The Collada de Toses, at around 1,800 metres, is the pass that links the valleys of the Ripollès with the high plain of the Cerdanya, and it is one of the classic motorcycle roads of Catalonia. The N-260 climbs from Ribes de Freser in a long series of bends, some wide and fast, some tight and blind, through pine forest and then onto open grassy slopes with views back down the valleys and across to the snowy peaks of the eastern Pyrenees. At the top, you look out over the Cerdanya, a broad, flat valley that is almost unique in the Pyrenees, with Puigcerdà and the French border on the far side.
The road is famous among riders, and that has its downside. On weekends from spring to autumn it is busy with motorcycles from Barcelona and beyond, and the Catalan traffic authorities have long considered it one of the most dangerous stretches for bikers in the region. There are speed controls, warning signs and sometimes a strong police presence. Most of the tarmac is sound, but there are some patches of gravel and frost damage, and in winter snow and ice are common, since La Molina, one of the oldest ski resorts in Spain, sits just over the top.
Toses itself is a tiny village of stone houses perched on a slope below the pass, with a Romanesque church whose wall paintings were taken to the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona for safekeeping. Below it, in Ribes de Freser, starts the rack railway to the Vall de Núria, a sanctuary in a high glacial valley reachable only by train or on foot, and it makes an interesting detour if you want to leave the bike for a few hours. The landscape here is all mountains and pastures, with cattle and horses grazing freely on the open slopes, so watch out for animals on the road.
The Cerdanya on the other side is a different world: wide, sunny and green, with fields of hay and grain and villages of stone and slate. Puigcerdà, about sixteen kilometres away, is the main town, with filling stations, supermarkets and a lively square of cafes. Just over the border, the Spanish enclave of Llívia is a curiosity: a town entirely surrounded by France, left in Spanish hands by a quirk of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees. Ribes de Freser, on the southern side, also has fuel and services.