Triumphal Arch of Berá and La Vall de la Coma

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Crypt at the Colònia Güell.

2. 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 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Vall de la Coma.

3. 3. La Vall de la Coma

   The Garrigues is the dry heart of Lleida province, a land of terraced hills, stone walls and endless olive groves, and La Vall de la Coma is one of its quiet valleys, in the municipality of L'Albi. In a few rock shelters here, prehistoric people painted small figures in red, part of the Levantine rock art of the Mediterranean basin that is recognized as a World Heritage Site. The paintings are fragile and modest in size, and access is usually organized through local guides or interpretation centres, so plan ahead rather than expecting to wander in.

   Read the complete La Vall de la Coma write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 215 km into the recorded legs you reach La Vall de la Coma. Next is back through Crypt at the Colònia Güell.

4. 4. 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 Triumphal Arch of Berá.

5. 5. 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 at Triumphal Arch of Berá. That is the ride.