O/N Micro-adventure; Tour of the Bisaura

Personally the Bisaura has been on my list for a long time but without the right opportunity presenting itself. June was a perfect time for it; it was lush, green, moist and shiny and filled with flowers. Such a nice contrast to our dry and dusty drought-ridden environs.

The Bisaura is a geographically distinct region which lies between two comarcas; Osona (capital Vic) and Ripollés. It borders La Garrotxa and so is part of the pre-pyrenean region which gets the most rain in Catalunya.

On this hike there were two main attractions: the spectacular Salt del Mir, which had plenty of water flowing, and the ethereal ravine of the Bufadors de Bevi.

Although totally doable in a day (even with a restaurant at about the mid-point), we split this up to make our first Midweek Hiker Overnight Mini-Adventure™. Arriving at Sant Quirze de Besora around 1945 (somewhat later than planned due to delays), we had just over two hours to get to the ruined masia el Bosquetell, which is surrounded by grassy meadows frequented by bovines (mercifully absent) for a cheeky bivouac. In the morning we packed up our soggy tents and finished the remaining two-thirds of the walk, incorporating the Salt del Mir and Bufadors de Bevi, to finish up at La Farga de Bebie, a rather strange train station in a ghost town that was formerly a bustling textile colony on a bend in the Ter river.

HIKERS

PEZ

DR. DRE

PAU

Only-slightly-less-special-than-last-time guest Maciek


TRANSPORT

We took the R3 to and fro - the best line there is, with adventure at (almost) every stop. We left on Fri eve around 1730, scheduled to get to Sant Quirze de Besora at around 1920 and give ~2.5h of light to reach our overnight destination. 

We returned from La Farga de Bebie; note many trains do not stop there so there are fewer options than if the walk was done in reverse. 

Sant Quirze is the last stop in TMB's Zone 6, and so was included in the Renfe Abono Recurrente as esssentialy free travel. La Farga lay one stop outside; we didn't think we'd get caught but we were rather conspicuous as the only people getting on there. The ticket inspector knew exactly where we'd got on and recognised that we had been a little naughty but she was nice about it.

THE ROUTE

From Sant Quirze station, we went through the town, where they seemed to ramping up for a major party, and out joining the GR-3 towards Bellmunt. We climb for 6-7km along or beside the ridge running parallel to Bellmunt, with views of the Castell de Besora on the left and the extensive forest covering the neighbouring ridges to the right. Along the dry ridges was abundant winter savoury; in the humid forest on the northern side just below the ridge, wild strawberrries.

Our camping spot, El Bosquetell, was where the GR3 and GR151 cross. In the morning, we follow the GR151 to the north, passing down into beech forest with the sounds of water growing. Eventually we got the Salt del Mir; the brief detour down to the mills and the base of the falls was well worth it. Shortly after, we arrive at a restaurant (Can Mir) where we had a welcome coffee and marvelled at the old Catalan men wolfing down roasted meats with beer at 9am. 

After this, we had a long section along a road through pleasant farmland, until we got to the Coll de Bevi (no longer on the GR). There we turn to walk along the ridge of the Serra dels Bufadors on a path that was narrow, steep and irregular, until we arrived at the Escletxa dels Bufadors. Here we stopped to drink in the atmosphere and have a snack, before leaving through a narrow crack and descending down to La Farga along broad forest tracks.

HIGHLIGHTS

Roe deer barking all night - as least this time it was a familiar sound.

Frogs croaking all night - they were pretty loud too.

Winter savoury in abundance to collect (and thyme in the Serra dels Bufadors).

Late dinner round the smallest campfire ever (it was a candle).

Good company!

La Farga de Bebie as a curious place to end up.

PHOTOS


                            Sant Quirze                                                          Starting off up the ridge

                 Forested ridges to the right                                                        Sunset

               Final climb towards Bosquetell                                            Pitching in the dark

Dinner round the campfire

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 2

                                Our camp at sunrise                                     Lush growth in the meadow

                            Sunrise over the Bisaura                                         Salt del Mir from above

                                                                            The mills



                                                                        Base of the waterfall

 


Walking along the Serra dels Bufadors


                   Entering the Escletxa dels Bufadors                     P + M found a Phallus impudicus...


  






Escletxa dels Bufados


                                Hello you                                                    Wier by La Farga de Bebie

                                            
                                                             Empty accomodation in La Farga

                                                                                Tired out

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wild Montserrat; El Bruc to Monistrol via Montgros and Portell de Migdia

Image
The greatest adventure to be had within an hour of BCN - Montserrat's wild south side along the PRC-78. HIKERS: PEZ K3 MIX TRANSPORT: Bus to El Bruc (company: Hispano Igualadina) leaving from Maria Cristina (~40 min).  Return from Monistrol de Montserrat with the FGC line R5. THE ROUTE: Leaving from El Bruc, we head over olive fields to the foot of the mountain, where we have a little sramble up. From there we pass by the enormous Cova de la Arcada and then on to the Torrent de les Grutes, with it's small equipped section (like a little ladder). We pop out near the crest close to Coll de Porc and then join the PRC-78 to make our way along the south side of Montserrat. The way wends along, with a lot of scrambling and steep rocky paths. Eventually we are led to Montgros, where we take a detour to the peak to enjoy the views from this big fat needle of rock. Down the very narrow Canal de la Salamandra leaves us close to Coll de Migdia; we take it and pass to the north side of the...
Read more

Baptising the PRC-229 - Montjuic 360

Image
Taking kids up to La Foixarda in the summer I noticed the freshly-painted but familiar yellow and white PRC markings up on Montjuic. A bit of research finds that it was a newly minted 'sender homologat' of the FEEC; the PRC-229, aka Montjuic 360. A tour of our favourite urban mountain. At around 11km, supposedly it manages to get less than 30% of the route on tarmac. It seemed like just the thing for a casual walk before we take a summer break. But remember - don't underestimate Montjuic... Meeting at around 1830 and with darkness falling by 2200, we should have had plenty of time to finish the walk (estimated at around 3h for a standard walker) and reward ourselves with a cold clara. The problem was we stopped for a drink a third into the walk, half the team dropped out and then the remainder finished well after dark at 2240. Surprisingly it seemed to actually take us the three hours. Don't underestimate Montjuic! HIKERS (dropouts are crossed out): * in retrospect, it ...
Read more