Day 2: Girona - Perpignan

We left the hotel excited by the prospect of a hard days climbing through the Pyrenees but at the first corner our excitement turned to dread as we were smacked in the face by a 50mph wind which decided to stay with us all day. As we climbed through the foothills we were pushed backwards and on the down hills we had to pedal just to keep going. At Figureres we turned into the mountains for a wonderful climb through the Coll de Banyuls (1200ft) and into France.
The views from the top were simply spectacular – there is something really special about riding a bike through a mountain pass. From here we made our way down towards Banyuls and stopped along the way for a superb lunch (courtesy of the backup team) under the shade of a Walnut tree. From Banylus we followed the coast road up and down and up and down with the wind so fierce at times we found it nearly impossible to stay on the bikes. At about 6.00pm we finally arrived at our hotel overlooking the sea at Canet Plage, we had cycled just 65 miles but with the wind it was more like 100.

It was a good day to be alive and riding a bike. Tomorrow we go to Narbonne, a distance of around 50-miles so we can breakfast a little later and have a well deserved extra hour in bed!

View photos from our second day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeride2010

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