A journey to fnd the best fowers

It's the darkest hour of the night. The silence out in the middle of the Cap de Creus is only broken by the waves in the background that continue crashing against the coastal rocks. Along the trail, an approaching engine is heard. It's the sound of Laura and Sergi's jeep carrying a trailer loaded with thirty boxes of bees and embarking upon a very special journey.

Together, the two are the soul of Dolça Abella, a small family business in Crespià dedicated to bees. Every year when it starts to get warm they make this migration from the Cap de Creus to the Pyrenees, and from les Gavarres to les Guilleries. This journey is quite an adventure, but it allows insects to live, work, and produce in the best possible environment where there are more flowers while pollutants, pesticides, and insecticides are farther away.

“Bees tell us everything,” they say. “Thanks to them, we know when the time is right to start the journey.” When they have already sealed the honey, that is, they have covered it with a layer of wax, they can collect it, cover the hive, and prepare the move. But they must wait for the sun to set and all the bees to return to their box along with the rest of the colony. At this time the two beekeepers collect the boxes they have installed in the Cap de Creus, taking advantage of the pleasant nighttime temperature, and head up the road to place them in their new mountain locations. This is how they handle the hottest months, taking advantage of the fresh air and the flowers that will still be there.

The action is repeated from les Gavarres to les Guilleries, and vice versa in September to return them all to their places of origin. At the end of the year, Laura and Sergi move about two hundred colonies. This feat is only possible because their work is a calling, a passion, a way of understanding what they want our environment and, in turn, our world to be like.

They have spent many years heading back and forth with their van, observing every mountain, every meadow, every spot, and analyzing if it could be a good location for their bees – far from fields where insecticides and chemical pesticides are used.

Tasting the honey they prepare for their workshop in Crespià, in the Pla de l'Estany, inevitably evokes this entire process. We are pleased to recommend not only their honey, but also a visit to their facilities. This adventure will let you experience close contact with the bees. Dressed up as authentic beekeepers, you can open the boxes and discover where all the packaged products you can find come from, such as propolis, pollen, ointments, candles, honeycomb, and honey vinegar.

Undoubtedly, Laura and Sergi made a clear statement when they chose their company's name: Dolça Abella which means Sweet Bee. The product they are dedicated to is the pinnacle of sweetness, but also because it shows the care they give to these tiny creatures, even joining them on their migration that few people even know exists. //