Collioure sits on seaside on the far western Mediterranean coast of France, just down from Argeles by an 8 minute train ride. Azure waters lap at beaches right in town. Pastel houses lean over narrow lanes and there is a Medieval castle on the hill overlooking the town. It is a vacation hot-spot for the French during the summer season, and I can see why. It is charming and lovely!
I took the train to Collioure last week with a new friend, Anne, who is American with dual-citizenship in Ireland. She was here on vacation from Ireland and helped me get acclimated to the area as well as introduce me to a lovely set of expats who live in Argeles. We had a lovely lunch and enjoyed the sights.
So, after my first visit, I wanted to go back because we didn’t have time to hike up to the castle on the hill, and I wanted to see the views from that height.
So, I planned on taking the train, but stopped for coffee at the corner cafe in Argeles and ran into my landlord who was having coffee with a friend from Germany. When I told them what I planned to do, they started telling me I should just walk there. They described a lovely trail along the sea that offered spectacular views and would eventually take me to the castle above Collioure.
I failed to ask how long that would take, but I should have gotten a clue as to the difficulty of the hike when one of them mentioned that I might want to change to hiking shoes. But, the excitement of an adventure, on a beautiful day, caught hold, and I set out with a pretty limited set of instructions as to how to get there. And, the trail was not on Google Maps. Oh well. Right?
The walk started off beautifully. I walked down to the beach, followed it to the end and with some searching located the road up the first hill that I’d been directed to. All was going well, until I reached the top of the first hill and realized that I was at a dead-end. The only trail I could see was short and headed down the other side. Figuring that was were I needed to go, I started out. I quickly realized I was on a trail that was very steep and washed out, but figured it would be just a short way to the rest of the trail. I got down about half-way and realized I was in trouble. This trail was way to steep to continue, so I turned around….and had to literally crawl back up the hill holding onto scrub brushes. All I could think of was “Oh, boy. If I fall, my sons will not even let me talk about traveling alone again.” I made it up on hands and knees, backtracked and found that I had missed a turn. So, onward and upward, right? It was actually upward to the top of a hill, then downward, via narrow steps, to a beautiful beach, across the beach to the next step of steep stairs to the top of the next hill. This seemed to go on forever.
About an hour into the walk, which I’m now officially calling a HIKE! I finally crested a hill and found that the trail was winding along the side of the cliff overlooking the sea. It was a spectacular view!
Two hours later, when I’m too far to turn back, I finally get to a place where I can either hike over the beach to the castle I want to see on the next hill, or cut off the beach onto a paved path that would take me down to Collioure where I could grab lunch and rest! When I realized that the path to the top of the mountain was nothing more than steps carved out of rock, I elected to take the easy way!
So, one of the things I kept telling myself along this long hike was that at least I could take the train back home. It would take only 8 minutes.
So, I checked the train app and saw that the 5:42pm train had been canceled and the next one was at 6:46pm. So, I did some more sightseeing, then headed up to catch the train. About 10 minutes before the train arrived, a homeless man set himself up for the evening across the tracks in the shelter. He started calling me, and I finally realized by his hand motions that the trains were not running. I had been warned that sometimes the train operators go on strike, with no warning. So, I went down to catch the bus and after waiting some time with two french ladies, we discovered that no more buses were coming that night. After some back and forth with limited French/English, the two ladies and I decide to try the train again as the app is still showing that the trains are running. So, we head back up the hill to the station.
I went outside the station to find the homeless guy and asked about the trains. He is still saying no, they are not running. He gets up and takes us into the station to show us the monitors that in addition to showing the train schedules (as if they are actually running) to the next screen that says they are not running (in French of course). Thank goodness the two French ladies are with me because they ask him about the bus. He tells them that we can catch a bus that is still running at another stop downtown Collioure. They manage to communicate this to me and off we go again.
So, we head back downtown to see if we can catch a bus. By this time it’s 7:45pm and getting dark. I’ve also tried Uber & Bolt to see if I can get a ride and nothing is available. I’m thinking I might have to just spend the night and head back home the next day. BUT, then I spotted a taxi. I ran over to see if I could get a ride to Argeles, and yes, I could. Thirty pounds later (some of the best money I’ve spent) I make it home.
I had messaged my landlord at one point because I knew he would come pick me up, if necessary. He wanted to hear about my travel drama so he invited me to stop by for tea and cookies when I got back. I could tell he felt a bit bad as he kept asking, “Yes, but the view was incredible? And you enjoyed it”? I assured him it was worth it, and looking back it most certainly was. At the end of they day, just another amazing adventure!
Honestly, I HOPE to never beat this record!
