08/14/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 6 : El Congosto del dia

by Brian · Published August 14, 2023 · Updated March 3, 2024

Photos:

Morning of light raindrops and a big descent through a narrow canyon. 🌈

This is a congosto; a narrow in English. It’s one of my favorite geological features… and we got to ride two big ones today.

This is the second congosto - during the primary ascent.

Janet and I stopped for coffee after a 2 day hiatus. It was good coffee. I’ve been noticing that the people of the region are kind of “gruff”. Not rude, necessarily.. but not that excited to see you either. I think maybe because it’s Cataluña… and we are speaking Spanish. In Barcelona, I heard lots of Spanish, but in these more rural areas, it’s more Catalán. I studied French for the two months leading up to this trip, and now I can make more sense of the signs! There is some overlap between French and Catalán, though it is more similar to Spanish. I can’t really speak French yet, but listening to slow podcasts for beginners, I’m understanding a good portion. 👨

Tonight’s residence brought to us by God - a small mountain church surrounded by dinging cow bells. My favorite type of spot. 🐮

Janet did ground reconnaissance while I did an aerial search. We both honed in on the same watering hole. Janet managed to get enough water to wash the salt out of her clothing. It has been hot each day - despite the altitude we have been maintaining. 🧂

Strava Comments:

Ryan A.

Awesome photos.

Braden L.

Stunning!!

Nancy P.

Do you actually sleep inside the church ⛪️? The tiles on the roof are so cool 😎. Are they a native slate? The main structure looks like it was assembled from the surrounding stone.

Corrine L.

That’s a lot of climbing!

Jim S.

This looks like an amazing trip!

Janet W.

Hi Nancy Prier, I think the roof tiles on the church could be local, but I don’t really know. They are certainly not original and look good. We did see a nearby marble quarry. We did sleep inside the church. We hadn’t planned to at first, but the evening cooled off enough to stay inside. It was clean and we left the window and door open. Good thing, as there was some rain, thunder and lightning during the night.

Mark G.

I am impressed by your dedication to language and your respect of varied cultures. Learning languages seems pretty tough to me.. "an old dog". Nice Arch photo

Warren G.

Awesome and inspiring trip you two!!!