BIKE

Day 1

It’s late afternoon and soon the first faces start to appear around the campsite. Some have travelled a few hours from home, other have taken a plane to cross the Atlantic. But all have one thing in common: the mountain bike. It’s the day to get ourselves situated and get to know each other. Where are the showers?, someone asks Stanley. We play games in English and discover the surroundings of the campsite before dinner. The galets soup is perfect to warm up and prepare ourselves for the game of the night.

Day 2

We have breakfast and get our mountain bikes ready. It’s necessary to inflate the tires, check the brakes, adjust the seat… and all of this in English! We learn our first new words with the British counselors, specialized in BTT. We get on the bikes and we go on the trail towards Pollineres and Els Estanys de la Pera. The slope on the GR-11 is amazing! In the afternoon Community Service: in Arànser they need help with the henhouse and at the campsite there are also things to be done. But the day doesn’t end here. Today the game of the night at the campsite will turn us into smugglers. Will we be able to carry all of the supplies to the other side of the river without getting caught by the police?

Day 3

Ready, steady, go! We have breakfast at the camp under the sun warming us up, surrounded by pine trees. There is food for all tastes: cereal, cold cuts (turkey, ham…), jam, juice, chocolate, bread, milk…Today one of the good adventures awaits us: we pedal till Refugi Prat Miró, we follow till the Refugi of Coll Midós and from here to Andorra, passing by the Roc de la Barbera and the Serra de les Pinyes. There we will have lunch and recharge our batteries, then in couples we need to find the Bunkers de Cal Ramonet following the hints of the guide map. We are exhausted, luckly, the way back to the camp is down hill.

Day 4

Every day it’s a little more difficult to get up, our legs feel the accumulated kilometres on our bikes. Today all camps are leaving together from Arànser. We continue on our bikes, the others walking or horse riding. We pedal towards Prat Miró to climb up to the Puig Punçó (2.495 m.) and to the foothills of the Monturull with our bikes. We do Monturull and Perafita and we go back to the camp, passing by la Bassa de Comabella. In the evening…cinema outdoors! Very little will stay till the end of the movie without falling asleep.

Day 5

Today we start with a Mechanic’s Workshop where we leave techniques and tricks to solve mechanical problems with the bikes. The torrent helps us to identify the punctures in the tires. We have lunch at the campsite with all of the groups. The afternoon gets entertaining again: ping pong, badminton, football/soccer, basketball, frisbee… Afterwards again on our bikes but also loaded with shovels and rakes to work on the trail we are making at the camp.

Day 6

Little time left to finish our adventure, today is the last day of the long excursion. We prepare our backpacks with the picnic of the lunch, snacks, and water. Our destination is el Parc dels Búnquers de Martinet. The descent till the Segre river is very long, our arms get stiff after 1.000 metres of fall. The way down the fun trial is something worth remembering. In the evening the hamburger fuels us up and despite the 30 kilometers of the ride, we now have our legs ready again for the final parti: music, lights and let’s dance!

Day 7

Today, starting in the early morning, the day smells like goodbye. After having breakfast we pack our bags and pick up everything. The last activity is orienteering, an orientation run in groups around Prats de Rabadà and Prat Miró. We already know the area so it’s a full out race to catch all the witnesses as quickly as possible. After lunch the families start to arrive. These are the last moments to exchange phone numbers, hugs, and buy shirts. We’ll see each other next summer. Or maybe in the winter?