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Mountain Walking in Southern Catalunya

Els Ports and the mountains of Tarragona

By Philip Freakley, Vivien Freakley

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
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.
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Philip Freakley Cicerone author FREAKLEY

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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Vivien 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.

View author profile