Why this ride
389 km from La Roca del Vallès to La Roca del Vallès, about 5 h 52 of riding. On the way it passes Crypt at the Colònia Güell, Cova dels Segarulls, Triumphal Arch of Berá and Roca Roja. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La Pedra de les Orenetes and Roca Roja
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 389 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 52
- 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
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 47 km this is Monserrat Mountain Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 47 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 Crypt at the Colònia Güell.
2. 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
Crypt at the Colònia Güell comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova dels Segarulls.
3. 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
about 94 km into the recorded legs you reach Cova dels Segarulls. Next is Triumphal Arch of Berá.
4. Triumphal Arch of Berá
For centuries traffic on the main coastal road of Catalonia drove straight through a Roman triumphal arch. The Arc de Berà stands on the line of the Via Augusta, the great Roman road from the Pyrenees to Cádiz, about twenty kilometres northeast of Tarragona, and until the road was diverted around it in the late twentieth century, cars and trucks passed under its single span. It was built at the end of the first century BC, and an inscription records that it was erected according to the will of Lucius Licinius Sura, a figure whose identity historians still discuss. It is part of the UNESCO listing for the Roman remains of Tarraco.
Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Triumphal Arch of Berá, about halfway. Next is Roca Roja.
5. 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 sits at 161 km, about halfway. Next is back through Triumphal Arch of Berá.
6. back through Triumphal Arch of Berá
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Triumphal Arch of Berá comes up about 261 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cova dels Segarulls.
7. back through Cova dels Segarulls
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 294 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cova dels Segarulls. Next is back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell.
8. 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
back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell, 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 389 km.
Leg by leg
La Pedra de les Orenetes to Crypt at the Colònia Güell
La Pedra de les Orenetes → Crypt at the Colònia Güell is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crypt at the Colònia Güell to Cova dels Segarulls
Crypt at the Colònia Güell → Cova dels Segarulls is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova dels Segarulls to Triumphal Arch of Berá
Cova dels Segarulls → Triumphal Arch of Berá is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Triumphal Arch of Berá to Roca Roja
Triumphal Arch of Berá → Roca Roja is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roca Roja to back through Triumphal Arch of Berá
Roca Roja → back through Triumphal Arch of Berá is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Triumphal Arch of Berá to back through Cova dels Segarulls
back through Triumphal Arch of Berá → back through Cova dels Segarulls is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova dels Segarulls to back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell
back through Cova dels Segarulls → back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell to La Pedra de les Orenetes
back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell → La Pedra de les Orenetes is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.