared and developed. I'm not the world's keenest boulderer really but there was a good range of boulders to play on and just a really nice place to be, in the forests along the river - one problem was even by a waterfall!

We then went to the annual Medieval Festival at Montblanc, a town which prides itself on its medieval history and likes to go back in time once a year with street markets, parties and displays. This was our second visit but it was still an interesting afternoon, some great people watching in the street markets!

a giant mat enters the main La Riba bouldering area

Riverside beach bouldering on incredible pocketed rock - it's like an outdoor climbing wall

Medieval giant bread - almost big enough to have a boulder problem!

Medieval horses and knights by the city walls. The one on the far right was Ali's steed of choice 

Medieval stalls in front of the medieval church

Medieval crazy paving

Medieval blacksmith and photographer 

A record breaker!

A record breaker today, both in terms of length, time and height gain - a jolly good day out by all accounts! We did a large loop from our flat in Montbrio, up to Colldejou, all the way along the edge with the wind turbines and back up to the same church as last weekend as Ali was itching to ride the 10km descent down from the Col d'Alforja again! 60km (including some carrying along some overgrown rocky sections) and over 2000m height gain. We're going to have massive ham thighs at this rate! http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1104714  A few photos below, though the camera didn't come out after lunch as it clouded over a bit and I was either "in the zone" struggling uphill or "whizzing" (tentatively) downhill...

Starting out across the fields around Montbrio - the apple blossom beginning to peep out 

Along some fun narrow tracks up to Colldejou 

The very windy edge along from Colldejou. Montsant to one side, the Med to the other. Spectacular but  a bit blowy! 

Continuing along the edge...

Under a mini crag as we approached the Col de Teixeta. No climbing today though! 

Lunch on the edge overlooking Riudecanyes and home! I love being able to see where we've come from!

Beach pootling and gnarly singletrack...

Our first weekend back from the Easter break was slightly mixed weather-wise, so on Saturday we opted for a pootle around some of our local beaches in between the showers! Sunday was a much better day and we completed our longest ride to date - a 38km loop up to the Col d'Alforja from our house. It was nice to explore some of the more local tracks and see up close some of the churches and landmarks that we normally just drive past! Route here http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1084256 

Miami Beach.... in Catalunya!

Feeling like an idiot with an umbrella with blue sky in the background - but it was actually raining!

Relaxing at the Church ("Ermita Mare de Deu de Puigcerver") at 790m having slogged up from sea level!

The start of the looooong descent along stunning wide tracks to start and some pretty "gnarly" singletrack. We never get photos of this as I'm too preoccupied  with trying to stay upright! 

Cycling past the Church "Mare de Deu de la Riera" and the tempting smells from the BBQ area behind!