Where’s Bertie? He’s in a municipal Aire on the edge of the small town of Les Coves de Vinroma. Exact location: 40.30679, 0.11893
Weather: sunny and warm (20 degrees max)
Our first mission this morning was to spend a little more money in Vilanova before we left, so we took a walk to the bakery. Had it not been for Google Maps, there’s not a chance that we would have found it, as although central, it’s down a little side street and the only thing that distinguishes it as a business, rather than just one of many almost identical houses on the street, is a little sign by the door. Even so, as I pushed back the chains of the fly curtain and opened the front door, I felt that I may be about to step into someone’s front room.
Despite going to the bakers, we had no need of bread, so we hoped to find they had some other wares for sale – some palmeras, perhaps. It turned out that bread was all they sold, so we bought a stick and enjoyed the sight, through a doorway into the back room, of a huge bread oven and a stack of logs used to fuel it. As we walked away I hypothesized that the baker (a woman who I would guess to be in her 70s) had been taken on as an apprentice by her father when she was in her teens, and nothing has changed about the shop or the manner or baking since (and I should clarify, that this is in no way a criticism).
On the way back to Bertie we passed the Cooperativa, which advertises olive oil for sale, so we swung by there too, but found it to be closed.
We soon had Bertie unplugged and ready to roll, discovering in the process that our French neighbours were actually Brits in a French-registered van.
With the toilet emptying point at the Aire blocked, our first stop along the road was la Torre d’en Doménec. The Aire there had plenty of space, and I’d originally earmarked it for our next stop, however, having run a circuit through the place a couple of days ago, and having already visited the bar, it didn’t feel like there was enough to see to warrant us staying, so with toilet emptied (insuring against the service point at our next destination being blocked, which is a common problem), onward we came another few minutes to Les Coves. We’ve moved a total of 15 minutes from where we spent the last three nights.
The Aire here was almost empty when we arrived, and is still largely empty now, with just two vans amongst its five spaces. However, there are a couple more outside of the designated area, understandably as outside is definitely nicer than inside.
With the morning rapidly reaching its conclusion, we wasted no time in making our way to the nearest bar for coffee, after which it was a turn around the town. All very quiet, with few obvious businesses, but pretty well-kept, with mainly smart houses. We had to venture down side-streets to find the typical derelict buildings with optimistic ‘Se vende’ signs in varying states of fadedness.
The river, its adjacent caves and the water wheels are the main features around here, and the plan is to take a walk along the river tomorrow. The slight fly in the ointment, as we discovered on a short pre-dinner stroll this afternoon, is that we can’t do the route I’d originally downloaded, because it involves walking along the dry river bed, and the river is currently far from dry. Nor can we easily cross the river at the nearest two crossing points, as they’re currently underwater. So, I think our aspirations for the morrow will need to be moderated.
(Blogger has decided to go with photos in reverse order today)
No comments:
Post a Comment