The Catalan nation, if you believe the story, begins at Ripoll. In the year 879 Count Wilfred the Hairy, called Guifré el Pelós, founded a monastery here at the meeting of two rivers, the Ter and the Freser, and later it became the burial place of the counts of Barcelona. The monastery of Santa Maria still stands in the middle of town, and what draws visitors is its west portal, a huge Romanesque doorway covered in carved stone scenes from the Bible, so detailed that it is often compared to a stone book. Inside the cloister there is a quiet courtyard with two storeys of columns, each with its own carved capital, and you can walk around it in about half an hour.
Ripoll is a real town with about eleven thousand people, not a museum, and that is a good thing at the end of a ride. It has fuel stations, supermarkets and plenty of bars. Historically it was known as a centre of ironwork, with forges that used the rivers' power and made weapons and tools, and the traces of that trade are visible in the old working quarter along the water. Neighbouring Campdevànol and Sant Joan de les Abadesses, with its own beautiful Romanesque monastery, are within easy reach and worth a short detour.
The riding around Ripoll is a pleasure because the mountains begin right at the edge of town. To the north the road climbs the Freser valley toward the high Pyrenees and the border, through steep green country with villages perched on the hillsides, and to the east the road through Sant Joan and Camprodon winds up into forest and meadows. The roads here are generally well surfaced, and there are enough hairpins to keep you busy without being exhausting. In winter some of the high stretches can see snow and ice, and in summer the afternoons can bring thunderstorms that blow up over the ridges.
As a finish, it works well. You can park near the monastery, eat dinner in one of the town restaurants, and sleep in a hostal within walking distance. The air is cooler than on the coast, and in the evening the rivers are loud.