Walking Catalonia

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made the difference. (Robert Frost – The road not taken)

Cultural Walk 2

OIX – SANTA BÁRBARA DE PRUNERES – OIX

THIS WALK DESCRIPTION IS THE COPYRIGHT OF WALKING CATALONIA AND IS FOR YOUR PERSONAL, PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED IN ANY WAY UNLESS PERMISSION IS OBTAINED BEFOREHAND.

WALKERS FOLLOW THIS ROUTE DESCRIPTION AT THEIR OWN RISK.

An easy walk on the outskirts of Oix providing great views of the mountains of L'Alta Garrrotxa

Route description

Start the walk by passing behind the church along a street (following signs to 'Beget'), which turns into a track, then crosses a gully and heads northeast out of the village. Ignore a concrete track up left and head straight towards Oix castle (400m); stay right at sign 'Camí particular' and pass underneath and to the right of the castle and stone house. Cut back sharp right along a bigger track coming in from your right (700m); follow this track as it then bears left and heads straight for the river, La Riera d'Oix (1 km). Where the track bends right, keep left along the bank of the river as far as the Pont Romà, or medieval bridge. Cross the bridge and immediately go left along a narrow path upstream which joins a broad track in 50m. Keep left along the track, immediately dropping to cross a small gully and keeping east past a house with new, chain-link fence on your right. At a Y-junction, go straight on as the track heads into the fields; where it splits, keep straight on the lower alternatives along the southern edge of a massively-long field. About 20 m before the end of the hedge of the long field, you will find that just in the woods on your right there is a path; cross through the hedge onto this path and continue eastwards, now accompanied by the occasional orange paint-mark (1.5 km; 25 min).

The path begins to bend more south-eastwards (2km) and heads up the left-bank of a gully, which you soon proceed to cross three times in quick succession before a climb through abandoned terraces takes you up to the house Aiguabella (2.8km). Pass just to the left of the house and continue uphill (not on a level path to the right) over a scrubby hillside on braided goat tracks, always following the clearest. Then veer leftwards (3.1km) for a final stretch in the woods which takes you out onto a broad track on the ridge top just beyond a wire fence (3.4 km; 1hr 20min).

Turn left (north) along this track, bearing left at the first Y-junction next to the ruins of an abandoned farm. At the next Y-junction, keep straight on between the two tracks and pass underneath a white, metal sign (3.7km). From here a small path heads quite steeply uphill through the woods to a group of the buildings; keep left and around the back of these buildings to come out behind the church of Santa Bàrbara de Pruneres (4.3 km; 1hr 40min).

To return, return to the same track and continue northwards from the church. At the first right-hand U-bend, continue straight along a path into the woods heading NW that drops down quickly to the pastures to the south of the imposing house of La Sala. Rejoin the track from Santa Bàrbara just before a T-junction; here you should turn left with a stone wall on your left. In about 5 minutes you will pass by a spring Font de Can Sala (not always running) on your left and in a further 400m you reach the metal white sign from before (5.5 km; 2hr).

Retrace your steps from here to where you picked up the broad track on the climb up from Oix (at the 3.4km point), but continue uphill along the main track, through Coll de Palomeres, where you ignore all tracks off to the left. Veer gradually more westwards; in just over 1 km, as the track drops down more to the left at Collet de la Teula (see map), pick up a less well-defined track to the right that continues due west, climbing at first, before levelling out and veering soon more right- and northwards (6.8 km; 2hr 15min).

Just as the track starts to descend, pass on you right after about 500 m, L'Oratori de Sant Agustí (a small, stone tower-like structure with an image of the saint). The track continues downhill and 150 m further on look for red and white GR marking on a thin juniper tree (also a small cairn here) which peels off to your left on a path through a wire gate. [If you miss this turning, the track soon levels out and you come to the small abandoned house of Can Pitiu] Your path drops gently into the woods, braiding slightly, but always marked with red and white paint (or a few small wooden arrows attached to trees) in a north-westerly and then westerly direction. As you approach Oix and enter a more open area, the path becomes slightly vaguer. Follow the signs as you now begin to drop more steeply on a gently looping path to a dirt track at the limit of the dry pastures (8.3 km; 2hr 45min).

Turn left and loop up to the road; turn right again for the last 800 m of tarmac back into Oix (9.4 km; 3hr 10min).