Dirks Tagebuch: Mesopotamia

Railroad crossing in Mesopotamia

A couple of kilometres upstream from my village, there's the confluence of the rivers Llobregat and Cardener. For years I wondered how it must feel to stand on the last tip of terra firma between the two rivers and last weekend I set out to experience it first person.

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Aerial View of Cardener - Llobregat Confluence

Getting there isn't exactly easy in terms of logic, as far as one doesn't want to bike on the major country road which connects Barcelona to Manresa, and which then leads further North towards rather exotically sounding places, such as Andorra and France. I therefore headed westward first, and then made a little climb so to enter our neighbouring village Castellgalí on it's far and high side. A rapid descent and two bridges later placed me in our local sort of Mesopotamia [land between two rivers]. Instead of turning right and directly heading towards the confluence, however, I turned left, following the Cardener River upstream.

All too soon the way on the riverside ended and gave place to what I suppose was a rapeseed field in its early stages. All the field could offer me was a tiny but nevertheless promising footpath at its margin to bike on. After a while, the path led to an installation which at first glance looked like a pedestrian bridge over the Cardener river. But why should there be a river crossing in the middle of nowhere without a proper access on neither of its sides? A more thoroughly inspection revealed the crossing being property of the Catalan Agency for water supply and waste water treatment, so I suppose it has something to do with controlling the river's water quality.

Pedestrian crossing

Exploration of the terrain on the far side of the crossing remains pending, because I decided to continue my trip on the footpath that had led me there. It soon came to an abrupt end at a point where it was relatively easy to cross the river on foot. Suddenly I stood on a neatly trimmed lawn of a golf course. Since I had not brought my golf clubs with me, there was nothing for me to do on a golf course and I went back to my bike.

Golf course

More tiny paths led me past a very nice and well maintained estate known as Can Font de Cirerencs, where I finally got on forest roads again, which made for more efficient riding. After some further exploration I realized that it was getting late, and so decided to directly head for what I had come for: the confluence. As one can see on the aerial photo posted above, a railway bridge crosses the rivers right at their point of rendezvous. I thus just had to follow the railway and so got to my destination without any possibility of losing my way.