Sant Vicenç dels Horts takes its name from the market gardens, the horts, that once covered the fertile plain of the Llobregat river, just south-west of Barcelona. Many of those gardens survive today in the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park, a protected area of farmland squeezed between motorways, factories and suburbs, which supplies Barcelona with vegetables, fruit and the famous artichokes of El Prat. It is an odd, fascinating landscape, where tractors and cabbages share the view with airliners and cranes.
The town itself is a busy, working suburb of about twenty-eight thousand people, with a small old centre. A short ride away, at Santa Coloma de Cervelló, lies the Colònia Güell, an industrial village built for the workers of a textile factory owned by the industrialist Eusebi Güell, Gaudí's great patron. Gaudí designed the church for the colony, but only the crypt was completed, and it is one of his most innovative works, with leaning columns and vaults that anticipate the structural ideas of the Sagrada Família. It is a World Heritage Site and well worth a visit.
The Tibidabo ride that ends here starts on the summit of the mountain that overlooks Barcelona, crowned by a church and an old amusement park, and follows the roads through the Collserola hills, a large natural park of pine forests and ridges just behind the city, with views over Barcelona and the sea. The roads are narrow and winding, often busy with cyclists, and best ridden at dawn, before the traffic and the heat.
As a finish point, Sant Vicenç is practical, with good access to the motorways and the main roads back into Barcelona. There are fuel stations, bakeries and bars in the town, and a coffee and a pastry after an early morning ride is the Catalan way. The Llobregat valley can be hot and hazy in summer, and the traffic on the main roads, especially around Molins de Rei and Martorell, can be heavy.