Route 17 - puncture

Llobregat crossing at Pont de Vilomara

Last Saturday, the day of my birthday,  I tried out another route of the guide of biking routes to be done in Bages. Since the circular Route 17 passes through my village, I decided to start it from home instead of transporting me and my bike to the neighbour village of Pont de Vilomara first.

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According to the guide, Route 17 is about 45km long and covers a positive vertical height just short of 750m. Starting in St. Vicenç de Castellet, it passes close to Sant Salvador de Guardiola, crosses Castellgalí and El Pont del Vilomara, takes a glance at the Natural Park of St. Llorenç de Munt and then returns to St. Vicenç. 

Route 17

At about half past ten I left my village into Western direction. After the crossing of the Cardener river, the highway C55 and a small industrial zone, the route soon enters some forest where it steadily keeps gaining altitude. After a while it turns right into direction Manresa but then branches off the way that leads towards our region's capital, and it's precisely there, where for the first time I entered what can be called uncharted waters. 

In English, this appears to be called a "clochán"

The initially predominating woody landscape slowly gives way to agricultural fields, here and there interspersed with old masias and sheds that used to be used for storing gardening tools (I guess).  

The ruined masia of Vilomara

The closer I got to the village of Sant Salvador de Guardiola (which I never saw), the more cultivated the surrounding got, and it wasn't long until I encounterd inhabitated places.    

Oller de'n Mas' wineyard

An Eastward turn then led me to Castellgalí, but before getting there, I could enjoy nice views of Montserrat to my right as well as of Manresa to my lefthand side. There are also some very nice and rather big masias to be found.

Nice place to live

Manresa and snow covered Pyrenees in the back

In no time, some steep slopes led me down to Castellgalí, where I, again, crossed river and highway. For some distance, my route followed a trail I had wandered along some years ago, but instead of taking a left turn that would have led me towards Manresa, I branched off into the opposite direction. I then closely passed by the compostation plant that belongs to Manresa's waste water treatment plant and soon entered more pristine and less foul smelling terrain. 

Highway crossing

A suprisingly short distance later I crossed the highway C16 and practically where on my way down into the village of Pont de Vilomara. There I crossed the Llobregat river by means of the beautyful romanesque bridge to be seen on the opening picture of this entry. 

From there on the territory wasn't any longer unknown to me. The route description guided me towards a valley that leads straight towards our local natural park where, close to a crossing of a ravine, I suffered a rear wheel puncture - the first one with this bike so far.

"Riera de la Casa Nova"

It took me a while to change the tube and when I was on my way again, I decided to cheat, in order not to loose my birthday meal. From St Jaume de Vallhonesta on, so my decision, I would skip a couple of mile stones and directly make my way back to down to Boades. This way I admit, I didn't pass by Masia Ginebral, nor did I come close to St. Pere de Vallhonesta. I may be forgiven, however, since those points are part of my normal biking routes. At 2 o'clock I was at home. Instead of the 45 km of Route 17, however, I only had done around 40. A very nice route and much easier to follow than the last one I did.