Above the village of Camarasa, where the Segre comes out of the pre-Pyrenean hills onto the plain of Lleida, a cave in the limestone holds some of the most interesting rock paintings in Catalonia. The Cova del Tabac, the tobacco cave, is a wide shelter with schematic paintings, simplified human figures, animals and symbols in red, and it is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art on the Iberian Peninsula. A short walk leads up from the road to the shelter, which also offers a fine view over the valley, and on a clear day the Pyrenees rise white on the northern horizon.
Camarasa sits at an important crossroads. Just upstream, the Noguera Pallaresa, coming down from the high Pyrenees, joins the Segre, and the two rivers have been dammed to create reservoirs that provide water for irrigation and power for the region. The Camarasa dam, built in the 1920s, was one of the great engineering works of its time, and the reservoir behind it fills a deep, winding gorge. The village itself has a ruined castle on a hill above the houses, a reminder of its role in the medieval wars between the Counts of Urgell and their enemies.
For riders, this is the gateway to some of the best roads in Catalonia. Heading north, the road follows the Noguera Pallaresa through the Congost de Terradets, a dramatic gorge where the road is squeezed between sheer limestone cliffs and the river, with tunnels and galleries cut into the rock. Beyond it lies the Pallars valley and the high Pyrenees. To the west, the Montsec range, a long limestone ridge, offers twisting roads, viewpoints and an astronomical observatory, and its skies are among the darkest in Catalonia. The roads are generally good, but rockfall and gravel are common in the gorges.
Camarasa is a small village with limited services, so fill up in Balaguer, about fourteen kilometres away, a town of nearly seventeen thousand people on the Segre, with a lively Saturday market and an arcaded main square. The local food includes coca de recapte, a flatbread topped with roasted vegetables and anchovies or sausage, and the olive oil of the Garrigues to the south is excellent. Summers are hot on the plain, and winters can bring thick fog that lingers for days.