CREAM OF CATALAN
As our plane makes its final approach to Barcelona, we skim the Pyrenees. From our vantage point, it’s clear the summits are losing the fight against winter’s icy approach, but there is enough brown and green among the white to raise our anticipation levels.
We stride out of the arrivals area, laden like mules, and spot our host and guide for the next seven days. Dressed in outdoor clothing, expat Ian Pendry stands out like a beacon from the wall of suits holding iPads displaying random names. He’s looking for us, and appears a little frantic, but we’re hardly difficult to spot, given the amount of luggage we’re carrying. Laden with sandwiches, cake and coffee, we head over to his van and after three hours’ driving back into France we reach our accommodation, the ‘Mouli del Riu’.
TABLE TALK
My knowledge of French is more than wobbly, and so it takes several days before I truly get to grips with the concept of chambre et table d’hôte. It’s a French way of running a guesthouse, where the owners and patrons share a table for dinner. After our journey, past the famous Montserrat monastery and on to the Pyrenees beyond, one thing becomes clear: evening meals are on point. Ian has a vast knowledge of the area and its history, and a seemingly endless
