No APT or Trafalgar here!

Saturday 12^th April

On the road again and tonight we are still in Spain in a town called El Pont de Suert. You won’t find APT or Trafalgar here.

The old town - El Pont de Suert

The road here first went up and over a mountain range to a height of 1750m, and down the other side. It was very twisty and steep for the most part but the road condition was not too bad. Good thing about being off the beaten track is that no one else is there and you can just mosey along at your own pace. Only thing you had to watch out for was cyclists – these guys are total nutters! Going out for a cycle on the weekend is one thing, but surely there are some flat roads like Shepparton.

 

Didn't get a cyclist in the photo,
but this is what they are faced with.

Half way to P de S and we came to a town called Sort – hidden away in the valley between the mountain ranges. We stopped here for morning tea in the main street alongside the river that rushed through town. We found out that the world championship kayaking was held there in 2010. A lot of kayakers were in town but we didn’t get to see much action on the river.

 

The kayaking river in Sort

Sort main street.

Hotel with kayakers gear drying on fence rails.

Moving on and the road out of town followed the river along the valley - until – we headed off to the left and up and over another mountain range. This was only a little one, 1300m, but the road was terrible, very steep, very narrow, and very windy. We were hoping not to meet any of the caravans we had seen in Sort.

El Pont de Suert is just another mountain town. At the suggestion of the hotel we went for a drive this afternoon up the river valley to the dam at the head of the river. It was a very pretty drive and a good road. Some snow was still on the ground at the dam but not huge quantities. The rivers are all running fast as the snow melts.

 

The dam wall

Just one of the waterfalls.

The dam - ice and snow.

View down the valley of the Boi river.

We are in upmarket accommodation tonight and did the smart thing and included dinner with our room – saves the issue of having to find somewhere to eat. 

Just one more parking story - Melbourne, are you listening? In many towns you only have to put money in meters between 9 and 12 and 4 and 8. If you put in more money than required, then it gives you that time in the next time block. Eg we went out to dinner, had to pay till 8 but too much money so we had a ticket valid till 9.10 the next day. Neat hey?