Palacio Güell and Abric de la Serra de la mussara

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Roca Roja.

2. 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 87 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de la Serra de la mussara.

3. 3. 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

   about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de la Serra de la mussara. Next is back through Roca Roja.

4. 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 Palacio Güell.

5. 5. 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 at Palacio Güell. That is the ride.