Day 2: Volcanic Cycling

Olot is unusual, in that it is one of a very few towns built between volcanoes and a good base to explore the volcanic area of the Garrotxa National Park.

This morning we had a brutal introduction to off-roading!

Whilst most of the trail was pleasant, there were some 'fun' sections which were muddy, rocky, steep, some bits including combinations of all three. For the hardest parts many walked, but there were some hard-core off-roaders who tackled everything thrown at them. There was a tiny fall at the bottom of a 45° down slope, but Keith's recovery was so cool, nobody took much notice.

We took a mandatory coffee stop at Restaurant Can Xel on the GI-524.

We cycled onward to Santa Pau a pretty medieval town preserving its original walls and castle.

For lunch we met at a restaurant with views back over to Santa Pau.

Most of us had a simple sandwich for lunch, but some chose an omelette, and even this came between two slices of bread.

Immediately after lunch we had a climb that slowed us down somewhat.

On we cycled to a point where we could walk to the Croscat volcano. This has been surface-mined leaving a hole in the side of the volcano allowing us to see how the rock was layered.

Then we were back off-road again, navigating more rocks, mud and some big puddles.

Martin, Rob and Steve decided to have a go on the optional ride off-road route but managed to get a bit confused (not lost, just confused) so we decided to head back to Olot.

In the evening, Samu led us down a dark country lane which eventually arrived at Restaurante la Deu.

On the way back, it's rumoured that somebody jumped into a ditch in the dark. Perhaps the less said about that the better!

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