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Mountain Walking in Southern Catalunya

Els Ports and the mountains of Tarragona

By Philip Freakley, Vivien Freakley

ISBN

9781852845827

Availability

Published

17 Aug 2010

Edition

First

Pages

192

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.30cm

Weight

230g

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This guidebook has 30 routes for mountain walkers of all abilities in Southern Catalunya. The routes are in 3 national parks between Barcelona and Valencia; around the River Ebre: the els Ports massif, Serra de Cardo and the Serra de Montsia, including the immense limestone crags of the Parc Natural dels Ports overlooking the Mediterranean.

Seasons

good walking from October through to May; when strong winds or the occasional dusting of snow arrive on the high ridges the sheltered coastal slopes provide good routes

Centres

Tortosa

Difficulty

from broad tracks to airy scrambles round huge cliffs; walks graded for routefinding, scrambling and exposure; all within capabilities of experienced hill walkers – rockclimbing skills and equipment are not needed

Must See

Parc Natural dels Ports, herb-covered hillsides, high pine forest, Templar castles, picturesque hill villages

ISBN

9781852845827

Availability

Published

17 Aug 2010

Edition

First

Pages

192

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.30cm

Weight

230g

Overview

This first English-language guide describes the best mountain and coastal walking near Tortosa, Southern Catalunya, Spain, in the Parc Natural dels Ports, on the Cardó and Montsia massifs and along the coast, all easily accessible from Barcelona, Valencia and Reus. 30 idyllic winter walking routes for walkers of all experience and abilities are included through this area of remarkable natural beauty and diversity. The immense limestone crags, ridges and pinnacles of the Parc Natural dels Ports overlook the broad orange and olive groves beside the River Ebro, giving a high drama to the landscape. Closer the to the Mediterranean, there is good walking on the massifs of Cardó and Montsia and a long-distance footpath along the coast. Mysteriously, the region is practically unknown outside the region. The wild limestone landscapes, from herb-covered hillsides to high pine forest, dotted with Templar castles and picturesque hill villages, remain untouched by mass tourism. All walks are graded for route-finding, scrambling required and exposure, and non-technical, suitable for any experienced hillwalker, and listed in a summary table at the back for easy selection, along with a Catalan glossary of mountain terms and lots of other local information.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Map Key

Overview Map

Introduction

The Walking Area

The Natural Parks

Climate and When to Go

Geology and Geography

Wildlife

History, Architecture and Culture

Getting There

Getting Around

Where to Stay

Emergencies

Language

Money

Food and Drink

What to Take

Waymarking and Access

Hunting and how to avoid it

Maps

Using the guide

The Walks

Walk 1 Punta de l’Aigua

Walk 2 Montaspre ridge

Walk 3 Moleta de les Canals circuit and summit ridge

Walk 4 Barranc del Camp

Walk 5 Solana route

Walk 6 Cova dels Adells

Walk 7 Coll d’en Caubet and Vallfiguera

Walk 8 Cervera and Figuera valleys

Walk 9 La Moleta

Walk 10 Vall d’Infern

Walk 11 Pi del Perillo

Walk 12 Mont Caro summit

Walk 13 Mola del Moro

Walk 14 La Barcina

Walk 15 Cresta del Marturi

Walk 16 Sources of the Matarranya

Walk 17 Roca del Migdia

Walk 18 Caramella gorge

Walk 19 Mola Castellona

Walk 20 Lloret high level route

Walk 21 Barranc de Lloret

Walk 22 Roca Xapada

Walk 23 Font del Paradis

Walk 24 Coll de Lloret

Walk 25 Sant Roc to Arnes and back

Walk 26 La Creu de Santos

Walk 27 Seven ermitas and a ridge

Walk 28 Mas de Mata-redona

Walk 29 La Foradada

Walk 30 Coastal path

Appendix A Route summary table

Appendix B Finding the walks

Appendix C Catalan–English glossary of mountain terms

Appendix D Useful contacts

Maps

MAPS

This guide is intended to be used in conjunction with walking maps produced by Editorial Piolet. These provide, within the limitations of the 1:25,000 and 1:30,000 scales, a good depiction of the walking terrain. Discrepancies between the maps and routes ‘on the ground’ are dealt with both on the sketch maps and in the text. The following are useful maps:

Estels del Sud, La Travessa del Massis dels Ports El Port Mapes Excursionistes (two sheets, sold as a pair) Cardó and Rasquera.

The Estels del Sud map is designed to accompany a multi-day circuit of els Ports and gives guidance in four languages including English. All the maps are available as both hardcopy and CDs and can be purchased online from the publisher at www.editorialpiolet.com (Catalan only) and from the main Tortosa bookshop at www.la2deviladrich.cat/public/en, which has an English language option.

The Institut Cartografic de Catalunya produces maps of the area at 1:50,000, which can be bought in the UK. The scale is inappropriate for walking but the Baix Ebre (9) and Montsia (22) sheets are useful as detailed road maps. There is also online access to 1:10,000 maps at www.icc.es, but these lack essential footpath information.

Updates

December 2022

GPX tracks

The authors have provided the following GPX tracks for walks 3, 13, 17 and 22. They work best on the recommended Piolet Estels del Sud map but can be used on the generic Spanish Topo.

Southern Catalunya Tracks (157.864 KB)

July 2014

Updates

Page 182 Monte Caro Mountain Hut

There have been some changes to this hut;

New phone number, 003 49775 80063 / 003 46097 90321
The shelter does have water
website www.refugiueccaro.cat
info@... 2011

Walk 20

pg 125: Following the sentence 'The climb continues for half an hour to reach an unsuspected patch of scree with a fig tree growing in the middle of it.'

After ascending the scree the path turns left to climb for some 10m towards the base of some undercut cliffs before turning definitively right onto a clear path. The way now becomes increasingly hemmed in by cliffs and pinnacles until it narrows to a cleft, with two wooden ladders leading up over the top to provide the only exit.

This is the Escarrisó de Borosa and it is reached some one hour 20mins from the start of the walk. A further 10mins of climbing on a clear path leads on to a grassy plateau and up to the shapely rock pillars of the Coll dels Morralets. Turn left here for Cova Ebre and Pallers following a red painted arrow on the back of the first pillar. About 10m further on there is a rock on the right hand side of the path with a metal signpost plate. The route carries straight on here, through woodland, towards the Cova Ebre and Caro

Many thanks go to reader Mike Cahill for providing us with this update information

August 2011

The guided walking, birdwatching and other services previously provided by Ebrotours have now been transferred to Walking Birder, which can be accessed at www.walkingbirder.com.

December 2012

Alternative start to Walk 3: The Moleta de les Canals circuit and summit ridge and Walk 25: Sant Roc to Arnes and back

A new start is needed for these walks now that the original track to Mas Torrat has been fenced off and it is clear that walkers are no longer welcome to follow the barranc route directly but must make a detour to join the route higher up. The same alternative should also be used for Walk 25.

Leave the car park on a broad track, signposted for the Coll de l’Ametleral, ignoring a track leading to the right. Take a path leading up to the left after one minute, following red and white GR7 markers and blue stars, to reach a second signpost 5mins later. Bear right onto a broad track, still on GR7 and continue straight on past another signpost until, some 25mins from the start, yet another signpost indicates the direction on a small woodland path climbing up to the right for the Pla de l’Hedera. After 10mins the path joins a track and a right turn (Pla de l’Hedera) is indicated. After only a few minutes the track bends acutely to the left and the route continues straight on, on a small path. Some 8mins later, at a junction with a marker post, the original path joins from the right, having climbed up the barranc directly. Continue straight on for a few more minutes to reach a T-junction marked with red paint and make a left turn to continue the route as described in the guide.

January 2013

Change to access arrangements for walks 17-19

A new parking area has been built about 500m before Casa de Carvallo, just before the road has a big kink south. The workmen are not finished yet, but there are already “no motor traffic” signs and the foundations for a barrier to stop vehicles going on to the Casa, so all the walks will be a km or so longer.

Many thanks to Peter Gorvett for this information.

January 2014

Walk 4 Barranc del Camp - Change of Route

The route has been diverted to avoid the property of a landowner who is clearly not walker friendly. The diversion is towards the end of the walk (page 57). The text reads:

‘At this point a cairn marks a junction. Bear right onto a rougher track and continue rising by a terrace wall for 4 minutes until another rough track joins from the left’

Instead of carrying straight on past the ‘No-entry’ sign as described, turn into the rough track which joins from the left. After approximately 200m there is a clear footpath on the right, marked by a post with a direction arrow and a cairn. Take this path and follow it until it joins a broad track. (This is the GR7). Turn right and complete the circuit as described in the guidebook.

Reviews

I found this guide easy to read and the concise route descriptions easy to follow. Southern Catalunya cannot be recommended highly enough for a winter walking destination and this excellent guide should help make this area accessible to walkers from the UK.

This guide with its find selection of walks and excellent diagrams should inspire many to explore this unique and wonderful area.

Austrian Alpine Club newsletter, Spring 2011

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Philip Freakley

After leaving their academic careers in 2002, Philip and Vivien Freakley moved to the Haute Ariege region of the French Pyrenees to indulge a lifelong passion for mountains and the natural world. They are, by inclination, fair weather walkers and discovered the mountains of Southern Catalunya during an escape from a particularly cold and snowy Pyrenean winter. In 2004 they bought a house there and have spent the subsequent five winters exploring, talking to local walkers, translating Catalan route descriptions, knitting together apparently unrelated scraps of footpath and encouraging everyone to build cairns.

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