Barranc del gurb (Gurps canyon) 12/06/2016

Summer is starting, the weather is good and I have free time so it's the moment to do outdoor activties. Today I tried something new, canyoning. Some friends had said that canyoning was something one must try and they invited me to join them on their next canyoning session.

The canyon we did was the Gurp canyon which is close to Sort, Catalonia. We did it with the help of a guide, Lluís Beardo from http://barrankisme.com/ . He was a really good guide, giving confidence in the rappels and providing a lot of information from the rock formations and the wildlife.

I have to say that canyoning was a great experience. We started walking up a trail around 30 minutes and then we entered into the canyon. There we put our helmets, neoprene suit and started to enjoy. When swimming arms and legs (even feet because we where wearing special socks) were warn but hands where pretty cold but tolerable.

We kept doing rappels, small water jumps and simple climbing when we were told. I hadn't use a neoprene in lots of years and it surprised me how well it isolated legs and arms from the cold water.

4 hours later we finished the canyon. We changed to normal clothes again and walked a bit more than 30 minutes to get back to where we left the car.

Castell del Burriac 14/06/2016

This time a visited a small castle near Cabrera de Mar called Castell de Burriac (Burriac's castle). I went there because I was doing a barbecue in the nears and we decided to do a small trip before the meal. The better way to explain the route is to show a track which I'm now able to post thanks to strava support for blogs. The ride was short but enough to sweat as it was hot and the climb steep. For more info check the activity,




The castle was firstly build by romans in the II and I a.C. century but most of the remainings date back from other centuries as the place was rebuild and modified. The most beautiful parts where the tower which was build between the XII and XIII c. and the reamings of and old chapel also build during those years.

Toledo 22/03/2016

Today I visited Toledo, a medieval city near Madrid. We  got there by car with some friends and walked around the  city center. The most known building from Toledo is the Alcazar. It started as a roman palace , then resused as a fort by the Visigoths and it had constants changes during the centuries. Now it's a militar museum. Even though it represented a lot in the history I didn't find the building anything special.

On the other hand the Toledo cathedral,  Santa María de Toledo was much beatiful. We walked around it as there was a huge queue to get inside and was expensive. From the outside, as it can be seen, it's huge and imposing. It took a while to build it, from 1226 till 1493 where some gothic addings where done.

After visiting the cathedral we wanderad alongside the wall. It was enormous and covered all the perimeter of the city center. The walls date from different centuries depending when they where contructed or reconstructed but early ones date back from 5th century.

Tossa de Mar 15/08/2015

Today we visited a "La Vila Vella de Tossa de Mar" which translated into "The old town from Tossa de Mar". This town is sorrounded by a wall that protects the inner buildings. This wall was constructed during the XII and the XIV and is one of bes preserved costal medieval buildings.

Inside the wall there were the ruins of and old church which barely holds. The inside of it was partially flooded. One of the things that was most impressive is the proximity to the sea.

Peak of Corronco 12/08/2015

Today we did a long hiking trip near the El Pont de Suert, the climb to the peak of Corronco. We started in the chapel of Sant Salvador d'Irgo de Tor. I visited this chapel in a previous bike trip, this time instead of being the ending it's the starting point. We reach the chapel around 7.30 a.m as we want to avoid the sun as much as possible and start the climb.

The path is decent but we decide to take some steeper shortcuts, it's harder to climb but faster. After 40 minutes we reach de mountain ridge. There are no trees, no clouds ... no shadows, during all the hiking trip the sun is hitting us. Even though we are "well" equipped with 3 liters of water per person we run out water at the half of the way back. So if anybody wants to do this trip it's importat to have that mind, there are no fountains, water or shadows.

The path is practicaly inexistent but as there is low grass and "cow paths" so the walk is easy but steep. At the end of the horizon we can see the peak, it's a bit frustating to see how far away it is but there are nice view which make everything easier.

Peak of corronco

After 4 hours of walking, with some stops for resting and eating some snacks, we reach the top (2543 m of altitude). There we eat our well deserved sandwich. After eating and taking some photos we start going back home which is much faster but not as satisfying. As all way back is downhill the walking puts a lot of strees in the knees.

After 7 hours 34 minutes we are back in the chapel. We have walked 14.9 km and gained an accumulated altitude of around 1200 meters.

Congost De Mont-Rebei 10/08/2015

New motorbike and hiking trip. This one is a bit special as it's shorter than usual but at the end we are able to take a path in the lake. The path is, however, narrow, rocky and with lots of ups and downs.

We start the trip in El pont the Suert, as the last, one and we head to Pont de Montanyana following the N-230. After reaching the later we must cross a bridge and follow some "paved" roads. The N-230 is amazing to ride with the motorcycle, full of turns, great asphalt and not many cars. You may find some trucks but they are easy to take over.

After arriving to the Congost de Mont-Rebei's parking they ask us to pay 4 euros for each car and 4 euros for every two motorbike. It's not going to happen as we park the motorbikes some meters away of the parking and walk this lasts meters.

From that point the hiking starts. It takes around 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the swimming place. As usual the GPS decided no to take the track of the path. Because we wanted to take a bath at the end of the walk the hiking started at 3.30pm, one of the worst hours, the sun was killing us.

The views of the mountains were spectacular. And some parts of the hiking paths looked like they were taken from films. At the end of the hiking we took the well gained bath and after a couple hours headed back to the parking.

In the way back we decided to take a look into a deep cave. To get there some easey climbing was needed nothing super dangerous as there where lots of place to put the hands. The cave was huge but we only got the light from the mobile flash so we didn't go much deep inside it. I want to go there again with some decent light and explore it.

Views from the cave.

After finishing the hiking back to the parking we had to re-do the initial motorbike trip. This time we couldn't have as much fun because it was getting darker (it was already 9 p.m) and some animals could jump into the road.

Alta Ribagorça Sant Salvador d'irgo 07/08/2015

The blog was firstly intended for biking and hiking trips. After some entries here is the first biking entry. My initial intention was to post the track of all the trips however the GPS in my mobile simple sucks, so in lots of cases I'm not able to take the track.

The route I did today is quite short and I have done it several times. You start in El Pont de Suert a town in the deepest part of the valley and start climbing. After 4.4 km and around 30 minutes you reach Gotarta, small town, no downhill, only mountain to climb. After some more kilometers we reach the heighest part where the chapel of Sant Salvador d'Irgo de Tor is. At this point we are at 1402 meters above sea level and we have spectacular views. As we started in 850 we have climbed 552 meters in around 8 km and 55 minutes . The route downhill is nothing special, the bad condition of the road forces us to stay at moderate speed. In around 10 minutes or less we are back home.

There is not much information of the chapel. The first mentions date back on the XVII century. The building is simple without any decorations and the entry is closed to visitors.