Montmeló is a small town of about nine thousand north of Barcelona, and for anyone who loves motorcycles it has a particular fame. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya lies right beside it, a purpose-built track that opened in 1991 and has hosted both the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix and the MotoGP Catalan round, and a lot of testing. On a race weekend the whole town fills with fans, flags and the whine of engines, and on quiet days you can sometimes hear a test bike through the trees. It is an unlikely place for an agricultural village to end up.
The surrounding country is the Vallès Oriental, a plain with low hills between the Serralada Litoral and the Montseny massif, dotted with towns like Mollet del Vallès and Parets. Montmeló itself has an older face, with a Roman villa site nearby and a few farmhouses, called masies, that survived the housing. A stream runs along the edge of town, and in spring the poppies and wild fennel grow along the verges.
For riding, the area is built around motorways and ring roads. The C-33 and the AP-7 carry heavy traffic between Barcelona and Girona, and the junctions are fast and complicated. The reward lies north and east, where roads lead up into the Montseny and the Serralada de Marina. Weekends bring many motorcyclists, and the roads near the circuit fill with riders on sport bikes, so ride with awareness. Police patrol the area, and speed cameras are common. In summer, the heat on the plain is intense, and the best time is early in the morning.
Fuel is easy, with several stations between Montmeló and Mollet, and supermarkets and bakeries in each town. The circuit has a shop and cafe open on event days, and there are bars in the village centre that serve coffee and bocadillos. If you have time, consider visiting the circuit museum or a track day, when you can ride the circuit itself. Parking is easy in the village except on race weekends, when streets close.