Behind the Conca de Barberà, where the Catalan plain begins to lift towards the Serra de Prades, a small valley holds the monastery of Poblet, one of the largest and best-preserved Cistercian abbeys in Europe. The Mas d'en Ramon d'en Besso is a farmhouse a few kilometres from Montblanc and from the village of Vimbodí, in wooded country of holm oak, pine and dry-stone terraces with the red cliffs of the Roques Guàrdies nearby.
Poblet was founded in 1151, after Ramon Berenguer IV conquered these lands from the Moors, and settled by monks from the abbey of Fontfroide in southern France. Over the following centuries it grew rich and powerful, a burial place for the kings of Aragon and a centre of learning, with a great fortified wall, a cloister, a library and a dormitory on a huge scale. In 1835, during the anticlerical upheavals of the Spanish state, the monks were thrown out, the buildings were looted and burned, and it lay in ruins for a century before a patient restoration began. Monks came back in 1940 and still live there. The abbey belongs to the Cistercian route that links it with the monasteries of Santes Creus and Vallbona de les Monges, and was inscribed by UNESCO in 1991.
The prehistoric side of the district is less obvious. Rock shelters in the cliffs near Montblanc and Prades contain painted figures in the Levantine style, protected as part of a wider UNESCO group.
The riding is on rural roads that climb out of the Conca de Barberà into the hills of Prades, with a mix of tight corners and smooth stretches under pine and oak. The road to the village of Prades, built of red stone around a big arcaded square, is enjoyable and ends in cool, fresh air at nearly a thousand metres. Weekends bring cyclists and walkers, and tractors appear at harvest. Autumn colour in the oak woods is a delight, while August afternoons are scorching and thunder can come quickly.
Montblanc, five kilometres away, has fuel, shops and restaurants, and Vimbodí has a couple of bars and a bakery. The monks of Poblet sell their own products, and the local wines of the Conca de Barberà are worth tasting. Calçots, grilled spring onions dipped in romesco sauce, are a Catalan tradition in winter and early spring.