Feb 28, 2014

Balma de l'Espluga


In the Natural Parc of Sant Llorenç, there are numerous caves, the deepest of which goes down some 120m into the washed out conglomerate rock. That cave is called "Avenc de l'Espluga", avenc being the Catalan word for vertical cave. As a matter of fact, it is the cave I've visited most times, and every time me and my caving companions went there, we passed at least one night in a cosy rock shelter close by, which bears the name "Balma de l'Espluga", Balma being Catalan for ....... rock shelter, exactly! Since I hadn't been there for years, I thought it would be nice to go there by bike.
click here to read on

Feb 18, 2014

Laurel

Clochán close to "La Serra"
At home we ran out of laurel leafs. Since laurel (or bay, as I just learned) forms part of our common vegetation, I took my bike to get some. Instead of getting it from a cemetary close by, I looked for it in a more remote place and so could combine my expedition with a nice bike trip.

Feb 12, 2014

A trip around Montserrat

On my previous trip, I went to the Montserrat abbey by bike. That trip was part of a circular biking route I had found in a book, and which goes the whole way around Montserrat, starting and ending point being Marganell.
Better part of the Montserrat round trip
Last Saturday, Xavi and me decided to bike a little, and so it came, that I proposed the Montserrat round trip. Although the description marks it as hard, with only 40km it's not a very long trip. It's the up and downs of more than 1000m of accumulated positive altitude difference, that increase difficulty. Instead of carrying our bikes to Marganell by car, we started the trip from my village and so added some 12 km of distance and maybe 200m vertical meters.