Breakin Out of Barcelona

Friday 10th April

Gee, getting out was a damn sight less stressful than getting in. We get smart pretty quick......well let's just say we eventually learn our lessons. After a quiet night in, buggered after our huge walk, we woke up early (8ish, ha ha ha), and got down to breakfast. Last Eggs and bacon for a while. Got all our stuff packed and on the bikes.....did I mention they had their own car parking bay in the secure underground parking lot? Lucky buggers! Funny!

Cosy little parking bay

All loaded and ready to roll. 

The receptionist gave us a code to get out of the parking area, so we pushed the beasts up the steep ramp (you know what they are like, windy and super steep) to the exit. Plugh! Where is the button thingy? How do we enter the code? Oh for goodness sake!!!! What now? No intercom, no buttons. So I hold the fully loaded beasts, who are trying to roll back to the parking bay, and Will hurries back up the lift, goes outside to enter the code on the box outside. There isn't one! Aaarrgghh! I could hear him out there using the intercom trying to explain to reception that we were trying to get out, not in. Finally the doors opened and we all burst out like escape prisoners.....that was the hardest part of our day.

Will's new toy (we're calling him Dave, in memory of Dave from the bike shop) got us to Barcelona Sant where we caught the train to Blanes. It was too easy, we thought we were dreaming. It did help that Will had spent a fair bit of time reading about other peoples bad experiences, and researching the trains. 

Made it to the platform.  Lifts are so much easier than stairs. 

We got on the train after waiting about 10mins, and sat back and enjoyed the ride. Lots of stops, but it only took us about 1.5hrs to do 75km, and we didn't have to be concerned about the mad traffic or roundabouts.

On the train and loving it. 

Picture perfect Mediterranean picture. 

Will got "Dave" working at Blanes, and he very easily got us to Lloret De Mar, another 7kms North. It was time for lunch, and the Med looked awesome, (so did the topless sunbathers.....hey Will?) so we stopped and enjoyed the views.

Laughing cause we just noticed all the topless chick's.

Guess where I'm going? And I'm prepared for the worst. 

Very relaxing afternoon.

I checked for camping options, of which there were plenty, but we decided on a hostal a couple of kms further north, as it was only about 10€ more than tenting. Hostal Vila Del Mar! What an awesome find. Tucked away in a little old alley, one back from the beach, super clean, friendly, helpful and a little balcony that we can see the ocean through.

Lovely hostal and view.

At lunch, our Pommy/Spanish waiter gave us some good tips for places to visit on our way north. Sounds so nice, hope he rides a bike and hasn't lead us into cycling hell?