Some breakfasts are more “continental” than others. Our breakfast at Can Pei was very continental. We had a tiny selection of bread, ham (very pale), two cheeses, a hard salami, donuts that made us all think of Dunkin Donuts, and that was about it. Perhaps we should have seen that coming as dinner was limited in its way too. However, we enjoyed dinner with its good bacon and potato starter, hearty though hard to pierce with a fork sausages, well seasoned potatoes, and chicken. They also provided a nice dry red wine. If you stay at Can Pei it helps to think of it as a farmstead, though not a farm anymore as far as I can tell, that happens to host guests. We were out the door and on our walk by 09:20 on yet another clear blue morning. The temperature at this point was creeping towards 60F but it was not there yet and we started the walk along the road into Oix (Osh) along the quiet road past working farms wearing some xtra clothing.
We goofed a bit and so did not walk through the heart of Oix. I doubt we missed much as the goof was slight and had us go one block beyond the “Main Street.” Maybe I am doing Oix a dis-service as a quick check of Wikipedia suggests the population is 970 and that suggests to me a decent sized village based on what we have seen thus far. However, we will never know as we quickly left the buildings behind and began climbing a dirt road past numerous sheep grazing along the forested road.
We were passing mountain farmsteads I suppose though the amount of farming that they can do must be limited as the slopes are hardly ones you could sew with crops. I guess that is why they have scores of sheep grazing here as they can get by in this type of terrain. Up and around we went. In time we actually had some views of the River Oix valley below (about 4.5km into the walk). I suppose the most exciting bit was when we had to slow down to let a momma goat her newborn pull ahead and move off the dirt road. We didn’t want to disturb them more than we had too.
After reaching the high point of the walk we began descending on more mountain road and then a rock-strewn path that got rockier as it went. For most people it would be merely irksome. I slowed down somewhat.
What views we had earlier were all but gone by now. We gradually lost elevation as we walked more woods roads down into another valley. No views. No animals. Plenty of heat as the temperature soared to about 80F.
In due time we approached the cliffs that Castellfollit de la Roca sits atop. It’s too bad we were walking and looking into the sun as the stupendously large Catalan flag that is hanging from the cliff top is certainly quite a sight. CastellFollit itself is impressive in its way too. We were in the most densely packed bit of civilian action (as it is) that we had seen since disembarking the train in Ripoll. The streets are clean and there is a mix of the old and new in this town of just over 1,000 people. Not that we saw many people out and about but maybe that was because it was just edging past 15:00 when we settled down for a snack in a cafe before walking the final 100 or so meters to where we would catch our taxi to the hotel we are staying at tonight.
This is a walk that I would not really recommend. Perhaps we missed something special but I am not sure what it would have been. Spending a bit more time in CastellFollit might be alright but otherwise this walk was mediocre at best.
Once again the GPS reported ascent and descent numbers that were about 120 meters less than the numbers Inntravel cites in their notes. The distance is pretty likely correct since I stopped the track before reaching the “end” of the walk and given we made a couple hundred meter goof walking down the dual carriage way before a turn off to the River Fluvia.
Distance 13.5km. Ascent: 335m. Descent: 431m. Average speed 2.7KPH. We did the walk in 5:40 with about 42 minutes in breaks.
Photos
1. Looking back towards the village of Oix (pronounced “Osh”).
2. We have climbed most of the way to the top. The house, called Mas Pineda, is clearly a sheep farm. You can see the river Oix valley below. Photo by Judy.
3. Has n the center of the picture hanging off the cliffs upon which CastellFollit de la Roca sits is a staggeringly large Catalan flag. Phito by Judy.
4. Ken walking across a bridge that has undulations built in. The bridge crosses the river Fluvia. Photo by Judy.
5. A street in zcastellfollit de la Roca.
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