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Ride Tales Post your ride reports for a weekend ride or around the world. Please make the first words of the title WHERE the ride is. Please do NOT just post a link to your site. For a link, see Get a Link.
Photo by Helmut Koch, Vivid sky with Northern Lights, Yukon, Canada

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Helmut Koch,
Camping under Northern Lights,
Yukon, Canada



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  #1546  
Old 4 Nov 2015
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Walking to the metro we passed our first Gaudi modernista building. We did a bit of a tour of several of the big squares.

barcelona 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

12096518_10153534848386131_8513062218054210623_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 78 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1547  
Old 4 Nov 2015
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Today for Daniel the only real option for touring the city is to ride the hop on hop off bus. We did this all day and really got a taste of the city, but we will have to come back next year on the way to Italy to really see the sights.

barcelona 19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 49 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


Luckily with a teen we had wifi!


barcelona 24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1548  
Old 4 Nov 2015
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The architecture is varied and interesting, especially the Gaudi.


barcelona 20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 52 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

DSC03796 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Lunch Spanish style is drinks and Paella.


barcelona 55 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 56 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1549  
Old 4 Nov 2015
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The Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sacrada Familia is a UNESCO site still under construction. The building began in 1882 and Gaudi took over in 1883 and transformed it to his vision. It was only ¼ complete when he died in 1926. It has progressed slowly since it is funded by private donation and building was halted for the Spanish civil war from 1936-39. It was half done in 2010 and should be completed in 2026, 100 years after Gaudi’s death.


barcelona 37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 44 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We did a bit of a walking tour in the old city.



DSC03777 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 60 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

DSC03782 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 62 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 65 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 66 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

barcelona 70 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Fernanda took us to a Pizza place she claimed was the best she had every had….She was not wrong. It’s a good thing we don’t live near here.

barcelona 83 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1550  
Old 5 Nov 2015
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We headed out late at 11 am north again towards the Pyrenees in France. We planned out route to cross Andorra for country number 43!

Screen Shot 2015-10-10 at 11.00.08 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Screen Shot 2015-10-10 at 10.58.17 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had the perfect storm and over 2 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic thru Andorra. It is a Saturday and the cross border shoppers are here in droves, the tunnel is closed so all the traffic in on one road, there is a big sporting event on, the boarder guards were spot-checking cars on the road after the slow down for the actual border, and there was a police check after that! The last 90 km we had from the Spanish/Andorran border to Tarascon-sur-Ariege France took 3 hours!




tarascon 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

tarascon 14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr



Screen Shot 2015-10-10 at 10.58.39 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1551  
Old 5 Nov 2015
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The village of Tarascon is nicely situated on the L’Ariege River and is at the eastern “gateway” to the Parc Naturel Regional des Pyrenees Ariegeoses! We did a bit of a walk about the town, but found our hotel had the only open restaurant.

tarascon 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr





tarascon 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr




tarascon 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

tarascon 10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

tarascon 11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1552  
Old 10 Nov 2015
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From Tarascon we continued west to end in Cierp. We spent the day touring on the tiny roads in the Pyrenees Park and trying to hit as many of the passes or Cols as possible.

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.24.48 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.18.26 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


cierp 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1553  
Old 10 Nov 2015
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The first was the Col de Port at 1249 meters. The ride up here was stunning with the fall colors. There are numerous cute French villages with areas of hairpin switchbacks between them. The only hazard here is the huge amount of cow manure on the road. Unlike in Latin America they do not tether the cows they graze at the side of the roads here so they can just wander about.

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.25.26 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


cierp 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1554  
Old 10 Nov 2015
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We even did one section of the tour de France route and found this memorial on the downward side. It is incredible to think these guys ride on these steep narrow twisty roads at such speed on those skinny tires.

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.25.53 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


cierp 11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr





cierp 13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr





cierp 14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1555  
Old 10 Nov 2015
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We are happy to see the Col Portet d”Aspet is Ouvert or open. This was a wall of switchbacks up one side of the mountain and down the other. They are so tight that at times the GPS does not always know which side of the switchback you are travelling on.


cierp 20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1556  
Old 10 Nov 2015
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We arrived to Cierp to the cabin we had rented. (38 CDN dollars and sleeps 7). We had luckily remembered to stop for groceries early today since it is Sunday and everything is closed after 1230 in much of France. Dan did some chain maintenance.

cierp 27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

cierp 26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1557  
Old 12 Nov 2015
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From Cierp we are headed only about 60 km as the crow flies to Pierrefitte-Nestalas, but we managed to make that into 150 km of total awesomeness in the Parc National des Pyrenees.

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.32.16 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


We started out south on the 125,but soon headed west on the single-track roads in the Park.

pyrenees 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1558  
Old 12 Nov 2015
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At Louderville we took a side detour we thought up the switchback to the ski resort, but up there we found a tiny road that snaked over the top of the mountain and down the other side to Azet. This is along the route of the Col de Val Louron-Azet at 1580 meters.

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.32.33 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr





pyrenees 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr





pyrenees 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1559  
Old 12 Nov 2015
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From here we went north again towards Aspin-Aure and over the Col d”Aspin at 1490 meters. We were so luck for the last 2 days to have amazing fall weather it has been mostly sunny and 10-14 degrees in the morning and 14-22 in the afternoon.


pyrenees 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

pyrenees 13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From Campan we did take a detour by following the GPS coordinates of the hotel. This was 10 km up a road that ended in a dirt walking path…so backtrack it was.

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 5.17.58 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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  #1560  
Old 12 Nov 2015
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They spelled my name wrong on that road sign!
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