EN The balcony of Mieres. Route 01 Mieres

EN

ITINERÀNNIA, NETWORK OF TRAILS “Itinerànnia” is a network of trails, with over 2500 kilometres between the neighbouring regions of “Ripollès”, “Garrotxa” and “Alt Empordà”.

A network of hiking trails is like a road map, but with footpaths, allowing the hiker to get from any one point to another.

It retrieves the old historic roads between the villages to reach many small places.

01 MIERES

Garrotxa

The network offers many different hikes depending on the time or difficulty and you interest over nature, architecture or culture.

Each route that we propose is just a little taste of an extensive network of trails that you can walk to discover the Ripollès, Garrotxa and Alt Empordà counties.

THE SIGNS all the trails of the network are marked regularly over the paths with horizontal painted yellow signs.

PATH’S MARKS (3X10cm)

TURN LEFT / RIGHT

WRONG PATH

+INFO: www.itinerannia.net www.turismegarrotxa.com

High

The marks are placed approximately every 300 metres painted on tree trunks, stones or using and other mediums already deployed in the area.

The vertical signs is located at crossroads. The basic network signalling (banners with red tip) indicate the 4 nearest population in each direction and time needed. The banners of the itineraries of the municipalities, as the one you have in your hands, have a green tip shows the name and direction of the route.

Each signpost has a small plaque hat shows the name of the place where it is located, the altitude, the UTM coordinates.

You will find information boards with a map of the county’s trails in every village or city integrating the network.

THE BALCONY OF MIERES

Ajuntament de Mieres www.mieres.cat

4h 25min

THE BALCONY OF MIERES

Leave the car-park at Mieres along Carrer de la Font where you will find the signpost G159 Mieres-L’Hort del Truc. Pass through the main square (Plaça Major) and pick up Carrer Nou, which will take you to the edge of the village. Cross a stream, El Merdençà, on a footbridge, La Palanca d’en Marcé. From here, take the dirt track that follows a small gully, Rec de Pinsac, upstream. Pass next to a farm and a house, Ca l’Aulina. Here, you come to a small metalled road that runs from Mieres towards the mountain ridge of La Serra de Finestres. Turn right but after just around 60 m, turn left onto another small metalled road that heads now decidedly towards La Serra de Finestres.

Ignoring turns off this road, follow the yellow waymarking until the tarmac ends: here continue along the dirt track up to a house, La Casica de l’Obrador.

Leave the track (that heads for Collveí), and take the well-marked footpath to the left of the house that runs into the forest and on towards a small pass, Collet de la Devesa, and then up to La Serra de Finestres. The path climbs through a thick holm oak forest and brings you to a couple of natural springs, Font dels Pobres and Font de l’Arbre, that these days only gush after heavy rains.

A while after passing the second of the two springs, you reach Collet de la Devesa and signpost M1 Collet de la Devesa. Here, turn left and continue uphill along the ridge until you reach a small clearing known as Pla de Pallers de Baix. Continue along a forest track until you reach a footpath off your right. Take this path and gradually the holm oak trees give way to beech with an understorey of box bushes.

ROUTE SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Editorial Alpina

Time: 4h 25min Distance: 11,5kms Max. height: 765m Min. height: 277m Difficulty: High

ITINERÀNNIA NETWORK ROUTE ROAD-TRAIL RIVER TOURIST SERVICES (See website) VERTICAL SIGNPOSTS OF THE NETWORK

ACCUMULATIVE SLOPE

Total climb: 597m Total descent: 597m

Altitude (m)

765

521

277 0

3

6 Distance (km)

9

11,5

This route runs from Mieres towards Collet de la Devesa and Coll de Palomera. It was used by local people to go to the annual festivities up on Serra de Finestres. From Coll de la Palomera, you can continue as far as La Talaia, an excellent vantage point over the area around Mieres. From here, return to Mieres via Oratori del Freixe, a wayside shrine, along a path that was also once used to return from the festivities on Finestres.

Walk until you come out on the broad track that runs from Mieres to Sant Aniol de Finestres at signpost G91 Coll de la Palomera. If you turn left along this track you will reach La Talaia, an excellent viewpoint over Mieres and its surrounding area. Once you have enjoyed the views, return to G91 Coll de la Palomera and pick up the path that drops straight down into the holm oak forest. Cross over an area of bare rocks that local people call Les Pedres dels Mocadors (‘the handkerchief rocks’).

Continue along the path until it turns into a forest track. Eventually, you come back out on to the main track; here, turn left and climb gently until at the first bend you find a path that heads of the right. Follow this path along the ridge top until you meet the main track again at a pass, Collet de Pedres Picades. Cross over a cattle grid and take the track on the right that will lead you to signpost G95 Oratori del Freixe. Here, turn left and head down towards Mieres on the Camí de les Marrades, a path that was much used in the past by the mules and horses that transported the charcoal produced in these forests. Zigzag downhill until you reach the dirt track that leads to a house, Mas de la Muntada. Turn right and continue to follow the yellow waymarking until it takes you to the right again, leaving the track and entering into an area of pastures with a number of electric fences that you must close after you walk through. Cross over the pastures and come out onto the small metalled road that links Mieres to the hamlet of Ruïtlles at signpost M2 Samontà de Baix. Turn left, continue along the metalled road and after a little while Mieres hoves into view. A few minutes later you will end up back at the starting point of this walk.