Riera de Mata-rodona

Frida, a dog

Long time no see, I've been working long hours lately and even had to work some Saturdays. As a result, there was little time for hikes and whenever there was some precious spare time, I was too exhausted or simply too lazy to motivate myself for anything physically demanding. The infernal heat doesn't help neither ..... truly some lame excuses, I'm the first to admit.

But, about a week ago, I actually had a whole day off. Since Elisabet and me were unwilling to let pass by such an uncommon opportunity, we prepared some sandwiches and together with Frida (the dog) set off to Mata-rodona.
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As I mentioned in a previous article, Mata-rodona is quite far away from our home - at least if one wants to go there on foot or by bike. That's why we drove by car to a masia called El Ginebral. This way we didn't have to "suffer" the less interesting part of the route and saved us several hours of walking.

At El Ginebral

Our hike first led us to Coll de Gipó. Once there, we took the ancient Camí Ral, a path that follows the Carena del Panissar. Just before reaching Coll de Daví, though, the truly interesting part of our walk began as we abandoned the track and descended some 150 metres into the Mata-rodona Torrent. Our little marked path not only was steep, but also had become overgrown with vegetation. At least we weren't exposed to the sun anymore. A while before actually reaching the torrent, we already could hear the concert of its inhabitants - frogs, toads and birds mostly. The local wildlife obviously still was enjoying the consequences of a heavy rainfall, some days before. And indeed, the few times I had seen the torrent before, it not even closely had contained as much water as the day of our trip. After a short rest and some splashing about in the water (in case of Frida) we continued our way up to Mata-rodona which lay, by then well visible, high above us on the oposed site of the canyon we found us in.

On our way down, we caught a first glimpse of Mata-rodona (to be seen in the background)

The better part of the way up had fallen victim to utterly spinose, rainforest like vegetation as well, and progression, as a consequence, made us loose much time. Finally we made it to the top of our ascend, where a small chapel called La Concepció is located. Only a walk of some ten minutes at most seperated us from Mata-rodona (and maybe 20 from the flag that flies on a rock above the masia), but even so we decided to draw back, because Elisabet had to work in the afternoon and the ticking of her clock grew louder by the moment. A drawback in time at least would allow us a thorough rest back down in the torrent.

Shadow was rare at La Concepció 

Our plan turned out to be great, for everyone of us three enjoyed that break very much. Splashing about in the water, Frida had as a good time as us, sitting in the shadow, eating our sandwiches and observing the surrounding, untouched nature. Deep in my rucksack I even found some fried meat for Frida, which she savoured for a splitsecond or two, the time it takes her to devour something she really likes. And during our whole stay in the torrent, the animal muscians gave their very best. 
Then, after making one or two more fotos we stole away, trying not to disturb the artists.

Elisabet in the torrent