Why this ride
A 261 km round trip from La Roca del Vallès - roughly 4 h 41 in the saddle. On the way it passes Hospital de Sant Pau, Crypt at the Colònia Güell, Palacio Güell and Cova dels Segarulls.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La Pedra de les Orenetes and Cova dels Segarulls
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 261 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 41
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Monserrat Mountain Road
For about 29 km this is Monserrat Mountain Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 29 km
- Named road
- Monserrat Mountain Road
Monserrat Mountain Road
18 km on Monserrat Mountain Road.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 18 km
- Named road
- Monserrat Mountain Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. La Pedra de les Orenetes
La Pedra de les Orenetes, the Swallows' Stone, is a granite boulder in the hills above La Roca del Vallès, and its surface is covered with small carved hollows and other marks left by people in prehistory. Nobody knows exactly what they meant; such engraved rocks are found across Catalonia, and theories range from ritual offerings to maps of the stars. The rock sits among cork oaks and pines in the Serralada Litoral, the coastal range that separates the Vallès plain from the sea, and the walk to reach it is short and pleasant, through scented forest with views over the plain.
Read the complete La Pedra de les Orenetes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Pedra de les Orenetes is where the day begins. Next is Hospital de Sant Pau.
2. Hospital de Sant Pau
There is a hill in Barcelona that most visitors reach by accident, on the walk from the Sagrada Família down a long avenue named after Gaudí. At the end of it stands the Hospital de Sant Pau, one of the greatest works of Catalan Modernisme, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and built between 1902 and 1930 with money left by a banker called Pau Gil. The architect rejected the idea of a single block. Instead he built a garden city of pavilions, joined by underground tunnels, each with brick walls, tiled roofs and mosaics, so that patients could look out on trees and sky. It worked as a hospital until 2009, and has since been restored as a museum and cultural centre. UNESCO listed it in 1997 together with the Palau de la Música Catalana, also by Domènech.
Read the complete Hospital de Sant Pau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hospital de Sant Pau comes up about 29 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 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Crypt at the Colònia Güell. Next is Palacio Güell.
4. Palacio Güell
Antoni Gaudí was in his thirties when Eusebi Güell asked him to build a town house just off the Ramblas, and he gave his patron a palace that looks plain on the street and wild inside. The Palau Güell, built between 1886 and 1890 for the industrialist who became Gaudí's greatest supporter, stands in the Raval, a narrow street in what was then a respectable neighbourhood and is now one of the most multicultural districts of Barcelona. The front has two huge parabolic arches of wrought iron, with a pattern of whiplash lines in the gates, and the interior has a central hall that rises through the building to a dome pierced with small holes, so that on a sunny day the ceiling is spotted with starry light.
Read the complete Palacio Güell write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palacio Güell, about halfway. Next is Cova dels Segarulls.
5. Cova dels Segarulls
The vineyards of the Penedès roll out in every direction from Vilafranca, and the Cova dels Segarulls lies among them, a few kilometres outside the town in the low hills toward the coastal range.
Read the complete Cova dels Segarulls write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova dels Segarulls sits at 117 km, about halfway. Next is back through Palacio Güell.
6. back through Palacio Güell
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palacio Güell write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Palacio Güell comes up about 192 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell.
7. back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 210 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell. Next is back through Hospital de Sant Pau.
8. back through Hospital de Sant Pau
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hospital de Sant Pau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hospital de Sant Pau, late in the day. Next is La Pedra de les Orenetes.
9. La Pedra de les Orenetes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Pedra de les Orenetes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 261 km.
Leg by leg
La Pedra de les Orenetes to Hospital de Sant Pau
La Pedra de les Orenetes → Hospital de Sant Pau is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hospital de Sant Pau to Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Hospital de Sant Pau → Crypt at the Colònia Güell is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crypt at the Colònia Güell to Palacio Güell
Crypt at the Colònia Güell → Palacio Güell is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palacio Güell to Cova dels Segarulls
Palacio Güell → Cova dels Segarulls is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova dels Segarulls to back through Palacio Güell
Cova dels Segarulls → back through Palacio Güell is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palacio Güell to back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell
back through Palacio Güell → back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell to back through Hospital de Sant Pau
back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell → back through Hospital de Sant Pau is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hospital de Sant Pau to La Pedra de les Orenetes
back through Hospital de Sant Pau → La Pedra de les Orenetes is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.