Catalonia - from France border to Gosól | club75

Our Trekking through Europe from 2017 led us through many countries - Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, about which I have already written twice and I will write at least one more time, France, to which I also sent you twice in my posts, and Spain. Perhaps I should say "Catalonia and Spain" instead, to respect the independence aspirations of the Catalans. Today's entry will be about the episode Cerbere - Gosól.

_{St Lorenc de la Muga - all photos in the post belong to @papi.mati}

Crossing the border and first experiences in traveling with a dog

Shortly after leaving Cerbere - the last town on the south-eastern coast of France, we took a light walk to Spain - or rather Catalonia, a region with its own autonomy demanding independence. We were excited that we will finally be able to test our Spanish language skills, but that excitation ended with disappointment. Catalan is totally different and we were unable to understand even a single word. "Well, we will have to wait for the language test", we thought, and accepted the communication difficulties.

_{Old checkpoint on the border between Cerbere and Portbou. Since there are no borders between the countries of the EU, that buildings remain empty since over 25 years}

But not only the language was a problem for us in Catalan towns. "Gossos no", which means "no dogs" - the same sign appeared in practically all public places. We didn't understand it at first, so we were quite surprised when bus drivers refused to let us into the vehicle with our dog... In one of the tourist information, we found out that there is even a law that prohibits taking dogs on buses unless they are muzzled and in a container. Discrimination against dogs covers the whole spectrum - from the ban on entering the buildings to hanging the whole town with hate posters that showed a person tramping dog excrement, with a moralizing inscription in Catalan. Surely, we didn't understand a single word from them, but we can imagine it was written probably something like "do you want to experience this every day?". Greetings to the people of Pont de Molins - yeah, I'm talking about your town :)

_{Even though there are tens of dog owners in Cataluna, the law here is one of the most dog-unfirendly in Europe}

Fortunately, there were no such problems with trains as with buses. We could travel with our dog and the only problem that was worrying us was related to all trains being late for at least one hour.

In Catalonia, we traveled through four regions until we reached Gosól - from the coastal Alt Empordà, through Garrotxa, Ripollès to Berguedà. There are national GR trails with white and red markings, general orange, cycling, and local trails associated with interesting places in the region. Everything is perfectly marked, so you can go into the forest with a backpack on your back and enjoy the closeness of nature. The routes are beautiful. If you are ever in that region, you must necessarily walk a dozen or so kilometers in one of them. More importantly, they are also empty. We walked for hours on most trails without meeting anyone. Sometimes a mountain biker passed us, maybe a car drove closer to the town, but otherwise nobody.

_{Beautiful, empty landscapes. No people at all}

Access to drinking water was a big problem during the march. Most rivers and streams at this time of the year are dry. Even in the riverbeds that carved the massive canyons of Garrotxa, the narrow river struggles to dry up in a few hundred meters and complete its course. Our preparations, therefore, had to involve a few kilograms of additional luggage in the form of many bottles with drinking water.

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_{Two first pictures - Villafont, two other - Saderness. Old towns, churches and bridges we have seen during our trip}

Starting with Figueres, all the small towns we visited were very old: many were founded in the early medieval period, churches and monasteries undamaged during wars retained their Gothic or Romanesque architectural style. Like for example in Sant Llorenç de la Muga, a medieval town with walls around, 4-star hotels and exclusive restaurants, and on the other hand Vallfogona de Ripollès, where there is not even an ordinary shop. Another interesting old town was Castellfollit de la Roca with information signs every step of the way telling the story and geology of the region. This town located its historical center on a basalt cliff, which was built around 200 thousand years ago when lava flowing from a nearby volcano Olot met the waters of the Fluvia River. Characteristic basalt structures - vertical columns of stone in a regular cross-section, create a high wall and a beautiful landscape.

_{Castelfolliz on the cliff}

Interestingly, it was in the vicinity of Castellfollit de la Roca that I first met with an information board about the panorama of the peaks surrounding the town, adapted for the blind. The shapes of the hills were marked with raised lines, differently those closer and those in the distance.

A very important thing that I also noticed is the ubiquity of AED defibrillators. In every town, in an obvious place (near a church, a larger shop, or a local community center), there is a box with such a device.

The common on our Catalan route were symbols of support for the independence of the region - flags hung on balconies, doors, and windows. The autonomy sentiment was related to the upcoming independence referendum - the referendum in which later the Catalans unequivocally supported liberation, but that was ignored by the Spanish government.

_{La Pobla de Llilet and Catalan flag on the bridge}

We ended this part of the journey in Gósol. Mountain shelter near the highest hill in continental Spain - Pedraforca. For the next two weeks, we were working there as volunteers, visiting the area at the same time, but that is a completely different story.

_{Sunset in Pont Molins}