Thursday 5th May Montserrat to Navarcles

Good job I had the extra day in Monserrat as I was able to spend most of yesterday afternoon rejigging the route around the available accommodation. Basically I'm having to walk 6 days in 5 with two big days, today and tomorrow, to fit around what's available. Today was 38 kilometres with 700 metres of climb and I think tomorrow might be even longer. Worse thing is my feet have become painful again, I think it's walking without sticks.

I'm now on the GR4 all the way to the border although for some of today I was also on the GR3. I think the GR3 is a St James Way variant going from Figueres, via Montserrat to Santiago, another pilgrims way. If I don't get lost I've got about another 150 kilometres of walking to do in Spain.

Today's walk was good, a nice first couple of hours walking around the Montserrat mountain, and really unpleasant bit in the middle when you crossed the busy valley at Sant Vicent de Castellet, and then a better afternoon as the route takes you on a huge detour to get inside the Parc Natural de Sant Lorenc (etc etc - the name of the park is a long as the detour). Actually I've been in two Natural Parks today because Montserrat is one as well.

The highlight of the first bit was the mist burning off from around the mountain, some wonderful views. I've also got a real soft spot for fields of barley which have just come out in ear and there was an abundance of those this morning.

Looking back to the Montserrat Mountains

Fields of Barley

The middle bit wasn't nice, this is a really busy part of Spain, and every time you come down from the mountains your walking through a housing or industrial estate. Today it was mainly industrial. The signs were pretty good, you can see the GR sign on the lamppost below, although it seems like someone with a giant tin of pink paint has been trying cover up as many as possible.

The joys of long distance walking

I wouldn't say that the Natural Park was the most spectacular I've seen but maybe its designation has something to do with its proximity to Barcelona. There were information boards everywhere describing everything and today a huge party of school children were making the best of it. That's a 13th century church below, another one without any windows.

Approach to Navarcles

Abandoned church

The last bit of the walk, into Navarcles was along a long gorge with a river running along the bottom, very pleasant. Four Spanish walkers, male about my age, or slightly older, carrying big bags, were coming the other way and were all wearing those Lycra leggings. Makes you think.

Staying in the Hostal Montane in Navarcles. Must admit I really like these sort of places and seemed to stay in lots of them in Andalucia. It doesn't have a website and barely registers when you do an Internet search. Because it's so hard to find you tend to think it must be a dump. It is however absolutely fine, has a bar where they do food, and a restaurant, and is, like all Spanish places, spotless. It's also very cheap, which is good because I've been struggling to keep in budget recently.

Wednesday 4th of May Montserrat

A rest day but couldn't resist walking Miranda de Sant Joan, one of the highest points in the Montserrat range and which turned out to be a really nice walk. About 600 metres of climb and a three hour round trip.

These really are unusual mountains. The rock, certainly at top, is a conglomerate of large pebbles which have been cemented together. Like pebbles on the beach at Brighton, but bigger, these have clearly been in water and themselves are a mix of all sorts of different rock. From a bit of a distance the rock looks like weathered cement.

Montserrat rock structure

It must be the unusual composition of the rock that has led to some very distinct profiles. Really steep and a big attraction to climbers. One particular prominence caught my eye and if you look carefully at the picture below you see the climbers approaching the summit.

Could feel a bit of a dick climbing this one

Got a picture of myself at the top, as you can see I've wasted away so much that I need to be holding onto something to prevent myself keeling over. In the background are the Pyrenees but very difficult to make out. Also at the top I saw a deer  catching the sun.

The top looking north to the Pyrenees

Deer catching the sun

I said yesterday that there is a funicular to bring people up to the monastery. Actually there is a train, a cable car and a road as well as the funicular to get people to the top. In the day time it is absolutely packed and the main reason everyone is coming is to see the Black Madonna and kiss the wooden ball she is holding. It's easy to be sniffy about this sort of thing but personally I'm into pilgrimages but would choose a different focus for veneration. Everest Base Camp is a sort of pilgrimage. I would also insist that there has to be a bit of effort. Coming up a mountain on a train or a coach doesn't count as far as I'm concerned.

Black Madonna

Tuesday 3rd of May Capellades to Montserrat

Slight cheat this morning. Instead of walking 6 kilometres from Capellades to Peira to rejoin the GR 172 (and the E4) I saw a train and jumped on it. Worse than that I couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket and got a free journey. On the basis that E4 cheats never prosper I then proceeded to repeatedly loose the route and ended up walking the 6 kilometres gained by the train anyway.

The whole point of E4 excursion into Catalonia is, I think, to take you to the Montserrat mountain and its monastery. Having a rest day here tomorrow so will find out more about the place but the monastery and the black madonna located here is focus for pilgrimage and a symbol of Catalonia. Whenever the Barcelona football team win something they bring the cup here to say thank you.

The Montserrat mountains themselves are special. Not only are they very prominent, but they also form some very unusual shapes. The organic shapes, in particular, and the colour made me at any rate think of Gaudi, the famous Barcelona architect.

Mountains of Montserrat from Peira

Getting there proved a little bit harder than anticipated. I guess all the stuff which has worn away to form the mountain has been dumped in the plain below and rivers have sliced through this causing a series of deep ravines which have to be crossed. The trail through these ravines is perfect for men on motorbikes. A lot of effort has been made to try and stop them but it looks like a loosing battle.

Three GR routes home in on the monastery (the GR 172, the GR 6 and the GR 5) and actually it is a really good walk. Brilliant views both up the mountain and across the plain. You start on the west of the range, go around it's southern flank and then head up on the south-eastern side. Once you get around the corner your looking across towards the Barcelona metropolis which is huge.

Ermita de la de Deu de la Salut

Amazing shapes of the Montserrat Mountains

Montserrat Monestry

The monastery complex seems to be a theme park for the Catholic Church with a funicular to bring pilgrims up the mountains.

Resting up tomorrow so I can keep in step with people who will joining me for stints over the next few weeks. My feet are definitely suffering a bit at the moment so a day off is probably a good thing. I'm hoping to find somewhere to watch the Barcelona game, a lot a Barcelona shirts about today, although I doubt it will be as noisy up here as it was last week.