Why this ride
275 km from Vilaplana to Vilaplana, about 4 h 50 of riding. It goes by way of Roca Roja, Crypt at the Colònia Güell and back through Roca Roja.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abric de la Serra de la mussara and Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 275 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 50
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abric de la Serra de la mussara
Climb out of Reus on a clear morning and the Serra de la Mussara rises ahead like a wall, a limestone escarpment that holds up the edge of the Prades plateau and drops steeply to the plain of the Camp de Tarragona. The rock shelters along this cliff line, close to the village of Vilaplana, are part of the prehistoric painted landscape of eastern Spain. The best reason to stop, though, is the view: on a good day you look straight down over hazelnut orchards and olive groves to Reus, Tarragona and the sea.
Read the complete Abric de la Serra de la mussara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la Serra de la mussara is where the day begins. Next is Roca Roja.
2. Roca Roja
Roca Roja, the red rock, is a fitting name for this corner of inland Catalonia, where sandstone and conglomerate cliffs glow rust-coloured in the evening light above pine forest and small terraced fields. The point lies in the hills between Querol and Mediona, where the comarques of Alt Camp, Alt Penedès and Anoia meet, a rugged, thinly populated upland that most people speed past on the motorway between Barcelona and Lleida without realising it exists.
Read the complete Roca Roja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roca Roja comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Crypt at the Colònia Güell.
3. Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Few people ride out of Barcelona expecting to find Gaudí in a mill village, but that is exactly what waits at Santa Coloma de Cervelló, a short hop up the Llobregat from Sant Boi. The Colònia Güell was a textile colony founded by the industrialist Eusebi Güell, who moved his cotton works out of the city in the 1890s and built housing, a school, shops and a theatre for the workers around the factory. He asked his friend Antoni Gaudí for a church. Gaudí spent about ten years on the design and its foundations, and when money and the Güell family's enthusiasm ran out around 1914, only the lower level had been finished. That crypt is what you come to see.
Read the complete Crypt at the Colònia Güell write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 138 km into the recorded legs you reach Crypt at the Colònia Güell. Next is back through Roca Roja.
4. back through Roca Roja
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roca Roja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Roca Roja, late in the day. Next is Abric de la Serra de la mussara.
5. Abric de la Serra de la mussara
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de la Serra de la mussara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Abric de la Serra de la mussara. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Abric de la Serra de la mussara to Roca Roja
Abric de la Serra de la mussara → Roca Roja is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roca Roja to Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Roca Roja → Crypt at the Colònia Güell is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crypt at the Colònia Güell to back through Roca Roja
Crypt at the Colònia Güell → back through Roca Roja is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roca Roja to Abric de la Serra de la mussara
back through Roca Roja → Abric de la Serra de la mussara is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.