Go Explore Catalonia!

With 5 precious days spare between a travelling trip and going home I decided to go on a little solo adventure.. What could be better than road tripping around Catalonia. Its beautiful, historical and doable on any budget.

Here is what I got up to..

Day one

I hired a campervan from Cargoling, a small campervan hire company with an impressive fleet of vehicles located in the centre of Barcelona. Missing my old Renault Kangoo, I decided to hire a Kangoo from 'The Economy' range.

The first stop was the coastal town of Sitges, here there are plenty of museums and restaurants to keep you busy, and when it all gets too much there is the sandy beach to relax on. After a morning here I headed down to Taragona, to visit the Ancient Roman Aqueduct, Pont del Diable. Its quite incredible, there are various walk you can do around it, you can even cross the top of the entire length of the Aqueduct. Its worth combining this with a picnic stop as there are plenty of benches in the shade. (To get a scale of the structure try and spot me in the picture!)

After a fairly chilled day it was time to find a

camping spot. I was adamant I wanted to camp by the sea.. Using the wonderful FurGovw.org I found a car park next to the beach and had a lovely relaxing evening taking in the sunset.

Day two

After a beautiful morning swim (and shower!) I headed for La Mussarra, an abandoned town overlooking the plains of Taragonna. Enroute I came across another abandonded town which I believe is called Alboli.. This town was abandoned later and as a result the buildings are more intact, I found it far more spooky...

La Mussara is a tourist destination with lots of visitors, whereas Alboli has significantly fewer visitors as most people drive past without a second look. I was the only person exploring Alboli, where as I was one of over 20 exploring La Mussara. Both are pretty and well worth a visit. Check out the pics!

Keen to repeat my morning swim the following day I searched google maps for a lake enroute to the Pyrenees to set up camp. It was a struggle to find a good camping spot, in the end (and sticking to the abandoned theme of the day) I settled for an abandoned swimming pool in Ogern.

Day three

Due to the lack of rain in Spain the lake was very low and so no morning swim for me. On I went towards the mountains. Driving past lots of beautiful scenery and past Organya (just to see if it was flyable!), I eventually I made it to La Seu de’ Urgell, the 1992 host of the Olympic Slalom events, this town is not only pretty but also has a kayak and canoe course that is something I had never seen before... I left here with a huge urge to go kayaking..

Desperate for a hike and to spend a night in the mountains, I headed up a mountain road and found a fabulous spot, before settling for the night I ventured on a short hike to take in the fresh mountain air.

Day Four

After waking up to one of the most beautiful sunrises I made my morning coffee and set off for Berga.

The drive down was stunningly beautiful and eventually I made it to La Baells Reservoir. Despite it being out of season, the wonderful people at Indomit Aventura lent me a kayak and, armed with my map I went on my adventure around the reservoir. It was fantastic!

Before heading to Girona I stopped off at the dam for a picnic overlooking the reservoir. By the time I arrived in Girona I only had 2 hours before it was due to get dark. So I popped into the tourist information office to pick up a map and ran around all the key touristy spots before heading to the wall overlooking the town to watch the sunset.

Day Five

The previous evening in a panic I decided to stay at a campsite, it was dark and I had no luck finding anywhere to park up. this was such a good decision as the campsite was close to a beach on the Costa Brava. In the morning I ventured down for a swim in the sea as well as a sun bathing/book reading session. It was the perfect ending to a fabulous trip around Catalonia.

Conclusion

It really was a whistle stop tour of the area and I could have spent double the time exploring Catalonia as there is so much to see and do, from hiking high in the Pyrenees to exploring abandoned villages, this part of Spain really does have it all.