As I left Olot I spotted a man with backpack (and woman in tow some distance back) walking into town Nic Crane style. My instinct was to stop and address him in English and that he was. He said he’d lived here 30 years working as a translator. I though people just used Bablefish for that nowadays.
He did put me onto the local ‘Roman Way’ walking trail that I confirmed in the Town Hall in the next town up. The young man there told me the easiest route to take across to Ripoll, assuring me bicycles were allowed through the tunnels.
Ten kilometres up the road I came to the road tunnels with signs prohibiting bicycles through the tunnels and other signs to the detour high above. I wasn’t going to fall for that again, so, lit up with all my yellow and reflective gear, on I went, traffic being light. Several long tunnels later I emerged wondering what all the fuss was about. And I found somer nice old riuns along the way.
When I finally found the isolated northern end of the Rail Trail (Ruta del Ferro) 11km my side of Ripoll I realised I’d done the right thing after all by finding a future adventure, but more sensibly to be done in the other direction, Pyrenees downhill to the Costa Brava.
