EN Castellfollit-Begudà-Sant Joan les Fonts. Route 2 Garrotxa

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.

02 GARROTXA

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

The marks are places approximately every 300 metres painted on tree’s bark, stones or using and other medium already deployed in the area. In the cross roads you will find signposts indicating the nearest four villages in each direction with time information (a maximum of 6 hours).

In the same village or town appears more than once on different signs of the same signpost, you will need to read the description below the town. If there is no description below the place name then you are looking at the shortest route to the town or village.

If the indication says “Per...” (l.e via) it means that this is a longer alternative route to get to the same place.

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

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

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

CASTELLFOLLIT BEGUDÀ SANT JOAN LES FONTS Moderate

7h. 25min.

CASTELLFOLLIT DE LA ROCA - SANT JOAN LES FONTS The first part of this walk starts at the bus stop in Castellfollit de la Roca. Follow the main road down to plaça de Sant Roc, recognisable by its clock tower and the Town Hall. From here continue straight on down Carrer Nou as far as the church, now converted into a museum.

Just in front of the church, turn right down Carrer de la Font and zigzag down through the allotments and across the bridge over the river Turonell. Immediately afterwards, keep straight on when you come across the yellow Itinerànnia paint marks for the first time. Start climbing and you reach a concrete track, which you should follow to the right and over the mouth of the motorway tunnel. After the tunnel, the track zigzags uphill as far as a wooden footbridge and then enters deep into the woods.

Cross the stream and then follow its course uphill. Pass by the ruins of a house, Can Oliveres, and come out to a track, where you should turn left to head further up into the valley. The track/path drops down a little way to cross a stream and then climbs up again on the other side to reach eventually a small meadow in the woods. Cross the meadow heading leftwards and continue along a track as far as a small saddle where you will fnd the Itinerànnia signpost G505 Serra de Mont Ros; continue down to the right towards ‘Begudà’. The path soon turns into a track and takes you down to a house, El Roure, where you suddenly begin to zigzag down to another track. Follow the track down to a track running alongside the river Turonell. Turn left and you will come quickly to a road; cross straight over to reach immediately the hamlet of Begudà.

Pass the church of Santa Eulàlia on your left and carry straight on along a trail between two houses that will soon take you across a medieval bridge, from where the path then heads up into the fields. Follow the edge of the fields, under a large walnut tree and through two electric fences, to reach a small road. Turn left and then quickly right along a path that heads into the woods. Follow the field edge as far as the large house of Mas Escobós. Continue climbing on past the house and you will reach the Itinerànnia signpost G502 Collet del Morts, where you should continue straight on towards ‘Olot per Sant Cosme’. You pass by a house and, after a small zigzag, you follow the track down to Itinerànnia signpost G501 Sant Cosme, where you should head right towards ‘Sant Joan les Fonts’. Follow the track down into the gully and then up to the right. Once up in the old field terraces, continue straight on with the stream down to your right until you reach a minor road next to a small bridge. Turn left and head towards the motorway.

Cross the main road, pass under the motorway, after which your track heads up to the left and towards the house of El Bac. Cross a stream and continue uphill under a small power line and into the forest. Once out of the forest, turn right and then left in 50 m downhill through an area of pastures. The path passes next to the spring of Aiguanegra and continues on towards a fence, where you should turn right and start to descend along a footpath. This path continues to drop through the forest and eventually begins to run alongside a dry-stone wall. Once out of the forest, you join a track that takes you down to the outskirts of Sant Joan les Fonts and Carrer Ronda Font Blanca. Turn left and then right down Carrer d’Aiguanegra. At the end of this street, cross the main road and head into the town’s main square, La Plaça Major.

CASTELLFOLLIT BEGUDÀ SANT JOAN LES FONTS

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

ROUTE SPECIFIC INFORMATION Time: 7h 25 min Distance: 20,48 kms Max. height: 610 m Min. height: 234 m Difficulty: Moderate ACCUMULATIVE SLOPE

Total climb: 972 m Total descent: 972 m

Altitude (m)

610

Editorial Alpina

485

359

234 0

2

4

6

8

10 Distance (km)

12

14

16

18

20

This 20-km route is designed to be done in two stages. There are two starting points, one in the town of Castellfollit de la Roca and one in Sant Joan les Fonts. These two towns are connected by a number of bus routes and the starting point of the walks are these towns’ respective bus stops.

SANT JOAN LES FONTS - CASTELLFOLLIT From La Plaça Major in Sant Joan les Fonts, take L’Avinguda del Cisteller right as far as the sports hall, where you should then turn left along Carrer de la Paperera Torras. Take the next right (Carrer Josep Canalias) and, just at the end of the Porxas factory, turn left and pass between the factory and a tall metal antena and on to some concrete steps. Head down these steep steps, cross a metal footbridge over the river Fluvià and then climb up some more steps on to a path that flattens out and takes you out to the road opposite the old factory of La Sebastiana.

Follow the road left and after a few metres, climb up left on some more steps, turn right just before reaching another group of houses, then immediately turn right into some fields. Cross the fields and start to climb gently along a path you find at the far end of the fields. Once through the gate in an electric fence (remember to re-close it behind you), continue along the path through a field and then along another path as far as a track, which you should cross and then keep right along the same path as before. Keep climbing streadily as far as another small road, where you should turn right as far as the next Itinerànnia signpost G167 Vivers. Here continue towards ‘Castellfollit de la Roca’, keeping the house of Vivers to your right.

At the entrance to another house, Cal Chusqui, keep left along a track that climbs for some time until you come to a path off to the right. Head into the field, through another electric fence and on towards Torre Canadell. Cross the field and at the end turn left and follow the path to this look-out tower.

From the far side of the tower, the path takes you back to the track and then onto a junction, where you should head left. The track zigzags downhill until you reach the junction marked with Itinerànnia signpost G18 La Carrera, where you should turn right towards ‘Castellfollit’.

Continue with a farm up to your right, pass under a rickety abandoned footbridge and across a stream until you reach the road to Oix. Head along the road towards Castellfollit and after a little while cross over to Itinerànnia signpost G19 Carretera d’Oix and continue on towards ‘Castellfollit de la Roca 15 min’. Pass in front of the row of houses of El Cos and at the end of the street take the path down to the main road. Cross straight over and continue down some more steps and then through a group of factories to another road. Turn left and then quite soon turn right by a group of bollards. The path here will take you across the wooden footbridge over the river Fluvià, after which you should turn right and continue alongside the river Turonell. Leave the Itinerànnia paint marks at the small bridge over this river, and head up the Roman road back into the town. You come out in front of the church/museum, where you should turn left up along Carrer Major. Continue as far as Carrer Nou and the clock tower and head uphill along Ctra. d’Olot as far as the bus stop.