Riding to the most eastern point of the Iberian Peninsula.
Located in the North of the Costa Brava in Catalonia, the National Park of Cap de Creus is a very special place, a piece of earth against the sea, a mountain terrain, steep and rocky.
We have visited this magical place many times but never before with our gravel bikes. We already knew that it was not going to be an easy ride because it has a lot of difficult stretches, especially for cycling, but that did not stop us., We wanted to go there to explore it and that’s the only thing that counts.
We started the ride from Llançà, a small coastal village and we went over the road that is just next to the sea until Port de la Selva where the first climbs appeared.
After just a few meters of climbing, we were into the National Park. The paths became quite difficult and we had to use all our skills to continue pedaling.
The climbing made our bodies warm up and we were treated by amazing views,, surrounded by mountains and with the sea as a spectator. Maybe because of the weather, it was January and still quite fresh, nobody was out there. There were just the cows, and us.
After we reached the top of the first climb, we had an easy downhill over a nice road. After a while, it became singletrack and more technical, and a few minutes later, it became the first stretch off of our bikes; a walking path not able to ride the bike on. Perhaps with a mountain-bike but definitely not with gravel bikes.
Once we overcame all the obstacles, we started the second climb. We were looking for Cala Tavallera, a very small beach where the track should lead us.
Once we overcame all the obstacles, we started the second climb. We were looking for Cala Tavallera, a very small beach where the track should lead us.
We came to an isolated beach which you could only access by foot or over water. Silence, calm water, wild nature… with better weather we would have jumped into the sea but not this time.
We spent more time than expected to arrive at this first spot and it took an extra effort but it was so worth it.
The down side was that we had to go up again to the other side and it was over a small walking path again.
Once back on the track, we were pedaling hard, crossing small rivers, beautiful valleys and flying through the mud. Next stop we reached was the most eastern point of the Iberian Peninsula, the lighthouse of Cap de Creus.
Over there, we took a quick coffee and, as we were hungry, we decided to go to Cadaquès and eat something. At that point in the route, it was very windy and we did not want to catch a cold. Cadaqués is one of the highlights of the Costa Brava. A beautiful fisherman village surrounded by nature and mountains, and famous for hosting many painters who have chosen this town for their living.
After that, we started our way back to the cars. We had to change a bit our initially planned ride because of the challenges at some parts of the route but, in the end, we had a really good day of exploring.