Day 10 - So Hot - Barcelona, Spain to Blanes, Spain
June 26, 2026 - biked 78 km (48 mi) - biked 292 km (181 mi) total
We could’ve stayed longer in Barcelona, but with so much more to explore in Spain we wanted get back on the road.
It was tough, slow going. The route weaved between biking along the sea, to back under the railroad tracks, to back along the road. Navigation is Sarah's least favorite part of each day. There are other things to dislike, like unnecessary loud vehicles or teenagers talking from 3am to 9pm right by your tent, but that nothing compared to the navigation.
You make one wrong turn and you just wasted time and energy going up a hill. Then you have to go back to where you started, further depleted. To be vigilant annd avoid a wrong turn, you must stop frequently sometimes to double check you’re still on the route, hopefully in a shady spot where you can see your phone. Sarah’s poor navigation can be blamed on her mother and years of dependency on Google Maps.
Camping
Camping in Spain is weird. It is all resort camping equipped with water slides for the children, security guards, bracelets to show you’re a member, motor homes and camping trailers for permanent residents. Needless to say, it’s a lot more than we ever want or need. But unfortunately we have to pay the cost for all these extra amenities or keep searching for a different spot.
Today was one of those days. On the very first night of camping in Spain it actually only cost €17, which set our expectations. The second night was €21. The third night was €39 because of the John the Baptist Nativity holiday. It put a sour taste in our mouth to pay so much for a worse campsite the night prior so we determined to not let that happen again.
We cycled up to one resort type camp, pretty much the only ones around and they said it would cost €45. Even more? We literally have one tent and two bikes. We went to another one and they didn’t even take people like us with tents, only RV’s. We cycled further up the road and asked another site. They charged €50. We realized we might be in the Big Sur/Carmel of Spain. We had to cycle another 10 km to get a campsite for €37. We saved a few pennies but we also biked the most miles yet! Win win?
GPS continued to lead the way today.
It was so hot I lost Sarah.
White Mulberry. Tasty mid-day snack.
Somehow the route told us to go down this embankment and then turn directly into the sea.
Hella secret beaches that everyone knows of.
Feeling good starting the day.
Barcelona had all these cool 70s modular stoplights.
Something burns in the distance. We avoided the smoke, though. Turned out to be a forest fire, maybe set on purpose?
Decommissioned coal plant. The "windows" used to have the boilers in them directly mounted to the smoke stacks. Huge in the Barcelona skyline.
We are not sure what the other 8% is.
The oldest train tunnel in Spain.
Lots of beach and train. Also the first railway in Spain.
This guy.
We did not even stop here, but this set the tone.
One camp site we were aiming for turned out to be just a functional ferris wheel.
This place refused us. 😛
Beach outside our site we finally landed at.
